Prey

Rating:
Summary: An immensely exciting, worthy novel
Review: Although he will never win the Nobel Prize for literature, Michael Crichton is, to my mind, the only readable mainstream writer. That he also happens to be one of the most successful - and richest - does not in any way cheapen that. His writings, from the start, have been highly technical, and certainly a lot more meaty than the standard bestseller fare. The fact that he has such an exceptional history in sales owes more to his ideas (bringing back dinosaurs, anyone?) than to his actual writing style or crossover potential. Crichton has long had a knack for taking hot contemporary issues (American-Japanese relations, sexual harrassment, airplane problems) and turning them into interesting, learned, and highly readable novels. He continues this trend with his newest book, Prey. Of course, Crichton does enjoy his mainstream success while juggling complex material for a reason: his books are inevitably fun, fast-paced and exciting, and highly suspenseful. He writes in such a way that his books are almost impossible to put down (I read the great majority of this book in one marathon early morning session - staying up until 7:30 in the morning - because I absolutely could not pry my fingers away from the book.) Crichton tackles a new - and emerging, though not exactly prescient - subject in this novel: nanotechnology. While this is not as exciting or appealing to the average Joe as dinosaurs, it has the Janus-esque virtue of being appealing to the tech nerds who read Crichton's books - and is also written in such an exciting and invigorating way that the normal, everyday reader won't care. Narrarated in the first-person, this book starts out slowly, as Crichton novels tend to, as we see life through the eyes of an ex-computer programmer - now an unemployed stay-at-home dad. One must admire Crichton for taking risks in his books: despite his well-earned reputation and instant commercial potential, he still tackles complex and controversial issues such as gender roles in domestic situations. The protagonist of Prey takes care of the kids, cooks, and shops while his wife works late hours, is consistently late, and sometimes never shows up at all. Eventually, he begins to think she is having an affair - all of which adds up to an interesting subplot for the book. The book is somewhat oddly paced, as it starts out slowly and then, very suddenly and without warning, drops right into the main action part of the book - which goes on almost non-stop for roughly three fourths of the novel (not to mention Crichton's frequent technical discussions.) Still, this is a book that I think everyone can enjoy, as it is written very appealingly, while also incorporating some very provocative and interesting concepts. It may be easy, in light of the long and storied history of literature, to dismiss Crichton as a mere template writer (his actual prose has never been anything to write home about), but I think that, in today's almost totally stagnant literary climate, he serves a useful function: introducing complex, technical subjects to the masses. There hasn't really been a writer who has done that consistently since H.G. Wells. We should be thankful for him. Prey is an immensely exciting and quite worthy novel, a distinct improvement over his last book, Timeline, that all fans of Crichton, and all of today's readers, would be rewarded by picking up.

Rating:
Summary: A Very Impressive Read
Review: I read this book over two days. It's definitely a page-turner in the same league as The Andromeda Strain or Jurassic Park. But best of all, it gets down to the science of "science fiction" in ways I think some of his other novels (Disclosure, The Lost World) seem to have neglected. While it's not "hard science fiction" (e.g., the sample computer code in the novel doesn't even make an attempt at looking like a recognizable programming language), it has enough scientific detail to keep the SF fan interested. The characters are also surprisingly well-thought-out, especially for a Crichton novel (where the characters are normally not nearly as important as the concepts). All in all, I would recommend this book to SF fans who were interested in a good read, or any reader who is interested in being introduced to Crichton's writing.

Rating:
Summary: This is an awesome novel!
Review: Jack Forman didn't think it could happen to him, he was a leader in the programming field, with a team of young programmers at the hottest company in the field, but to his surprise he was let go, given no choice by the company bigwigs who used Jack as the fall-guy in the shady dealings that were going on.

Now, a house-husband, Jack is getting the kids ready for school, taking his son to soccer practice, and getting their meals ready while his wife Julia is working for Xymos, a leader in the technology field. Things are okay for awhile, but slowly Julia starts to change...her moods change fast and furiously, and she gets home from work later and later, until an accident sends Jack on a mission to uncover the truth about his wife, and the company she works for.

Taking a job for Xymos, Jack begins probing fellow employees for information on the company, but nothing could prepare him for what he finds at the lab in Nevada, a lab where a techno/bio experiment has gone horribly wrong.

Jack and a group of researchers become trapped in the lab by an unidentified force, a force driven by the lust for flesh, a swarm-like force known as PredPrey.

As the swarm keeps the group captive, Jack and his workers find out the swarm is of the utmost intelligence, and it was man-made. Xymos is the behind this creation, and Jack's wife Julia may be a key player in this nightmare.

Jack and his workers must do battle in a war where the swarm must be destroyed, or mankind as we know it will never be the same.

'Prey' is an awesome thriller; fast-paced, expertly written, with a nightmare plot ripped from today's headlines. From page one you are held captive as the plot twists and turns, never exposing too much, until halfway through where all the secrets start coming together. The book keeps picking up speed to the exciting, surprising climax.

What can be said about Michael Crichton...the man is a genius, he takes a what if plot and makes it totally believable. As in his other novels, Mr. Crichton keeps the reader stunned with every turn of the page.

This is DEFINITE MUST READ NOVEL!

Nick Gonnella

Rating:
Summary: The Andromeda Strain meets Jurassic Park
Review: Prey is Crichton at his best.

Meet Jack, out-of-work, software designer who has become a house husband.

Meet Jack's wife Julia, super committed executive on the cutting edge of the biotech field.

Meet Jack's kids, a baby with a fever rash that is cured by an MRI and a son who sees ghosts.

Meet Julia's co-workers (those that are still alive), they are just a little bit strange.

Crichton takes us to a world where science meets ethics. Naturally, ethics fails when it meets the bottom line. Just as Jurassic Park warned us about the dangers of tampering with things not fully understood, Prey opens a world where can it be done is never balanced with should it be done. To say more would give the thrill away.

Prey is a truly frightening novel and I was up way past my bedtime finishing it. This one book that is a MUST MUST read! But keep a light just in case the black cloud shows up.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting scientific speculation with a new Crichton style
Review: As in all Michael Crichton novels, the heart of this novel is Crichton's fascinating scientific speculation--in this novel about the implications of Nanotechnology. Nanotechnology is the science of manufacturing microscopic machines. This novel speculates about what might happen if this technology ran amok.

I've read nearly all of Crichton's books, and this one is remarkably different from the others as regards the writing style. This novel is not written with Crichton's usual detached, third-person style, moving periodically among characters. Instead, the narrative is in the first person--everything is seen from the perspective of one protagonist, who slowly, gradually, realizes the horror of the situation in which he finds himself. The overall effect of this change in style is that the book is a much easier read than most of Crichton's other work. In fact, it is fair to say that more than most of Crichton's other novels, this one is a real page-turner. Mostly he does not sacrifice depth for this, and he does achieve a higher degree of clarity than in some of his other novels, notably "Timeline."

Some of Crichton's scientific prognostications are (as usual for him) absolutely fascinating. He clearly and convincingly explains how nanotechnology may come together as a fusion between mechanical and genetic engineering, and computer science. Unfortunately, in my opinion in this novel he goes a bit too "far out" in that I did not find his speculation about the ultimate conclusion of the technology to be plausible. Most Crichton novels pass the "plausibility test"--even "Timeline" did an acceptable job of suggesting a convincing scenario in which time travel might be possible--a difficult task indeed. While I found some of Crichton's speculation about where nanotechnology might lead to be fascinating, some parts of this speculation seemed forced and ultimately not believable. This lack of plausibility dropped this one to three stars in my opinion.

The ending of the novel is also not very satisfying. Crichton could have done better. Spoilers omitted here.

Despite the flaws mentioned here, this book is a ripping good read and every Crichton fan or lover of science fiction will want to read this one.

Rating:
Summary: couldnt put it down
Review: I read the first part in Borders and figured I may as well by the thing. Took it to Starbucks the next day and polished the rest off. Crichton does not relent and takes you nonstop through the world of nanontechnology. You are still kept guessing up until the last act, but smart readers will probably figure out what is happening before hand. Nonetheless there are enough surprises, relevations, and crichton's signature "technology excerpts" to keep you going and make you feel involved and understand the nature of the technology the characters are against.

Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Nasty little nanocritters
Review: Michael Crichton takes us back to the complex world of computer technology in his latest book, a non-stop page-turner about a cloud of nanoparticles -- manmade micromachines -- that have escaped (or were they released?) from a laboratory in the Nevada desert and proceed to raise all kinds of mayhem. These critters may be micron-sized, but they cause some macro-sized trouble. They operate in a swarm. They're smart. They learn from experience. They've been programmed to be self-sustaining and self-reproducing. And they've developed a killer instinct and an insane hunger to feed off any kind of life. Most sinister of all, they're learning how to replicate -- they can assume the shape and form of humans. And now their creators have become their prey.

Crichton is at his best when he writes about abstruse scientific and technical concepts in such a way that even the most hopeless techno-nitwit (like this reviewer) can understand what he's talking about. I've always thought Crichton missed his real calling; he would have made an absolutely superb teacher. He loves science and technology, he's read extensively (there are 44 references to genetics, nanotechnology and distributed intelligence for the reader to follow up at the end of the book), and he knows how to explain it in such a way that it seems endlessly fascinating and awe-inspiring. He's also a scientist with a social conscience, who emphasizes in "Prey" as he did in "Jurassic Park", that just because something can be done doesn't mean it should be. He's clearly disgusted with those gung-ho scientists and techies who are so involved with their work that they have lost sight of how the results will impact on the world outside the laboratory, either for good or bad.

"Prey" suffers from Crichton's usual one-dimensional characters, although his hero, Jack Forman, is a little better developed than his earlier protagonists; we see him as a concerned father (he's a calamity of the Silicon Valley implosion raising three children while his wife directs the lab that created this menace) as well as a very worried computer expert who realizes that something lethally wicked this way comes; but with Crichton the characters are never the main draw; he may be weak on characterization but he is one terrific storyteller, and "Prey", as much as "Jurassic Park", will keep you mesmerized from the first page to the last.

Rating:
Summary: Gripping and entertaining
Review: Another great read in the Crichton genre. Several years ago I read "Nano: The Emerging Science of Nanotechnology" by Ed Regis. It's equally accessible, but is non-fiction and equally entertaining.

Rating:
Summary: Jurassic Park with TINY TINY velociraptors
Review: "Prey" deserves five stars, not because its the Great American Novel, but because it's as perfect an example of the Michael Crichton Science Fiction Thriller as one could imagine. If you liked his last ten books, you'll love this one. If you're already lukewarm to his work, "Prey" won't convert you.

Any fan of Crichton will recognize the basic dynamics tensions and characters that drive the story. There's the Good Guy Scientist/Technologist. There's the Overreaching Ambitious Predatory Female (a former VC this time, rather than a lawyer-- one must move with the times, after all). There are a couple Bad Scientist/Management Types. And, finally, there a variety of lesser characters, variations of Ensign Expendable on Star Trek, the person you'd never seen on the show before who beams down to the planet and gets to look behind the quivering fanged rock. I almost called them "ancestors" of the good ensign, but they inevitably get killed off before the can reproduce, bloodying the various set-piece action scenes that commence after the set-piece tour of the remote facility slash science tutorial. Where's that critical piece of gear that will kill off the baddies once and for all? Oh no! It's not here in the super-secure control center, it's in the outbuilding. Someone must go and get it. Do the creatures have their own hiding place? Will it be found in time? Will a reluctant team member possibly lose their nerve at a critical moment?

Strangely, you know the answer, but the suspense will still kill you. Like "Jurassic Park," "Prey" is really a variation on the teen slasher film. In movies like "Friday the 13th," the story line can be summarized as: Teens Have Sex, Teens Get Killed. In "JP" and "Prey," that's been modified (evolved?) into People Do Science, People Get Killed. The science in question this time is a mix of nanotechnology, molecular-level manufacturing, and self-organizing systems. This makes "Prey" the unlikely conclusion of the Year of Books About Emergent Behavior (see Howard Rheingold's "Smart Mobs," Mark Taylor's "Moment of Complexity," Albert Laszlo Barabasi's "Linked"); but at least we go out with a bang.

This may sound cutting, but it's not really criticism. I know it's a formula, I know the story arc, I know that we'll see a version in the Cineplex 24 in Christmas 2003. And yet I buy the book the first day it's out, stay up until the wee hours finishing it, and enjoy myself greatly. Now the real suspense begins: who will direct the movie version?

Rating:
Summary: Cricthon's new novel brain candy, but plot falls just short
Review: Being a fairly diehard fan of the work of Michael Crichton, I was pretty excited when I received my copy on release morning. I picked it up and ready it straight through. The science behind the book is mind-blowing. As usual, the longtime spinster has crafted a mix of science fact and science fiction into a pretty good story. That's my biggest complaint about this novel. The story was just pretty good. Now from any other author, I think this would be an excellent read. From Crichton however, whose mind can at times be sharper than a surgeon's scalpel, this one doesn't make the cut. The plot seems forced, almost like this is an abridged version of what it was intended to be. This really takes away from the natural element of suspense that the story is capable of. Here's hoping that there will be a "director's cut" of this novel release in the future, but then again, some things never turn out how you think they will.