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Micro

3.24 of 5 stars 3.24 · rating details · 8,390 ratings · 1,457 reviews

Three men are found dead in the locked second-floor office of a Honolulu building, with no sign of struggle except for the ultrafine, razor-sharp cuts covering their bodies. The only clue left behind is a tiny bladed robot, nearly invisible to the human eye.

In the lush forests of Oahu, groundbreaking technology has ushered in a revolutionary era of biological prospecting....more

ebook, 424 pages

Published November 22nd 2011 by Harper (first published January 1st 2011)

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Nov 26, 2011 Ryan rated it 3 of 5 stars

Do you believe in redemption?

We often abandon authors once they disappoint us, and Michael Crichton never really found his way again after 1990's Jurassic Park. In fact, in his later works Crichton seemed to spiral out of control, so I'd more or less given up on him. And I don't think I was the only one. Thankfully, Crichton's new book Micro could easily be adapted for film, suggesting that he had returned to form before he passed away in 2008.

There will be a temptation to compare Micro to Prey,...more

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Dec 07, 2011 George Ashmore added it · review of another edition

M.C. wrote facinating fiction while alive--will see how he does with the handicap of death. Optimistic. Ok, no longer optimistic. It started interesting but lacked M C's attention to scientific detail and storytelling ability. I have read books like this where a loved author started it and someone else finished. Sometimes good, rarely great. In this instance, not so great. An ok read but disappointing to to its anchestry and my hopes. A book contract was fulfilled, some money was made, library f...more

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Dec 05, 2012 Marvin rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-fiction

There should be a law against authors finishing up other authors' books. It never ends well.

But I do not think Richard Preston did all that much damage to the novel. In fact, from the unfinished introduction by Michael Crichton at the beginning of the book, Crichton appears to be in his preachy mode as he was in his most annoying books like his Japanophobic Red Sun and his rant against the idea of global warming titled State of Fear. The fact that Crichton was already writing an intro may be a h...more

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May 10, 2012 Bruce rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: mmm

That was lame. Good thing Michael Crichton was dead, so he wasn't around for this piece of junk. A lot of Crichton's books have a far-fetched wacky sciency central idea, but he somehow made them interesting and they worked. (view spoiler)...more

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Dec 01, 2011 Mandy Brigwell rated it 1 of 5 stars

What a disappointment. I stopped halfway - I really couldn't continue. I've never been irritated by a book before; I'm assuming it's because of my expectations—an unfinished Crichton novel! But this isn't Crichton: whoever Mr Preston is, he's a cheap impostor who uses words like 'goop', 'gunk' and 'goo'. Crichton didn't.

But then there's the technology. Crichton's time travel had consequences on a quantum level, and made sense in its own reality-distorted sense. Timeline may have been a mainly hi...more What a disappointment. I stopped halfway - I really couldn't continue. I've never been irritated by a book before; I'm assuming it's because of my expectations—an unfinished Crichton novel! But this isn't Crichton: whoever Mr Preston is, he's a cheap impostor who uses words like 'goop', 'gunk' and 'goo'. Crichton didn't.

But then there's the technology. Crichton's time travel had consequences on a quantum level, and made sense in its own reality-distorted sense. Timeline may have been a mainly historical techno-romp, but at least it had internal consistency. Now lets look at the technology of Micro, ignoring the massively stupid boss character. That's right - ignore him, focus on this: How can they breathe or digest the oversized molecules they take in - I can't help but feel that the real Michael Crichton would have addressed the fact that the cells in the annoying students' bodies would be a different size to real-world chemicals, or maybe even abandoned the plot as a dead end - one to be stowed away in the office drawer as a failure until... oh, he's dead - wait, look - there's a manuscript marked 'Not to be published ever ever ever' let's publish this... we'll get some guy to finish it.

Back to the plot. As for their exploits - this is no H. G. Wells romp or Conan Doyle jollity; Crichton insisted on factual plausibility in his novels, and in this one there is little plausibility and an absolute mass of expedited expedition extrapolation. Most of it entirely extraordinary and yet necessary to the rather obvious plot. The initial concept is great, and I'm assuming that Crichton's influence got as far as page 30 before it vanished. I'm sorry - the majority of the book is an ill-conceived implausible pratfall of a novel.

For light relief, try adding the adverb 'magically' in front of anything the stranded pillocks manage to do which is vaguey implausible (i.e. almost anything): '...which Peter peeled out of the center of dead grass stems which had magically stayed dry despite the rain', 'Rick magically lit the fire with the windproof lighter' (always take one if you're going to be unexpectedly miniaturised), 'Wait a minute, guys, I've magically found something!' (But will it be useful? Well... yes, actually. Surprise!), 'The mosquito magically thundered off, wobbling in the air.'

Plotting be damned - anything can happen with the right combination of the Crichton name and the appropriate gods to call forth from the (nano) machine...(less)

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Dec 03, 2011 Mike rated it 1 of 5 stars Recommends it for: coleopterists

Good news, everyone! We've resurrected the frozen head of Michael Crichton again, but this temporal readjustment process (tm) seems to have failed. We here at the Frankenauthor Institute of Ludicrous Monstrosity's Shelley Agency for Legacy Extrapolation seem to have awakened the snide halfbaked hack who gave us Disclosure and State of Fear, rather than the delighful infodumper of the better novels. Sorry! Clearly we can't be held responsible for sentences describing a woman "coleopterist, which...more

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Nov 28, 2011 Karen rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-fiction, thrill-ride

This book deserves a 3.5 stars. As I said, as a long time Crichton fan, I probably came equipped with an overly high expectation. The book started out slow, with lots of loose ends that needed to be tied together, but came together nicely at around 30%. Without giving too much away, I'd have to say Crichton's high-tech, breakthrough technology is here, as well as the thrill factor, so the book is a page-turner. The general idea of the plot was good, and the story could be easily adapted into a m...more

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Jan 13, 2012 Kevin Kuphal rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I haven't read a Crichton book since the Jurassic Park days and I should've left well enough alone. I realize this book was unfinished, but it is like he forgot to put in all the adjectives. It reads with all the excitement and literary wonder of a police report. I almost gave this a second star because my favorite character, the ruthless natural world, was interesting but sadly it did not kill everyone in the book and so I left disappointed. I'm moving on to 77 Shadow Street by Koontz and alrea...more

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Dec 03, 2011 Joe rated it 1 of 5 stars

This was awful! The premise is stupid. The writing is bad,the characters are flat. The only thing that sells this novel is Crichton's name. Unfortunately, the other guy probably wrote it.

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May 22, 2012 Kym Blackford added it · review of another edition

Micheal Crichton’s Micro allowed one to entertain the thought of nanotechnology as inventive enough to even shrink human beings and other living organisms into micro-people. In this novel, a group of science students set off to Hawaii to fulfill their dreams of working in the “perfect lab” that they’ve been promised. When they get there, though, they are faced with being shrunk themselves and having to survive the severe problems that accompany that, as well as escaping the crazy CFO of Nanigen...more Micheal Crichton’s Micro allowed one to entertain the thought of nanotechnology as inventive enough to even shrink human beings and other living organisms into micro-people. In this novel, a group of science students set off to Hawaii to fulfill their dreams of working in the “perfect lab” that they’ve been promised. When they get there, though, they are faced with being shrunk themselves and having to survive the severe problems that accompany that, as well as escaping the crazy CFO of Nanigen – the dream company of nanotechnology, Vin Drake, as he is trying to kill all the students. In the end, Drake is the one that end up dying, and two of the lab students even lived to be put back to normal size and have the ability to go back to their normal lives.
Some environmental issues of this book would include the fact that now that humans are shrunk down to microscopic levels, they will disrupt much larger amounts of land and organisms than before. The huge amounts of land that will be extracted for research each day will lessen the biodiversity of the ecosystem, because the scientists only need certain types of organisms. This will decrease the amounts of those specific organisms and increase the amounts of all the other organisms – thus decreasing biodiversity.
Micro really made me wonder about the smaller organisms in the forests, and it made me want to research them all! I thought maybe the characters in the book were too cookie cutter; they seemed like the typical group of scientists, but there really wasn’t any one really unique thing that set them apart from any other stereotypical scientist. I really did enjoy reading this, though. As far as applying the ideas from the book, I’m not sure how I would go about that. I’m not very good at any form of science, and I’m definitely never going to be smart enough to work in nanotechnology! Really the only thing I am able to apply from this book would be the exploration of new organisms in the ground - the forest floors contain chemical compounds that may improve medicines! (Micro, p.69)
Overall, this book was written very well. I would definitely recommend it to anyone that enjoys sci-fi and action-filled books. It was an easy read, and I enjoyed it thoroughly.

Bibliography
• Crichton, Michael, and Richard Preston. "Chapter 7." Micro: A Novel. New York: Harper, 2011. 69-70. Print.
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May 19, 2013 Mark Thompson rated it 3 of 5 stars

This isn't a *bad* book, it's just not *great* in the way some of Michael Crichton's earlier works are. If I was just starting out reading Crichton's work then I might think differently, but it "jars" in a way the majority of the rest of his work doesn't. It's small things (ironic given the subject matter of the book) like the repetitive use of the character's full names - Peter Jansen, not just Peter, etc. - that I found annoying. As a movie script or screenplay it works and I can't help feelin...more

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Apr 21, 2013 Trevor Jones rated it 4 of 5 stars

Set in the seemingly innocent tropical forests of Oahu, a game of survival and greed occurs at a whole new scale. A team of students from MIT, each a star in their individual studies of biology and technology, is enticed to the islands of Hawaii. The promise of cutting edge technology and the amazing backdrop of Hawaii is too seductive.

One of the students figures out just enough to confront the head of the company. Unfortunately, accusing someone of murder on his own turf proves to be unwise. Th...more

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Mar 17, 2013 Jeff rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I read a lot of other reviews on this book before I started mine. I had seen this book at Half-Price books, then looked for it at the library (trying to not buy quite so many books, as my house is getting full, and my wife annoyed). I realize a lot of the poor reviews were because the book was finished by someone else. And I think I can tell where he took over. A lot of people assume that Crichton wrote the beginning and Preston wrote the ending. A lot of people don't understand how authors writ...more I read a lot of other reviews on this book before I started mine. I had seen this book at Half-Price books, then looked for it at the library (trying to not buy quite so many books, as my house is getting full, and my wife annoyed). I realize a lot of the poor reviews were because the book was finished by someone else. And I think I can tell where he took over. A lot of people assume that Crichton wrote the beginning and Preston wrote the ending. A lot of people don't understand how authors write. I'm not an author, but am familiar with quite a few, following their blogs. I don't know for sure how this all plays out, but authors don't always write straight from beginning to end. So just because Crichton died in the middle of writing this doesn't necessarily mean that he had not already written the ending. I can't say for sure. It merely says that Preston "completed" the novel.

All that aside, I enjoyed this book, even with its flaws. There are parts where the writing is more stiff. I've read quite a few Crichton books (and enjoyed State of Fear a lot more than some), so am somewhat familiar with his style. I'm also aware that he could get a bit "preachy" and condescending. However, I believe his premise to be true, stated in the unfinished introduction, that most of us truly don't have an inkling of understanding about this planet we live on. Even the scientists who work so hard to understand it have only scratched the surface. The idea of micro- or nano-technology that is introduced here is pretty fantastical. The thought of shrinking objects, much less humans, to such a small size is still rather hard to believe possible. Not hard to imagine, though, at least for me, so that didn't get in my way of enjoying the book.

There are parts of this story that are, frankly, terrifying. Almost everyone has some kind of "critter" that they are afraid of, be it spiders, snakes, ants, wasps...whatever. Well, they are all encountered in this adventure, and it's a mash-up of every ridiculous sixties horror movie that you can imagine. In super size. I really thought I was going to have nightmares about giant wasps after finishing this. The villain in this story, Vin Drake, reminded me a lot of the old man in Jurassic Park. You know...the one who shouldn't have survived the first movie, because he didn't survive in the book.

Oh, and just like reading George R.R. Martin or watching Walking Dead, don't get too attached to any characters...just sayin'.(less)

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Mar 17, 2013 Jack Rochester rated it 1 of 5 stars

After two long, hard-working days of meetings with author-clients in New York, I was at Penn Station, waiting for my train back to Boston. I needed something to read for the next four hours, and saw "Micro." I remembered a bit about it: the publisher hired Richard Preston [brother of Douglas Preston, co-author of some good reads with Lincoln Child and a few of his own, such as "Blasphemy," besides] to finish Crichton's unfinished novel.

I would be most interested to learn where Crichton left off...more

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Jan 26, 2013 James rated it 4 of 5 stars

In this novel, the mistreatment of graduate students hits new lows as seven budding biologists are shrunken to the size of half an inch and left to fend for themselves in a Hawaiian meadow. From that point of the story onward, the students find themselves in a series of life-or-death struggles with a horrifying variety of predatory nasties—beetles, centipedes, big-headed ants, giant spiders, minah birds, wasps and more! As if these hazards were not enough, the brilliant, dynamic, yet morally com...more In this novel, the mistreatment of graduate students hits new lows as seven budding biologists are shrunken to the size of half an inch and left to fend for themselves in a Hawaiian meadow. From that point of the story onward, the students find themselves in a series of life-or-death struggles with a horrifying variety of predatory nasties—beetles, centipedes, big-headed ants, giant spiders, minah birds, wasps and more! As if these hazards were not enough, the brilliant, dynamic, yet morally comatose scientist who hired the students will now do anything to kill them off! Worse still, if the students are not de-miniaturized in three or four days’ time, they will all die of the “micro-bends,” a mysterious illness that acts like progressive hemophilia. Gasp!

For the most part, Crichton and Preston don’t put much effort into making the impossible technology of miniaturization seem plausible. The process involves very strong magnetic fields. One of the characters acknowledges that, if the students’ atoms were shrunken, then they shouldn’t be able to smell, eat, drink, or breathe anything unminiaturized. But since they perform all these actions anyway, another character comments that even the technology’s inventors must not understand it fully. And so the students continue to smell, eat, drink, and breathe their way through their adventures.

Crichton and Preston do go to great lengths to describe the “micro-world,” the world of bug-sized organisms, in a detailed and scientifically accurate way. It’s no accident that Preston, a science writer, was asked to finish the book after Crichton died. As for Crichton, who earned an M.D. before he turned to writing, his research is extensive and prominently on display.

Like most Crichton novels, Micro is didactic as well as entertaining. Through this novel, we learn that the world of bug-sized organisms is more crowded, diverse, and dangerous than the world of our everyday lives.
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Jan 18, 2013 Lorien rated it 4 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jan 03, 2013 Dlora rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: adventure-action, scifi

Greg got this book from the library and then didn't like it that much. I enjoyed it much more than he did. I think it has to do with a willing suspension of belief. The engineer in Greg found it too implausible (and I agreed with him that Crichton's Jurassic Park was a more believable scenario). In Micro, a group of graduate students are invited to tour Nanigen MicroTechnologies in Hawaii where research is being done using miniaturized robotics to discover new chemicals and medicines from the fl...more Greg got this book from the library and then didn't like it that much. I enjoyed it much more than he did. I think it has to do with a willing suspension of belief. The engineer in Greg found it too implausible (and I agreed with him that Crichton's Jurassic Park was a more believable scenario). In Micro, a group of graduate students are invited to tour Nanigen MicroTechnologies in Hawaii where research is being done using miniaturized robotics to discover new chemicals and medicines from the flora and fauna of the rainforest. What the kids discover is that people are being shrunk too in the search for profitable discoveries. Cutting edge technology is where the money is--but also where greed flourishes and murder is a viable solution to cover up secrets. When the students learn a little too much, instead of hiring them, the CEO miniaturizes and dumps them in the research area. Not content to let voracious nature take them out or even wait for the "micro-bends" to kill them, the CEO sends some hit men after them. While the science fiction of robots and miniaturization was quite imaginative, the botany and entomology details were superbly real (note the extensive bibliography in the back). I really enjoyed the battles against insects, spiders, and plant life. Admittedly the dialogue was a bit stilted and repetitive at times; other than the graduate students, the characters were one-dimensional; and the ending seemed a bit lame. But I enjoyed such additions as the tidbits of Hawaiian history (e.g., how Spam became a delicacy), thoughts about the complex system of the natural world that can be used but not really understood or predicted, and insightful judgments about research ("Americans played with fire. Hydrogen bombs, megapower lasers, killer drones, shrunken micro-people . . . American were demon-raisers. Americans awakened technological demons they couldn't control, yet they seemed to enjoy the power.") There was enough good scientific detail and a fast-moving, although at times implausible, plot to keep me happy and interested.(less)

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Jan 01, 2013 Sam rated it 4 of 5 stars

In the story Micro by Michael Crichton and Richard Preston, Peter and a group of young scientists who are working toward their majors in their respective topics, are interrupted by a company called Nanogen Micro Technologies. Eric, Peter's brother, works for Nanogen. The company is looking for young men and women studying topics related to micro-technology and microbiology. Peter and the group decide to go to Hawaii where the laboratory is based and they get hired by the company. But, before the...more

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Dec 09, 2012 Victoria rated it 3 of 5 stars

Oh, Crichton....why oh WHY did you have to leave us???? It was clear where Crichton left off and the Preston took over and, frankly, the narrative didn't quite mesh after that; the characters stopped developing in a believable way and the ending fell flat. It was almost as though Preston wasn't quite sure where exactly the book meant to go and had to figure out the best way to finish it. Quite sad. That being said, I must give credit where credit is due. Preston did a fairly good job with finish...more

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Dec 08, 2012 Evan rated it 3 of 5 stars

Even if it is well below the standard of Crichton’s solo novels, MICRO is a competent thriller that has some great moments. Like Jurassic Park, the concept is simple: a group of humans have to make it across a lush, hostile landscape filled with monsters, and time is running out. In this case the monsters are not extinct dinosaurs but the living insects and other small creatures that populate a small nature preserve in Hawaii. Through a cutting-edge industrial process gone wrong, the humans in t...more Even if it is well below the standard of Crichton’s solo novels, MICRO is a competent thriller that has some great moments. Like Jurassic Park, the concept is simple: a group of humans have to make it across a lush, hostile landscape filled with monsters, and time is running out. In this case the monsters are not extinct dinosaurs but the living insects and other small creatures that populate a small nature preserve in Hawaii. Through a cutting-edge industrial process gone wrong, the humans in the book are shrunk down to half an inch in size, and this fuels Crichton’s trademark combination of fear and wonder. When relatively enlarged to the size of a house, a wolf spider can be just as fearsome and fascinating as Tyrannosaurus Rex.

MICRO has many of the great Crichton trademarks. There is the slightly preachy, sensationalist forward that starts like a newspaper editorial and ends as a tacit invitation to believe the impossible. There is the evil industrialist using powerful scientific processes for his own selfish ends. There is the stand-in for beliefs Crichton disagrees with who suffers horribly, and the long passages of fascinating scientific factoids inserted into the dialogue.

My favorite Crichton trademark is the feeling that the story is like a dream vacation gone horribly, wonderfully wrong. Crichton’s work has had this element all the way back to his pseudonymous Jong Lange thrillers and 1970s film and TV work, and it’s one of the things that makes his stories so effective. It activates the wish fulfillment part of the brain, which ushers you into the world of the impossible more quickly and efficiently. It also makes Crichton’s books somehow more at home in the airports, beaches, and resorts where I, like millions of other readers, were so fond of reading them.

It’s a shame that Crichton wasn’t able to finish the book himself. Preston, who took over the project after Crichton’s death, fills in the gaps without taking too many missteps. The concept is so strong that it carries the book in the end, but in Crichton’s hands alone MICRO could’ve been perfectly crafted pop entertainment. Spielberg has bought the rights and in his hands the strengths of the story might shine through more clearly. We can hope, because this is the last of Crichton we’re ever going to get.
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Nov 18, 2012 Alison rated it 3 of 5 stars

The premise of the book intrigued me because I've wondered if some "being" larger than us was really viewing the world through a microscope and watching us the way we watch ants, or view single cell amoeba through a microscope. The story begins with three men found dead in a locked room, sliced to death. More deaths follow and the Honolulu police are wondering if they are related. A physicist dies on his boat although he's an excellent skipper and swimmer. The CFO of Nanigen is found dead in her...more

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Nov 14, 2012 Abhishek rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Michael Crichton! Sigh. As a big fan of his work, his posthumously published novels ring in me a nostalgic feeling... and a feeling of despair as well, for his works will no longer be available -- to entertain, to educate. I took up reading of Micro with a sense of dread since Crichton had worked on only a third of this book, and it was completed and sewed up by Richard Preston. But the sense of dread vanished quite early on, when in typical Crichton style, the tone and the setting of the book b...more

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Nov 08, 2012 Paul Lunger rated it 4 of 5 stars

The latest novel by the late Michael Crichton, "Micro" is a tale of a miniaturized world & a mad man trying to harness the technology. The story revolves around 7 graduate students who are invited to Nanigen labs on Oahu to take a look at technology that will allow you to enter a microscopic world & live in it. However, the director of the lab is a mad scientist who wants nothing more than harm from the technology & uses it to shrink his enemies or unsuspecting visitors & kill th...more

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Oct 31, 2012 Cary rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I would describe "Micro" as being a combination of "Timeline" and "Jurassic Park." Although it can be thrilling at times, I would not necessarily rate "Micro" as being as good as "Timeline" and certainly not as good as "Jurassic Park." Like "Timeline", "Micro" features a group of eager, young graduate students who go through a fantastic transformation to explore a threatening new world. Like "Jurassic Park", "Micro" features a group of scientists forced to confront an array of large, threatening...more

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Oct 31, 2012 Roy rated it 2 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Michael Crichton was my first favorite writer. I loved the mixture of action and near-possible science fiction. Since Jurassic Park, I have read four or five other Crichton books and have enjoyed most of his work. Some were uneven but they all had a solid foundation of science and action. Micro is not far from this legacy, though it does get a little ragged, predictable and disappointing at parts. There are certain scenes you knew were going to happen (such as a character being taken inside the...more

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Oct 25, 2012 Mark rated it 2 of 5 stars

I need to stop reading these books that use famous authors' names to sell. I loved Michael Crichton (who died in 2008) and this book was supposedly his idea. Maybe it was, but it sure doesn't rise to the quality of the books actually written by Crichton. It is a page-turner but quite predictable and utterly unbelievable. Crichton was able to take an unbelievable subject (like time travel or cloning of dinosaurs) and use science to actually make it believable in his novels. Micro is about technol...more

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Sep 08, 2012 Monica Chin rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: summer-read-books-2012

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Micro is based on nano technology. What would happen if you can shrink a human being down to the size of one millimeter, where ants would look like gigantic monsters to you? In this book through the use of magnetism, objects as well as people can be reduced to microscopic sizes. The story takes place in Hawaii on a tropical plot of land filled with micro organisms. A mere one square foot of jungle can contain as many organisms as all of the animals on the planet. The technology is great except w...more

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Sep 02, 2012 Gerald Kinro rated it 3 of 5 stars

Chrichton enters the world of nanotechnology. On Oahu, a new technology of shrinking objects, including humans, has given rise to the potential of biological prospecting. Seven brilliant graduate students have been recruited from Cambridge, Ma. To work on this project. They are immediately thrust into an environment that is hostile, to begin with, and augmented by the instability and avarice of the company’s president.

This is not one of Chrichton’s better works. The plot has too many coincidenc...more

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Aug 06, 2012 Jesse Lopez rated it 4 of 5 stars

What makes this book so great is that like all Michael Crichton books, he combines science with fiction. This makes his books both educating and entertaining. This book is especially significant since it is the last book he ever wrote. However, he died before he could complete the book. In some places you can tell that the writing is done by another author, but for the most part, he does a good job mimicking the writing style of Michael Crichton.

The story begins when several graduate students ar...more

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Aug 04, 2012 Matt Daoust rated it 3 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. *Warning* DO NOT READ THIS IF YOU DONT WANT THE WHOLE BOOK RUINED IF YOU HAVEN'T READ IT!

I would give this book 3.5 stars, I wanted to say 4, but there were some parts where I hoped that the plot developed differently. I really enjoyed the beginning of the book, although it had to take time to develop the characters, I was drawn into the mystery of what was going on at Nanigen and the reason the detective and 2 others were slowly cut up in the lab. Once the book dove into the scientist getting d...more *Warning* DO NOT READ THIS IF YOU DONT WANT THE WHOLE BOOK RUINED IF YOU HAVEN'T READ IT!

I would give this book 3.5 stars, I wanted to say 4, but there were some parts where I hoped that the plot developed differently. I really enjoyed the beginning of the book, although it had to take time to develop the characters, I was drawn into the mystery of what was going on at Nanigen and the reason the detective and 2 others were slowly cut up in the lab. Once the book dove into the scientist getting dumped in the forest, the facts that I learned about all the insects were fascinating and unexpected. I was throw a little by how graphic the book was about people getting ripped apart by ants and other insects. Another aspect that confused me (LARGE SPOILER AHEAD) was when I thought I had the main character pegged as Peter, the novel goes and blows him to pieces, and the next thing I know, the novel becomes a slow romance between Rick and Karen. And Danny Minot slowly became a pain in the ass (Just Saying--didn't like his character)! I don't know exactly where Crichton left off and Preston picked up, but you can sense the change. I didn't like the transition very much and wish I could have read how Crichton ended the book, but we are not allowed that luxury. There were so many different things going on in the book at one time that at one point I looked at how many pages were left and thought to myself how is this going to finish in these few amount of pages. But THANKFULLY (sarcasm intended) Dan Mankele decided that he would turn Drake in...I just wish that Wantanabe would have found more, but whatever. Overall this review makes it seem like I didn't enjoy the book, I really did, the nanotechnology was interesting, the plot kept me reading, and I wanted to find out what happened, but some things (above & a couple more) weren't my favorite. I was also curious what others thought about the end, what flew out of the purse (Ben Rourke--its a stretch) and will Preston make a sequel to it...he sets it up like there might be, but then again Crichton is gone so it'd be him flying solo and I don't know about that. If you're into action, mystery and science then this is a good read #goforit!(less)

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About Michael Crichton

Michael Crichton was an American author, film producer, film director, and television producer. His books sold over 150 million copies world wide, and among his best-known works were techno-thriller novels, films and television programs. His works were usually based on the action genre and heavily feature technology. Many of his future history novels had medical or scientific underpinnings, reflec...more

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“She had been living like a hermit herself, in a cramped, seedy apartment in Somerville, spending long hours in the lab. All-nighters had become a regular thing. She didn't have any close friends, didn't go out on dates, didn't even go to the movies by herself. She had sacrificed a normal life in order to get a PhD, and become a scientist.” — 6 people liked it

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