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Summary: Recipe for a Chrichton thriller
Review: Ingredients:Pioneering scientist on the cutting edge.
Potential for big profits on new technology. Combine ingredients. Apply nature's surprising complexity, complete with many interesting but preachy tangents. When things begin to go horribly wrong, mix in male protagonist with scientific background and high virtue. After 350 pages, a few characters will be killed off but the hero will escape in a helicopter after eradicating the man-made atrocity.
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Summary: none
Review: Crichton engages the readers mind, satisfying both their technological curiousity as well as their appetite for a good thriller. Gary S. Potter Author/Poet
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Summary: You must read this...
Review: Simply put, Michael Crichton has composed a modern age, technological thriller that will keep you turning the pages. I personally read it in two days flat. The plot centers around "nanotechnology" and Xymos, a company that has created a mechanical swarm that can evolve and survive on it's own. Julia Forman, a vice president of the company, has been acting very strangely and working long hours. Unemployed, stay-at-home husband Jack suspects Julia is having an affair with her co-worker, Ricky. As one of the original writers of the code that Xymos uses, Jack is quickly hired and sent to investigate what went wrong, although he will find more than just an affair going on... I thought the book was totally gripping, it kept you immersed in the story and wouldn't let you go. If you are into technology, science, or simply want a good read, I recommend this book. I do have a few complaints about it. At times, Crichton gets sidetracked and goes into explanations (through the main character) about nanotechnology. In addition, I didn't really like how the ending turned out, I thought it could have been done a better way, and it left me feeling like parts of the story weren't resolved (I won't give it away for those of you who have yet to read it). In any event, it certainly deserves a look.
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Summary: Read This Before It's Too Late
Review: Crichton is back in top form. It's Jurassic Park for a post 9/11 era. Michael Crichton proves that he's ahead of the game once again. With all this talk about Biological Weapons, Anthrax, and Smallpox, this book is pretty scary. After Jurassic Park, everyone wanted to make a clone. All beware, this book WILL set the tone for technology. Crichton's knowledge is endless and he's not afraid to educate and entertain.
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Summary: Disintegrates towards the middle
Review: I like some of Michael Crichton's works. In fact, Disclosure was a great read, Congo very interesting with the adventure and the lovable Amy. However, I somehow feel that though he is a pretty good writer with a gift for cutting edge technology, somehow, he doesn't have the same grip for defining characters or describing action sequences.
While the concepts of nanotechnology and artificial life were interesting enough to provoke me into reading up some in depth material on Genetic Algorithm and AI, the repeated action sequences with the swarm keeping on attacking the characters got more than a little boring.
While I was pleasantly surprised with Crichton's promising depiction of Forman's family and inter personal relationships in the first one third of the book, it soon went haywire and the plot shifted totally to the long drawn out chases by the swarm then onwards.
The only reason I did not give the book two stars was is the fact that the concepts of Genetic Algorithm and Distributed Computing are wonderfully explained and really whets the readers appetite into reading more into it.
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Summary: Been there, done that-and it was better thirty years ago.
Review: Face it. We don't read Crichton's novels for the characterizations. We read them to hear the professor lecture about something interesting from the vantage point of some God-awful situation caused by whatever it is the lecture is about. And it's good schtick--usually. This time out, however, the professor has pretty much retreaded Andromeda Strain, but without the attention to detail. The Concepts here are autonomous behavior that emerges from certain types of computer programs and nanotechnology running amok under the influence of said programs. The problem with the book is that the Professor only knows that this combination is Something Bad. He really doesn't know how to describe the workings of either one in any way that is dramatic or even novel. The end result is a mind numbing repetition of the basic concept propped up by an endless succession of obvious small cliffhangers in each chapter. Worse, well before the end of the book you realize that Chrichton has done this all before (see the microbes of Andromeda Strain) with much better attention to the small details that have led us in the past to invest our time and money. Bottom line: Let this one go. It's too derivative in its story and too uninventive in its conceptualization to be worth the investment.
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Summary: Worth Reading
Review: Michael Crichton, author of such novels as Jurassic Park, has left his gigantic creatures in favor of a smaller size swarm. Prey exhibits a deadly cat and mouse game with a twist unlike anything Crichton has written before. No longer can the characters run away. They must stand up and face the evil, which consist of a swarm of tiny robots. Overall Prey is a good book that is worth reading. The suspense equals or surpasses that of Jurassic Park, however the plot did not stack up. The beginning can be boring at times but it does get better as the novel progresses. The biggest problem comes in the form of scientific information. Not only can this confuse the reader with a lot of technical information, but it also does not mention certain weaknesses that the characters use later in the novel. A certain element in the book explains it but it really does not get the job done (can't tell it because it would wreck the book :) ). Prey does have many solid points. Once it gets going, it really hooks the reader. The suspense in Prey feels different than in Crichton's other novels. This book seems very realistic because the technology could really be in the near future. Thinking of this could bring a shutter to the reader. Could such a thing really happen? Yes. Surviving the fight with this terrible swarm of nano-particles on the loose also proves to be an interesting ordeal. No longer is anyone safe by hiding. The twists in the plot really make the novel interesting. Most of the twists leave the reader thinking what can happen next; however, some seem corny. Things happen that seem to much like a cheap movie and make the end seem bizarre. The book could have ended a lot better if it was not for a certain unnecessary scene. Prey really is a good book. It has a few flaws, but most books do. The pro's really outweigh the con's so this book is one to read. Prey should not be past up by fans of sci-fi or Crichton.
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Summary: Great book!
Review: this was highly intersting and suspenceful. Jack is a lovable character, and one roots for him, through this weird ordeal he got himself into. The enemy is hard to evade, since it can be invisible, unless it forms into a big black swarm. It's kinda like the 1986 Chernobly accident, the invisible radioactive rays that killed so many people. The silent and invisible enemy! You think it's not there, untill you see what happens to ya!
awesome book, one of Crichtons bests!
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Summary: Microrobotic Terror
Review: Michael Crichton has frightened us for years with stories of plague and microbiological skulduggery or ineptness leading to horrifying environments. In Prey, his newest, Crichton recombines the DNA of computer technology, nanotechnology, and biotechnology to produce a cutting edge thriller of high tech misfeasance and edge of disaster suspense.
Jack is an unemployed programmer turned technology applications manager. He is unemployed because he blew the whistle on shenanigans by his superiors in his Silicon Valley company. While looking for a new job, he is a house-husband. His wife, also a high-tech manager, is under extreme stress at her company, which is trying to find venture capital to bring out a really breakthrough product that will revolutionize diagnostic medicine. The stress, or something, is causing a personality change that is almost as worrisome to Jack as his difficulties in finding a new job. Is Julia really working all those long hours, or is she having an affair? She certainly seems to be setting up a strong case for herself in a custody hearing if divorce is imminent. The baby experiences a strange episode of sickness, then Julia is in an auto accident. Then Jack's old company wants to hire him back as a consultant to solve problems that Julia's company is having with some software that Jack originally developed.
While Julia is hospitalized Jack heads for the manufacturing facility in Nevada (that he didn't even knew existed) for a couple of days to solve the problems. There he discovers problems far in excess of any he has been told about, and all of the crew are isolated and besieged by manmade horror. Since the story is told as a flashback, readers know that all will come right in the end, or do they?
Crichton has once again showed us the potentially horrible results from humans messing with the environment. Of course, this is fiction and could never happen for real - could it?
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Summary: A Return to Form
Review: It's the story of nanotechnology gone awry. Crichton does a great job of walking you through the technical stuff that makes up the nanotechnology monster and creates some fantastic characters. The protagonist is a stay at home Dad who must battle runaway technology, a bizarre wife, an evil boss, and a nosy sister, all while taking care of three kids - including the double trouble of a teenage girl and a 9 month old infant. I wasn't impressed with his last two novels, but this book represents a return to form. I read this in two nights. If you like techno thrillers, this is a great one.
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