Rating: 
Summary: Crichton's a lightning rod....
Review: All Michael Crichton has to do is produce a new book every 3 years or so to start the great debates. Does he preach too much? Does he really entertain? Is he a novelist, or just getting rich from publishing because he knows he doesn't have to write, just package the same thrills over and over, and the public will buy?
You either enjoy the ride with Crichton, or you hate it. I personally was overwhelmed and much in favor of "Timeline", but
I know many people thought it atrocious. With Crichton, I'm really on board for the ride, just to see what he has up his sleeve this time....in Prey, he's done his job - given the reader a different slant on his entertaining premise, that corporate villains will subvert science and technology for their own gains, oblivious to the effect on the human race. His story holds your interest until the end, and he's done at least some homework in the field of nanotechnology...and only 1 out of 100 readers will be able to catch the flaws.
Like as not, when you are reading thrillers, most readers don't expect sound characterization and dialogue, and Crichton tries hard in this arena, and does an adequate job. But his hero is worth rooting for, and his plot sufficiently engrossing enough to make you stay awake reading far into the night.
I buy and read Crichton for what his books are, and not for what they are not. I thought "Prey" was an able attempt to make the public aware of the perils of nanotechnology, while entertaining us all. I fall short of wanting to see this made into a movie, after the horrendous treatment of "Congo", but I guess you can't have everything. And I'm sure that Crichton's next book will be about corporate baddies who risk human lives by perverting science in a nonethical way...and I'll probably buy and enjoy that as well!
Formulaic? Yes...Entertaining? Most certainly! Enjoy!
Rating: 
Summary: A list of descriptors
Review: + Easy to read
+ Page turner
+ Formulaic plot
+ Good backdrop of real science
+ Cautionary tale
Rating: 
Summary: Not his best
Review: The story's okay; not bad, not great either, definitely not his best. It starts slowly, graduates in the second third, and then it keeps the pace till the end, which doesn't bring any big surprises though; not for an observant reader anyway. The author made several mistakes when explaining software related topics. For example, the passage about recursive algorithms is not exactly correct, and the one code example he used is so bad it made me think Crichton's software advisor had to work for Apple, part-time at least.
The book reads more like a movie script than a novel. I think there's a great movie potential in this book. Actually, this could be the first movie based on a Crichton's novel that could be better then the original. I hope so.
Don't let these negative comments of mine to dissuade you from reading this novel. It's still a Michael Crichton, after all. Chances are if you liked his other novels you will probably enjoy Prey as well.
Rating:
Summary: A little confusing, but still good.
Review: An imaginative leap in Crichton's work. After reading Jurrasic Park, I became a dedicated fan of his work. This book, although confusing at times, show's how dedicated he is to providing accurate information in his science-fiction novels.
With an origional storyline,it's nonstop action after passing the rather dragged out beggining. At times it can be hard to follow (mostly when a discussion of nano-technology is happening), but altogether it is a well thought out and well written book.
I would definently recomend you purchase it.
Rating:
Summary: Techno-Thriller
Review: Michael Crichton has again succeded in getting the combination of technical and thrilling moments in the book. Like all his books he is very much bothered about consequence of a new technology that can have unpredicatble results unforseen. Characters in the book were mostly one dimensional but Crichton anyway focuses more on plot than on characterization. Must read for all Crichton fans.
Rating:
Summary: One of his best
Review: Crichton returns to top form with "Prey". This time out his protagonist must deal with an apparent crisis at a fabrication plant in Nevada. Jack Forman is a programmer, and presumably the underlying difficulty is a code glitch, but events seems to implicate the plant's use of nanotechnology, and some mysterious behavior by Jack's wife, a top executive at the fabrication plant.None of these elements would distinguish this book from a hundred other thrillers, but Crichton brings some special ingredients to the mix: fewer cliches than most of his peers, though more than I would have liked; a plausible technology well backed by information; a slick writing style that goes down like ice cream; more attention to character development than usual. As compared with some recent Crichton efforts, notably "Timeline" and "Airframe" this book is taut and quite brief. The characters are better written, the situations much less implausible. This book marks a return to the form of "Andromeda Strain" and "Jurassic Park" Most of the action occurs within a forty-eight hour period, and Crichton does a good job of showing how the limits of time and the characters' knowledge of the situation restrict their choices. I believe that some other reviewers considered these "holes" in the plot, but I cannot agree. Jack would have done things differently had he known what he was getting into, but he plausibly does not know these things. The technology under discussion here, nanotechnology, has been a fixture of science fiction and science speculation for over fifteen years. Experienced SciFi readers might approach this book with a certain amount of reserve, wondering why it took Crichton so long to follow Drexler, "Blood Music", "Gryphon", "Nanotech Chronicles", "Assemblers of Infinity" and "Aristoi", among others.But Crichton writes thrillers, rather than pure Science Fiction, and his take on nanotechnology owes as much to population biology, artificial life, emergent behavior, and microbial behavior as it does to K. Eric Drexler. He has clearly read a good deal, his bibliography was lovely, and he only fell into the didactic mode about 5 times during the novel-- not much for Crichton. "Prey" is told in the first person, and the character of Jack Forman dominates the novel. Crichton invests far more effort than usual in giving Jack depth, and the results are quite pleasing. Much of the early section of the book takes place against the backdrop of Jack's career as a stay-at-home Dad, buying place mats and picking kids up from soccer practice. Some readers, seeking escape from a similar life, will not find this part entertaining. But it does ground Jack's character in a reality different from the technocrisis, a new twist for Crichton. As stated above, the book is quite brief, and seems shorter than it is. The climax and ending come with the speed of a short story, and the resolution seems to make far too little emotional impact on the protagonist. The emphasis on Jack also drains most of the life out of the other characters--- they are mere acquaintances of Jack's, and it shows. None of this really detracts from the book, and the refusal to milk the ending may simply show restraint by a seasoned writer. I confess that I am writing this review because I find too many of the other posted reviews unjustly harsh. Comparing "Prey" with recent work by Clancy, Preston and Child, and other work by Crichton himself makes this book look even better. It has definite limitations, to be sure, but within those it has a richness the competition can only envy.
Rating:
Summary: Drama plus accurate science
Review: Crichton did a very good job in drawing drama out of science. Some readers may have a problem with the depth of characters other than Jack Forman, but for me and most other geeks and nerds, the plot plus accurate science is the priority. I've been reading about genetic algorithms, complex adaptive systems, predator-prey processes and emergence phenomena for years and this book brings those ideas together in a great science fiction suspense-horror story, complete with monsters, slime and grotesque dead bodies. I see a problem with the death scene of the infected characters. Given that the E. coli simply give feedstock molecules to manufacture of future nanostructures, if all the E. coli in a swarm die, the swarm wouldn't die instantly. So, the people infected with virus wouldn't die immediately. This is about the only glaring mistake that I could find, given my limited knowledge. However, I may be missing some other clue.
Rating: 
Summary: "Prey" Preys on Unsuspecting Buyers
Review: Save your money and just go see the movie, when it inevitably comes out. "Prey" is nothing more than a script; It's a verbal storyboard with near-vacuous paragraphs substituing for subtitles. I've become disillusioned with Michael Crichton's "formula" novels that may have an interesting plot but no development - style but no substance - and will probably not bother with another Crichton novel. That's a real shame, given what he's contributed over the years. "Prey" could have been a fascinating look at the 21st-century confluence of corporate greed, social relationships, biology, computing and nanomanufacturing technology. Crichton had the potential to develop the characters and the imagery into an epic, with a mature plot line and dozens (if not hundreds) of intertwined subplots. Instead, we get an awkward first-person rendition of mostly monosyllabic dialogue written to eighth graders - perfect for the movie studio, but terribly unfulfilling to the reader. This book could have been a classic but instead, it won't even be a footnote. In the kitchen of science fiction, this book qualifies as a rice cake: bland and not very filling.
Rating:
Summary: plausible science; subtract one for implausible humans
Review: I have read all of Crichton's novels, I like this one the best. It made something outlandish almost believable (moreso than dinos coming back) through good explanations. I actually learned some useful things about emergent behavior programming and I work in software. I am reaching for the Google to verify him and pick up where he left off. Some of the human reactions though, were implausible. Example: Jack's former firm built cutting edge software and he catches employees on the take by installing email snoop software? Or: what happened to everybody else at the plant, they just dissolve while the action revolves around the small cast of programmers.
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining in places, mostly good science
Review: The science is well researched and interesting, but told as too much exposition and not enough worked into the story itself. The characters are reaonably well drawn, and the silicon valley atmosphere (before the crash) is recognizable although a little too much of a stereotyype. The first two thirds of the story run well, but starts to get fantastic towards the end and the denouement is a little too far fetched, although if you can manage a willing suspension of disbelief it's quite thirlling. It does manage to keep you guessing to the end. If you like Crichton you should like this somewhat formulaic novel, and for sci fi fans generally it's worth a read. Not the kind of book you are likely to read more than once. It does have a good bibliography for those who want to follow up on the science. The Amazon editor provides a good plot outline.
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