Okay, it's rare I stay up until 1 am reading Michael Crichton. I was interested but not that impressed with Next, but hey, you don't hit a home run every time you're up to bat, unless you're Barry Bonds or Mark McGuire. *rimshot*

Anyway, with "Prey", Crichton may have been taking performance enhancing drugs because the book was a fascinating read from start to finish. Evolutionary biology, computer modeling of natural phenomena, swarm/flock behavior, the book is full of stuff my brain loves to chew on.

A quick synopsis: Jack is a stay-at-home dad who used to model biological processes (swarm behavior, predator/prey behavior, artificial intelligence, you get the idea) using computers. His wife works for a biotech firm, brings home the bacon, and has started to act oddly. Jack suspects an affair, gets hired at the company, and discovers the company is creating intelligent nano-robots. The robots act collectively, begin to evolve, and, in the process, disregard their original programming. They learn and reproduce at an alarming rate, killing animals and humans alike for fuel, and it's up to Jack to prevent the "swarm" from spreading.

Some people may complain the plot resembles that of Jurassic Park. And it does, somewhat. Corporation biological experiment quickly spirals out of control and threatens our heroes with death. Yup, we may have been on this ride before, but it's no less exciting and fun.