I find it astonishing that one can draw any conclusion that what was found was alien (book title)? The analysis tells us, that this was simply Human DNA. A rare Chinese type DNA and a possible rare Basque/Gaelic type DNA (p77) or this rare Asian Mongoloid DNA (p78 & p224) take your pick. And the author tells us that it is - rare, grafted, CCR5 protein and so on, who said this was rare... it sounds all very human too me. With a population of 1,306,313,812 (July 2005 Ethnic groups - Han Chinese 91.9%, Zhuang, Uygur, Hui, Yi, Tibetan, Miao, Manchu, Mongol, Buyi, Korean, and other nationalities 8.1%) in china today, I can tell you nothing is rare.
The central story is suspended by one miserable thread, for example, how does Chalker identify what is or is not alien hair/DNA? How could you tell unless you took it off a recognised alien to do a match? In fact the hair looks very human too me (see book images).
I am also suspicious when an author tries to anchor or graft their hypothesis onto what seems to be another profession, by a reference or association with that profession. In this case a law and police investigation process. For example Chalker uses the word "Forensic" 70 times. When in fact, Chalker is not trained in Forensic Science nor do we find anyone listed in the book trained in the profession.
Then we have this mystery called "forbidden science" (p67) and the "Invisible college" (p67). Now I can understand the problems that would come about if a scientist steps out on a limb and works outside the mainstream, but in this case Chalker's DNA analysis if processed in an accredited laboratory would be fully backed by that institution, so the need for anyone being put out to burn is redundant, the laboratory would stand by its results, they analysed a "hair sample" that is all, nothing odd about that. But no, Chalker works in a mystery, when in fact the whole process is everyday normal and the need for these mysteries is stupid.
So that brings me to who did the analysis, well from what we can find out.... I don't know? A group called Anomaly Physical Evidence Group (APEG) (p70) did the analysis? Again nothing, not one person or laboratory name, who are these biochemists? So how does the reader verify the credentials of the technical work? Not very forensic to me. And if this was an astonishing discovery, one would expect "Biochemists" would jump on a paper to take the credit. But no... they are going to work through the author (Public face p70), well that's what the author tells us. He even tells us that it is "my APEG team", that is right readers "my"? (p190).
So what was the start point to the Alien Hair find? Well would you believe Khoury, in his own words: "I had a head injury, and I was on a lot of medication" (p23) - Hit on the head! And hit with a shovel or should I say shovels (p24)! Can you find any hints of a prosaic cause, well I can! Then Khoury tells us that he was taking Codeine Phosphate (p24) and as he states "lots". Did you know that one of the side effects of lots of Codeine is hallucinations? But the author does not list any side effects. Then add in Prozac and Voltarin. What happened to the medical reports or even a doctor's name? Nothing, zero, zip.
Forensic my eye, Khoury did his own sample collection and then placed that in a plastic bag (p25), so how did Chalker proved that it came from Khoury's body?
The book does cover other well known cases, my favourite and I would say the best case is the Kelly Cahill encounter (1993) (p50). However, rather than read it in this book, try and find Cahill original book (Encounter, Harper Collins, 1996, ISBN 0732257840), it is very good and worth the effort.
I could go on, but there are too many things to list. I think the author has over stepped his position or qualifications (Chalker is not a biochemist) and tried an interesting form of word association to sell us a weak story that stands on a lot of "Ifs & Buts" around hidden so called APEG mystery biochemists.
A dentist gave me a prescription for that once. Thirty little planetoid pills. I took exactly one. The eye-crossing pain was preferable to that trip! Didn't see any aliens though, or even exotic looking women whose presence was a mystery. Nope, just a lot of unpleasant and chaotic sensations in place of the pain, which was still there but somehow disconnected. Weird enough.