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Summary: Nonsensical nanotechnoligical nightmare
Review: Michael Crichton endeavoring to create another techno thriller like his superlative Jurassic Park, comes up woefully short with his latest offering, the preposterous Prey.The premise behind the book is nanotechnology, the building of manmade machinery of incredibly small size. Jack Forman a bright fortyish unemployed computer software designer with a biology background is acting as a house husband to his three children. His wife Julia, who also has a computer background, is a V.P. of Xymos. Xymos is a company involved in nanotechnology whose major project is being funded by the Department of Defense. They are developing a super miniature undetectable surveillance camera which can be suspended in the air much like dust, in a remote facility in the Nevada desert. Xymos has been having developmental problems and the D.O.D is threatening to stop the flow of money. In addition Julia Forman has been acting very bizzarely and neglecting her family. A desperate phone called is placed to Jack Forman by Xymos to help them correct their problems as a paid consultant. He is flown out to the Nevada laboratory where he learns that a swarm of these mini cameras has escaped the facility. They have been created using both biological and computer technology originally created by Forman. Shockingly, the swarm is reproducing and evolving at a rapid pace and showing characteristics of living entities. This evolution is being nurtured by the killing and consumption of the local animal population with the Xymos technicians as their apparent next targets. This story is too far fetched to be at all plausible. I'd have to however give Crichton high marks on his imagination, intelligence and the exhaustive research he obviously put in.
Rating: 
Summary: Best since Jurassic Park
Review: What else can you say to a book like this but, wow. I had so much fun reading it that I finished it in record time and handed it off to my wife. A fun, flippant but disturbing look at nanotechnology and the ramifications of using others theories, as Ian Malcom said, "Riding on the shoulders of geniuses." The hero is the "stay at home" dad with a good sense of humor. You have to wonder if Mr. Crichton has performed this duty himself as it was very well played out and true to form. There is very little time for character buildup, but who needs it when the events are so well put together and new catastrophes unfold on every 10 pages. Crichton has not performed this type of "can't put down" writing since Jurassic Park. Although the reader figures out the ending way before everyone in the book does, it only adds to your wanting to find out when and how the characters will figure it out for themselves. The end is another great roller coaster ride from a master. Sit back, buckle up and enjoy the ride!
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Summary: Prey
Review: Michael Crichton's book was excellent. The scientific jargon lost me a couple of times. Overall the book was exciting, I couldn't put it down! The way Mr. Crichton has a habit of showing mankind of it's giant leaps in technology, but major mess ups figuring out the cons of such technology, is uncanny. Keep up the great work Mr. Crichton!
Rating: 
Summary: Gripping
Review: A great read, one that I had to read until I fell asleep, and then pick up as soon as I awoke. Crichton draws the reader in and builds an amazing story, as always. This novel in particular doesn't feel like it was written as a screen play, and is all the better for it. That most of the novel takes place within a short time period adds to the tension and increases the pace. Character development is a little weak, but better than Crichton's usual. Some characters we think we know throughout the novel but only realize our error near the end. But Crichton's greatness lies more in his ability to take modern science- or soon-to-be modern science- and twist it just slightly, raising all the ethical and moral questions that surround the issues. It has been said that the best science fiction departs from reality only slightly. If this is so, Prey is truly quality writing. In the worst of worlds, one could see the book coming to life in another thirty years. But some words of warning: the descriptions of the deaths are really too gruesome and unnecessary. And the italicized blurb which is designed to get the reader to buy the book, just before the first chapter- it gives the ending away, making it obvious as to how the characters will respond to the trauma they face. Better not to read that till the end....
Rating: 
Summary: The Author 'worked' hard on this one
Review: Crichton labored through this novel. He seems to relate well to the hero of the tale Jack Forman (Foreman?? One who supervises work. The way Crichton does here) A good Crichton novel is one in which you can tell he is in love/fascination with the subject matter. I get the feeling he was somewhat interested in this and had to get a book out the door after his last "Travel Guide." Its good, don't get me wrong. But compared to Rising Sun, Timeline, or the Great Train Robbery, Prey comes off as work...hard work. The story has a lot of build up and seems to end abruptly. Just because he gets together a voluminous amount of information...doesn't mean it swarms together with some sort of collective intelligence and creates a great story. Just like in his "Swarm" emotion or lack there of counts for a lot.
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Summary: The Crichton Formula Continues to Entertain
Review: For a summary of the plot, read the editorial reviews above. Below is analysis, and there are no spoilers. However, if you haven't read the book, please avoid some of these other reviews, as one actually ruined the end of the book for me. As a hint to other reviews: DONT INCLUDE SPOILERS IN YOUR REVIEWS, EVEN NEGATIVE REVIEWS, UNLESS YOU WARN THE READER FIRST! Down to the meat of it: Crichton is at it again with the formula that worked in Jurassic Park, Sphere, Timeline, and his other science fiction titles. The formula is different for his political thrillers like Disclosure and Airframe, but I digress. Prey follows the "plan" to the letter, dealing with the familiar themes of arrogant scientists who manipulate nature and are forced to pay the price when they are isolated from help and have to confront the "evil" face-on. Crichton writes well, as always, and his prose is easy-to-understand and clear to follow. As always, he has researched everything related to the content (including, I'm sure, a few baby books to better understand the life of an at-home husband). The only down side to this novel, other than the standardized plot mold (same plot, different technology) is the awkwardness with which he exposes the scientific principles behind the plot. He does the best a person could considering the amount of information that he is exposing, but instead of saying "maybe I should exposure less trivial information", he insists on going into detailed paragraphs about technologies that have nothing to do with the plot of the story. His description of the processing facility is awkward, appearing as an explosion of information that I skimmed over before getting back to the meat of the novel. In other words, his exposition is awkward, but its not worth ignoring the book over it. On the plus side, Crichton does his homework, delivers great suspense, and always writes some nice characters that we grow to care for. Plus his exposition rate is well-timed, keeping our interest while we uncover one piece of the puzzle at a time, and his end-of-chapter discoveries make it hard to put the book down without stopping mid-chapter. The other thing that I love about his fiction is the cinematic aspects of it. His later books appear written as if the rights are already sold to a motion picture studio (in most cases they are). Scenes are light and quick, the characters have started an annoying habit of spouting one-liners, and everything wraps up nicely in a very visual climax. This critique has turned more into a criticism of Crichton in general (he's still my favorite author though!), but most of it applies specifically to Prey, which is worth the read.
Rating:
Summary: Gripping
Review: Many years ago Michael Crichton wrote the Andromeda Strain. The Prey, in away is rewritten for today. Instead of the danger coming from a mutant microbe it comes from a man-made mutant molecule or nanoparticle, molecule size robots.
Most of the story line takes place in a Nevada test laboratory, Xynos Technology where Jack Forman who wrote the original computer code that made these runaway robots possible, must find a way to confine and eliminate them.
Crichton has, in the past written about genetic engineering (Jurassic Park and The Lost World. Growing up most of us has seen dinosaur movies and can only wonder if man fooling around with prehistoric DNA could actually achieve this. In The Prey, we not only wonder but can only think how close to reality can nanopartiles be engineered and cause all the havoc in Crichton's latest, fast moving, can't put it down thriller. Definitely a MUST read.
Rating:
Summary: awesome
Review: Another great work of fiction from Michael Crighton! I highly recommend.
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Summary: Very disappointed Crichton Fan
Review: I have to say that I was very disappointed with Crichton's latest offering. He does a very nice job of explaining the technology behind his premise. He describes the "rules of the game" as every good technothriller writer should then he breaks these rules over and over again as he tries to make the story more and more sensational. I know, you need to maintain a healthy "suspension of disbelief" to enjoy any book, but there was only so much I could take. The good news is that I read it from cover to cover in 5 days (which is pretty good for me!), so it had to have kept my attention, right?
Rating:
Summary: Great story from Silicon Valley.
Review: A great sci-fi story that encompasses high-tech and bio-tech. A 21st century Terminator.
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