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From the author of Jurassic Park, Timeline, and Sphere comes an electrifying thriller in which a shocking accusation of sexual harassment triggers a gripping psychological game of cat and mouse and threatens to derail a brilliant career.
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
“A fresh and provocative story.”—People
An up-and-coming executive at the computer firm DigiCom, Tom Sanders is a man whose corporate future is certain. But after a closed-door meeting with his new boss—a woman who is his former lover and has been promoted to the position he expected to have—Sanders finds himself caught in a nightmarish web of deceit in which he is branded the villain.
As Sanders scrambles to defend himself, he uncovers an electronic trail into the company’s secrets—and begins to grasp that a cynical and manipulative scheme has been devised to bring him down.
“Crichton writes superbly. . . . The excitement rises with each page.”—Chicago Tribune
“A heart-stop story running on several tracks at once. Disclosure is up to [Crichton’s] usual locomotive speed.”—The Boston Globe
“Expertly crafted, ingenious and absorbing.”—The Philadelphia Inquirer
Michael Crichton’s novels include The Andromeda Strain, The Great Train Robbery, Congo, Jurassic Park, Rising Sun, Disclosure, and The Lost World. He was as well the creator of the television series ER. Crichton died in 2008.
Ironically, for someone who is credited with selling over 150 million books, Crichton initially avoided writing because he didn't think he would make a living at it. So he turned to medical school instead, graduating with an M.D. from Harvard in 1969. The budding doctor had already written one award-winning novel pseudonymically (1968's A Case of Need) to help pay the bills through school; but when The Andromeda Strain came out in the same year of his med school graduation, Crichton's new career path became obvious.
The Andromeda Strain brilliantly and convincingly sets out an American scientific crisis in the form of a deadly epidemic. Its tone -- both critical of and sympathetic toward the scientific community -- set a precedent for Crichton works to come. A 1970 nonfiction work, Five Patients offers the same tone in a very different form, that being an inside look at a hospital.
Crichton's works were inspired by a remarkably curious mind. His plots often explored scientific issues -- but not always. Some of his most compelling thrillers were set against the backdrop of global trade relations (Rising Sun), corporate treachery (Disclosure) and good old-fashioned Victorian-era theft (The Great Train Robbery). The author never shied away from challenging topics, but it's obvious from his phenomenal sales that he never waxed pedantic. Writing about Prey, Crichton's cautionary tale of nanotech gone awry, The New York Times Book Review put it this way: "You're entertained on one level and you learn something on another."
On the page, Crichton's storytelling was eerily nonfictional in style. His journalistic, almost professorial, and usually third-person narration lent an air of credibility to his often disturbing tales -- in The Andromeda Strain, he went so far as to provide a fake bibliography. Along the way, he revelled in flouting basic, often subconscious assumptions: Dinosaurs are long-gone; women are workplace victims, not predators; computers are, by and large, predictable machines.
The dazzling diversity of Crichton's interests and talents became ever more evident as the years progressed. In addition to penning bestselling novels, he wrote screenplays and a travel memoir, directed several movies, created Academy Award-winning movie production software, and testified before Congress about the science of global warming -- this last as a result of his controversial 2004 eco-thriller State of Fear, a novel that reflected Crichton's own skepticism about the true nature of climate change. His views on the subject were severely criticized by leading environmentalists.
On November 4, 2008, Michael Crichton died, following a long battle against cancer. Beloved by millions of readers, his techno-thrillers and science-inflected cautionary tales remain perennial bestsellers and have spawned a literary genre all its own.
"I'm very interested in 20th-century American art."
"I have always been interested in movies and television as well as books. I see all these as media for storytelling, and I don't discriminate among them. At some periods of my life I preferred to work on movies, and at others I preferred books."
"In the early 1990s, interviewers began calling me ‘the father of the techno-thriller.' Nobody ever had before. Finally I began asking the interviewers, ‘Why do you call me that?' They said, ‘Because Tom Clancy says you are the father of the techno-thriller.' So I called Tom up and said, ‘Listen, thank you, but I'm not the father of the techno-thriller.' He said, ‘Yes you are.' I said, ‘No, I'm not, before me there were thrillers like Failsafe and Seven Days in May and The Manchurian Candidate that were techno-thrillers.' He said, ‘No, those are all political. You're the father of the techno-thriller.' And there it ended."
"My favorite recreation is to hike in the wilderness. I am fond of Hawaii."
"I used to scuba dive a lot, but haven't lately. For a time I liked to photograph sharks but like anything else, the thrill wears off. Earlier in my life I took serious risks, but I stopped when I became a parent."
"I taught myself to cook by following Indian and Szechuan recipes. They each have about 20 ingredients. I used to grind my own spices, I was really into it. Now I don't have much time to cook anymore. When I do, I cook Italian food."
"I read almost exclusively nonfiction. Most times I am researching some topic, which may or may not lead to a book. So my reading is pretty focused, although the focus can shift quickly."
"I have always been interested in whatever is missing or excluded from conventional thought. As a result I am drawn to writers who are out of fashion, bypassed, irritating, difficult, or excessive. I also like the disreputable works of famous writers. Thus I end up reading and liking Paul Feyerabend (Against Method), G. K. Chesterton (Orthodoxy, What's Wrong with the World), John Stuart Mill, Hemingway (Garden of Eden), Nietzsche, Machiavelli, Alain Finkielkraut (Defeat of the Mind), Anton Ehrenzweig (Hidden Order of Art), Arthur Koestler (Midwife Toad, Beyond Reductionism), Ian McHarg (Design with Nature), Marguerite Duras, Jung, late James M. Cain (Serenade), Paul Campos.
"Because I get up so early to work, I tend to go to bed early, around 10 or 11. So I don't go out much. I suppose I am borderline reclusive. I don't care."
MONDAY
FROM: DC/M
ARTHUR KAHN
TWINKLE/KUALA LUMPUR/MALAYSIA
TO: DC/S
TOM SANDERS
SEATTLE (AT HOME)
TOM:
CONSIDERING THE MERGER, I THOUGHT YOU SHOULD GET THIS AT HOME AND NOT THE OFFICE:
TWINKLE PRODUCTION LINES RUNNING AT 29% CAPACITY DESPITE ALL EFFORTS TO INCREASE. SPOT CHECKS ON DRIVES SHOW AVG SEEK TIMES IN 120–140 MILLISECOND RANGE WITH NO CLEAR INDICATION WHY WE ARE NOT STABLE AT SPECS. ALSO, WE STILL HAVE POWER FLICKER IN SCREENS WHICH APPEARS TO COME FROM HINGE DESIGN DESPITE IMPLEMENTATION OF DC/S FIX LAST WEEK. I DON’T THINK IT’S SOLVED YET.
HOW’S THE MERGER COMING? ARE WE GOING TO BE RICH AND FAMOUS?
CONGRATULATIONS IN ADVANCE ON YOUR PROMOTION.
ARTHUR
Tom Sanders never intended to be late for work on Monday, June 15. At 7:30 in the morning, he stepped into the shower at his home on Bainbridge Island. He knew he had to shave, dress, and leave the house in ten minutes if he was to make the 7:50 ferry and arrive at work by 8:30, in time to go over the remaining points with Stephanie Kaplan before they went into the meeting with the lawyers from Conley-White. He already had a full day at work, and the fax he had just received from Malaysia made it worse.
Sanders was a division manager at Digital Communications Technology in Seattle. Events at work had been hectic for a week, because DigiCom was being acquired by Conley-White, a publishing conglomerate in New York. The merger would allow Conley to acquire technology important to publishing in the next century.
But this latest news from Malaysia was not good, and Arthur had been right to send it to him at home. He was going to have a problem explaining it to the Conley-White people because they just didn’t—
“Tom? Where are you? Tom?”
His wife, Susan, was calling from the bedroom. He ducked his head out of the spray.
“I’m in the shower!”
She said something in reply, but he didn’t hear it. He stepped out, reaching for a towel. “What?”
“I said, can you feed the kids?”
His wife was an attorney who worked four days a week at a downtown firm. She took Mondays off, to spend more time with the kids, but she was not good at managing the routine at home. As a result, there was often a crisis on Monday mornings.
“Tom? Can you feed them for me?”
“I can’t, Sue,” he called to her. The clock on the sink said 7:34. “I’m already late.” He ran water in the basin to shave, and lathered his face. He was a handsome man, with the easy manner of an athlete. He touched the dark bruise on his side from the company touch football game on Saturday. Mark Lewyn had taken him down; Lewyn was fast but clumsy. And Sanders was getting too old for touch football. He was still in good shape—still within five pounds of his varsity weight—but as he ran his hand through his wet hair, he saw streaks of gray. It was time to admit his age, he thought, and switch to tennis.
Susan came into the room, still in her bathrobe. His wife always looked beautiful in the morning, right out of bed. She had the kind of fresh beauty that required no makeup. “Are you sure you can’t feed them?” she said. “Oh, nice bruise. Very butch.” She kissed him lightly, and pushed a fresh mug of coffee onto the counter for him. “I’ve got to get Matthew to the pediatrician by eight-fifteen, and neither one of them has eaten a thing, and I’m not dressed. Can’t you please feed them? Pretty please?” Teasing, she ruffled his hair, and her bathrobe fell open. She left it open and smiled. “I’ll owe you one . . .”
“Sue, I can’t.” He kissed her forehead distractedly. “I’ve got a meeting, I can’t be late.”
She sighed. “Oh, all right.” Pouting, she left.
Sanders began shaving.
A moment later he heard his wife say, “Okay, kids, let’s go! Eliza, put your shoes on.” This was followed by whining from Eliza, who was four, and didn’t like to wear shoes. Sanders had almost finished shaving when he heard, “Eliza, you put on those shoes and take your brother downstairs right now!” Eliza’s reply was indistinct, and then Susan said, “Eliza Ann, I’m talking to you!” Then Susan began slamming drawers in the hall linen closet. Both kids started to cry.
Eliza, who was upset by any display of tension, came into the bathroom, her face scrunched up, tears in her eyes. “Daddy . . . ,” she sobbed. He put his hand down to hug her, still shaving with his other hand.
“She’s old enough to help out,” Susan called, from the hallway.
“Mommy,” she wailed, clutching Sanders’s leg.
“Eliza, will you cut it out.”
At this, Eliza cried more loudly. Susan stamped her foot in the hallway. Sanders hated to see his daughter cry. “Okay, Sue, I’ll feed them.” He turned off the water in the sink and scooped up his daughter. “Come on, Lize,” he said, wiping away her tears. “Let’s get you some breakfast.”
He went out into the hallway. Susan looked relieved. “I just need ten minutes, that’s all,” she said. “Consuela is late again. I don’t know what’s the matter with her.”
Sanders didn’t answer her. His son, Matt, who was nine months old, sat in the middle of the hallway banging his rattle and crying. Sanders scooped him up in his other arm.
“Come on, kids,” he said. “Let’s go eat.”
When he picked up Matt, his towel slipped off, and he clutched at it. Eliza giggled. “I see your penis, Dad.” She swung her foot, kicking it.
“We don’t kick Daddy there,” Sanders said. Awkwardly, he wrapped the towel around himself again, and headed downstairs.
Susan called after him: “Don’t forget Matt needs vitamins in his cereal. One dropperful. And don’t give him any more of the rice cereal, he spits it out. He likes wheat now.” She went into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her.
His daughter looked at him with serious eyes. “Is this going to be one of those days, Daddy?”
“Yeah, it looks like it.” He walked down the stairs, thinking he would miss the ferry and that he would be late for the first meeting of the day. Not very late, just a few minutes, but it meant he wouldn’t be able to go over things with Stephanie before they started, but perhaps he could call her from the ferry, and then—
“Do I have a penis, Dad?”
“No, Lize.”
“Why, Dad?”
“That’s just the way it is, honey.”
“Boys have penises, and girls have vaginas,” she said solemnly.
“That’s right.”
“Why, Dad?”
“Because.” He dropped his daughter on a chair at the kitchen table, dragged the high chair from the corner, and placed Matt in it. “What do you want for breakfast, Lize? Rice Krispies or Chex?”
“Chex.”
Matt began to bang on his high chair with his spoon. Sanders got the Chex and a bowl out of the cupboard, then the box of wheat cereal and a smaller bowl for Matt. Eliza watched him as he opened the refrigerator to get the milk.
“Dad?”
“What.”
“I want Mommy to be happy.”
“Me too, honey.”
He mixed the wheat cereal for Matt, and put it in front of his son. Then he set Eliza’s bowl on the table, poured in the Chex, glanced at her. “Enough?”
“Yes.”
He poured the milk for her.
“No, Dad!” his daughter howled, bursting into tears. “I wanted to pour the milk!”
“Sorry, Lize—”
“Take it out—take the milk out—” She was shrieking, completely hysterical.
“I’m sorry, Lize, but this is—”
“I wanted to pour the milk!” She slid off her seat to the ground, where she lay kicking her heels on the floor. “Take it out, take the milk out!”
His daughter did this kind of thing several times a day. It was, he was assured, just a phase. Parents were advised to treat it with firmness.
“I’m sorry,” Sanders said. “You’ll just have to eat it, Lize.” He sat down at the table beside Matt to feed him. Matt stuck his hand in his cereal and smeared it across his eyes. He, too, began to cry.
Sanders got a dish towel to wipe Matt’s face. He noticed that the kitchen clock now said five to eight. He thought that he’d better call the office, to warn them he would be late. But he’d have to quiet Eliza first: she was still on the floor, kicking and screaming about the milk. “All right, Eliza, take it easy. Take it easy.” He got a fresh bowl, poured more cereal, and gave her the carton of milk to pour herself. “Here.”
She crossed her arms and pouted. “I don’t want it.”
“Eliza, you pour that milk this minute.”
His daughter scrambled up to her chair. “Okay, Dad.”
Sanders sat down, wiped Matt’s face, and began to feed his son. The boy immediately stopped crying, and swallowed the cereal in big gulps. The poor kid was hungry. Eliza stood on her chair, lifted the milk carton, and splashed it all over the table. “Uh-oh.”
“Never mind.” With one hand, he wiped the table with the dish towel, while with the other he continued to feed Matt.
Eliza pulled the cereal box right up to her bowl, stared fixedly at the picture of Goofy on the back, and began to eat. Alongside her, Matt ate steadily. For a moment, it was calm in the kitchen.
Sanders glanced over his shoulder: almost eight o’clock. He should call the office.
Susan came in, wearing jeans and a beige sweater. Her face was relaxed. “I’m sorry I lost it,” she said. “Thanks for taking over.” She kissed him on the cheek.
“Are you happy, Mom?” Eliza said.
“Yes, sweetie.” Susan smiled at her daughter, and turned back to Tom. “I’ll take over now. You don’t want to be late. Isn’t today the big day? When they announce your promotion?”
“I hope so.”
“Call me as soon as you hear.”
“I will.” Sanders got up, cinched the towel around his waist, and headed upstairs to get dressed. There was always traffic in town before the 8:20 ferry. He would have to hurry to make it.
He parked in his spot behind Ricky’s Shell station, and strode quickly down the covered walkway to the ferry. He stepped aboard moments before they pulled up the ramp. Feeling the throb of the engines beneath his feet, he went through the doors onto the main deck.
“Hey, Tom.”
He looked over his shoulder. Dave Benedict was coming up behind him. Benedict was a lawyer with a firm that handled a lot of high-tech companies. “Missed the seven-fifty, too, huh?” Benedict said.
“Yeah. Crazy morning.”
“Tell me. I wanted to be in the office an hour ago. But now that school’s out, Jenny doesn’t know what to do with the kids until camp starts.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Madness at my house,” Benedict said, shaking his head.
There was a pause. Sanders sensed that he and Benedict had had a similar morning. But the two men did not discuss it further. Sanders often wondered why it was that women discussed the most intimate details of their marriages with their friends, while men maintained a discreet silence with one another.
“Anyway,” Benedict said. “How’s Susan?”
“She’s fine. She’s great.”
Benedict grinned. “So why are you limping?”
“Company touch football game on Saturday. Got a little out of hand.”
“That’s what you get for playing with children,” Benedict said. DigiCom was famous for its young employees.
“Hey,” Sanders said. “I scored.”
“Is that right?”
“Damn right. Winning touchdown. Crossed the end zone in glory. And then I got creamed.”
At the main-deck cafeteria, they stood in line for coffee. “Actually, I would’ve thought you’d be in bright and early today,” Benedict said. “Isn’t this the big day at DigiCom?”
Sanders got his coffee, and stirred in sweetener. “How’s that?”
“Isn’t the merger being announced today?”
“What merger?” Sanders said blandly. The merger was secret; only a handful of DigiCom executives knew anything about it. He gave Benedict a blank stare.
“Come on,” Benedict said. “I heard it was pretty much wrapped up. And that Bob Garvin was announcing the restructuring today, including a bunch of new promotions.” Benedict sipped his coffee. “Garvin is stepping down, isn’t he?”
Sanders shrugged. “We’ll see.” Of course Benedict was imposing on him, but Susan did a lot of work with attorneys in Benedict’s firm; Sanders couldn’t afford to be rude. It was one of the new complexities of business relations at a time when everybody had a working spouse.
The two men went out on the deck and stood by the port rail, watching the houses of Bainbridge Island slip away. Sanders nodded toward the house on Wing Point, which for years had been Warren Magnuson’s summer house when he was senator.
“I hear it just sold again,” Sanders said.
“Oh yes? Who bought it?”
“Some California asshole.”
Bainbridge slid to the stern. They looked out at the gray water of the Sound. The coffee steamed in the morning sunlight. “So,” Benedict said. “You think maybe Garvin won’t step down?”
“Nobody knows,” Sanders said. “Bob built the company from nothing, fifteen years ago. When he started, he was selling knockoff modems from Korea. Back when nobody knew what a modem was. Now the company’s got three buildings downtown, and big facilities in California, Texas, Ireland, and Malaysia. He builds fax modems the size of a dime, he markets fax and E-mail software, he’s gone into CD-ROMs, and he’s developed proprietary algorithms that should make him a leading provider in education markets for the next century. Bob’s come a long way from some guy hustling three hundred baud modems. I don’t know if he can give it up.”
“Don’t the terms of the merger require it?”
Sanders smiled. “If you know about a merger, Dave, you should tell me,” he said. “Because I haven’t heard anything.” The truth was that Sanders didn’t really know the terms of the impending merger. His work involved the development of CD-ROMs and electronic databases. Although these were areas vital to the future of the company—they were the main reason Conley-White was acquiring DigiCom—they were essentially technical areas. And Sanders was essentially a technical manager. He was not informed about decisions at the highest levels.
For Sanders, there was some irony in this. In earlier years, when he was based in California, he had been closely involved in management decisions. But since coming to Seattle eight years ago, he had been more removed from the centers of power.
Benedict sipped his coffee. “Well, I hear Bob’s definitely stepping down, and he’s going to promote a woman as chairman.”
Sanders said, “Who told you that?”
“He’s already got a woman as CFO, doesn’t he?”
“Yes, sure. For a long time, now.” Stephanie Kaplan was DigiCom’s chief financial officer. But it seemed unlikely she would ever run the company. Silent and intense, Kaplan was competent, but disliked by many in the company. Garvin wasn’t especially fond of her.
“Well,” Benedict said, “the rumor I’ve heard is he’s going to name a woman to take over within five years.”
“Does the rumor mention a name?”
Benedict shook his head. “I thought you’d know. I mean, it’s your company.”
I had to read this for my English class, and it has really turned me onto his other books. The plot line keeps you guessing until the very end. With very funny characters and awesome one liners it was very entertaining to read.
0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted July 30, 2005
I rediscovered this book recently when I went on a Michael Crichton reading kick, I needed to get my fix. I dusted off all of my MC novels and after reading through so many of them at once I decided to write a review on this work. Reading this book after reading the other Crichton novels I felt that though the inventiveness of the plot, and the well developed characters were what I would expect from Crichton, I was dissapointed with the lack of detail spent in description of the goings on of the corporate world. I felt as though Crichton, who is usually amazing in regards to specificity, did not spend enough time on the accuracy of the world in which the novel took place and as a result it didn't strike the novel home for me. The characters were very interesting though, poor Sanders! The sexual harassment situation reminded me of a book my wife just passed on to me called Manhook, by Ken Ratcliffe. It has a very dark, but very humorous view of the corporate world and is worth a read if you liked this novel. I've also been into Harlan Coben a lot lately, The Latest, is incredible.
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Posted June 25, 2004
This book was really good. I was so surprised with this book. It was so different than the movie. Meredeth Johnson is much more coniving in the book and is much more disturbed. The book touches very much on the glass ceiling that women have in corporate life and to what ends that some women will do to get to the top. The book puts you through both sides of the issue. I was also impressed by the technical side of the issue and showed a technical business; and how it is run. The book really shows you that sexual harassment is really about power. It also shows you just how a sexual harassment claim can ruin a person's career even if you didn't do it. Just the claim alone can ruin a career and the book shows that. I liked the movie better, but the book was real good as well.
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Posted August 3, 2004
Tom Sanders never thinks about the old days in Cupertino, when he lived for a time with a woman named Meredith Johnson. He's settled happily into his company's Seattle office, has married, and is busy raising a young family. At 41, he's also anticipating the reward for his years of service when his division spins off and goes public. That will certainly secure his financial future, and it just might make him rich. But first he and the company must get through a merger. That may not be easy, because the promotion Tom anticipates goes to - complete surprise - his old girlfriend. To this Tom thinks he can adjust. When Meredith Johnson starts their new relationship with broad references to their old one, and then demands sexual favors, Tom finds out that adjusting won't be possible. What he doesn't know is Meredith's real reason for doing this. If he doesn't discover her hidden agenda in time, the life he treasures now and the future he dreams of for his family will both disappear. And that's if he's lucky. What happens if he isn't lucky? He loses it all. His wife and kids, too. Like Crichton's other books, this one is gripping and well written. However, his stated intention - to show the reader certain truths about sexual harassment by writing the tale in 'role reversal' mode - didn't work for me. Despite meticulous research and a good outward understanding of his subject matter, Crichton's inability to write female characters trips him up this time. The only woman he really 'gets right,' attorney Fernandez, he ruins in the postscript by putting views into her mouth that are at odds (wildly) with her characterization throughout the chapters in which she appears. I agree completely with his pounded in point that women and men are all, in the end, simply people. Individuals, who should no more be stereotyped and expected to behave in certain ways than should Blacks, Hispanics, etc. The trouble is, he works so hard at reversing the stereotypes that he winds up leaving me curiously convinced that in his heart of hearts he still believes in them.
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Posted January 18, 2004
I just started reading this book, and I'm at about chapter 6 or around there. The plot is seeming like it's going to take off any time now. So for all you people who are where I am, stay with it!!!!!!
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Posted December 5, 2003
I finished this book in under a week. Although it starts out slow, by page 100 its running rampant. The plot is so fast-paced and suspensful that you literally cannot put it down. There were more nights that I stayed up reading...1AM...2AM..3AM...I could not put this book down! The key to this story is that it forces you to choose sides and it has more plot twists than anything else. This was a superb read, possibly his best ever.
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Posted November 26, 2003
I think it was great how he wrote this book to at 't'. The techinical writing is absolutely flawless. I loved it!
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Posted October 4, 2003
The book is so great!! The movie is even better!! I just love the way the movie relates to the book!! I had a great time reading it and the woman was really crazy!! How could she try to ruin the man's life?!? But anyway I loved the book!!!
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Posted April 19, 2003
A must read for everyone in COrporate america.... potraits how the top management plays games behind employees' backs.. also about how 'Law is not to provide justice but only to settle a dispute' as is mentioned in the book. wud strongly recommend..
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Posted May 9, 2001
Let me make it clear that I am reviewing the abridged audio cassette version of Disclosure as performed by John Lithgow. This novel is seriously flawed by concocting two of the most amoral and unscrupulous corporate characters imaginable to the most paranoid author. Machiavelli would not have found these people credible either. These characters are way 'over the top' for me. They would not have lasted in any company that I have ever run into. I graded the book down two stars for this extreme weakness. If you believe that there are people willing to cut every possible corner operating at the top of major American corporations, you will probably find this to be a five star book. If you think that people who run companies are pretty much like everyone else in terms of how intrigued they are by power and money, then you will have difficulties accepting the premises of this book. The basic story line is very intriguing, building on a role reversal of the typical sexual harrassment charges. A male executive, Tom Sanders, is accused of sexually harrassing his new female boss, and former lover. He, in turn, accuses her of sexually harrassing him. The incident itself turns out to be simply one scene of a five act play involving larger corporate issues. In the process, you will learn a great deal about how sexual harrassment law has become an area where the accused and the victims both have little to gain. Also, you will see how false charges can be used as powerful leverage inside a company or other workplace. The book also contains interesting tidbits of information about the history of sexual harrassment and what the law describes it as. As a reader, I urge you to be patient with the sexual harrassment scene. It is overtly phony . . . but that has a literary purpose. I can say no more without affecting your enjoyment of the novel. John Lithgow does a tremendous job with his reading of this abridgement. One of my favorites amongst his stylings is a loud sniff that precedes every sentence uttered by the pompous corporate general counsel. I could hardly keep from laughing aloud whenever Mr. Lithgow did this. He has a very versatile voice and ability to handle many accents well, and thus moves easily among the different sexes, ages, and ethnic backgrounds of the characters. The audio cassettes are also very well produced, and are helped by the addition of some music to heighten the tension. If you find you don't like the beginning of the book, stick with it. I thought that the second half of the novel was unusually well plotted and developed. There is a virtual reality section that will amuse almost any reader. There is a mystery inside the sexual harrassment issue for Tom Sanders to solve. For mystery fans, you will find this mystery pretty simple to unravel. So don't buy the book expecting the return of Sherlock Holmes. You will probably have the mystery's conclusion figured out within the first 25 percent of the book. The unraveling of the mystery is done very well though, so it's fun just to listen to how Dr. Crichton manages it. After you finish reading this book, I suggest you be sure that everyone in your workplace knows what your polici
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Posted January 19, 2001
Pretty nice book. And pretty nice plot. And also found it a refreshing change from his usual sci-fi! True, it involves quite a bit of law and corporate pages (that made me cut a star from the rating) but the drama of the tug-of-war between one man and a whole company is pretty exciting. And for a change, the male is at the receiving end in a women's lib era. Read it in one sitting...sure deprived me of the whole night's sleep, but was worth it!
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Posted January 30, 2001
I just finished this book today, and I must say that it kept me on my toes. It had many suspenseful moments that kept the pages turning. The only downside to this book would have to be the ending in which I thought there should have been more Meredith-degrading at the end. I was really looking forward to hearing the exec's reactions to Meredith's actions - oh well, I'm over it - I recommend it!
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Posted November 5, 2000
A man expecting to be promoted to VP of his company, is surprised when his former subordinate and ex-mistress gets tabbed for the VP post. A power struggle takes place, and the new female VP tries to nail her former boss and current employee for sexual harrassment when he rebuffs her advances. Fast-paced with a couple of good plot twists.
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Posted January 7, 2000
I thought this book was a very mature read. I know that Mr. Chriton wrote this and it is a must read
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Posted December 19, 2010
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Posted September 12, 2010
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Posted March 25, 2011
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Posted December 4, 2009
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Posted July 17, 2010
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Posted December 10, 2009
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Overview
From the author of Jurassic Park, Timeline, and Sphere comes an electrifying thriller in which a shocking accusation of sexual harassment triggers a gripping psychological game of cat and mouse and threatens to derail a brilliant career.
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
“A fresh and provocative ...