An improvement on "State Of Fear": The last of Michael Crichton's books I read was the poorly received "State OF Fear". I didn't enjoy that, so it really put me off buying any of his books for a while.

When I went on holidays I thought I'd take the plunge as his books are often easy to read. Having studied AI and agents in college, I found that it was an easy read from the science background but I think the average Joe would also be able to pick up on the key points he plotted through the book.

Maybe it was because I had knowledge in this field or that I'm a sci-fi/horror fan that I found that I knew roughly what would happen before it did. Or maybe it's his recent writing style as this was a problem with "State Of Fear", but there was still enough substance and tension in the plot to make this a good read.

One big puzzle was the transformation in the main character from inactive, passive character who didn't challenge his wife at the start of the book, in spite of suspecting that she was having an affair, into the action hero who popped up two thirds of the way through story.

Take a chance on this book even if you've been burned with "State Of Fear"(