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Michael Crichton
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Book
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Publisher | Harper Collins | ||
ISBN | 978-000718160 | ||
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Gareth
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Synopsis
The undisputed master of the high-concept thriller has written his most gripping and entertaining book yet In Paris, a physicist dies after performing a laboratory experiment for a beautiful visitor. In the jungles of Malaysia, a mysterious buyer purchases deadly cavitation technology, built to his specifications. In Vancouver, a small research submarine is leased for use in the waters of New Guinea. And in Tokyo, an intelligence agent tries to understand what it all means. Thus begins Michael Crichton's exciting and provocative techno-thriller State of Fear. Only Crichton's unique ability to blend scientific fact with pulse-pounding fiction could bring such disparate elements to a heart-stopping conclusion. This is Crichton's most wide-ranging thriller. State of Fear takes the reader from the glaciers of Iceland to the volcanoes of Antarctica, from the Arizona desert to the deadly jungles of the Solomon Islands, from the streets of Paris to the beaches of Los Angeles. The novel races forward on a roller-coaster thrill ride, all the while keeping the brain in high gear. Gripping and thought-provoking, State of Fear is Michael Crichton at his best.
Review
Michael Crichton is always to be relied on for a gripping read, and State of Fear is no exception. It's no "Jurassic Park" but it's still heaps above any other book of its ilk. It's a little far fetched in its plot - but not it's concepts or its research. In fact, in the end, it wasn't the story that had my attention but the huge amount of information surrounding the man made global warming - in that, there is a lot of suppressed evidence that global warming isn't actually man made, and it's part of a larger cycle of things.
This was a large wake up call for me. Whether you read State of Fear and agree with it or not, I think the important thing is that you don't dismiss it. I feel that an open mind is needed, and that if even half of what is said there is true, then we seriously have to rethink our current paradigm. How much money and attention is being diverted on all this "eco-technology" when it could be used better elsewhere?
This book makes you think - more than any other writer, Michael Crichton has the ability to really make your mind work overtime. With Jurassic Park he introduced the world to the concept of gene-splicing and bringing creatures back from the dead; with "Airframe" he looked at the air-industry and some of the cover-ups that happen after accidents. Now with "State of Fear" he's looking at how society has had the wool pulled over its eyes regarding the environmental "crisis". It's well worth a read, if only for the final essay where Crichton explains his idea's behind the novel. This is heady stuff and could rock your world, in the least it might help think differently about environmentalism.
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