Eruption

by Michael Crichton, James Patterson

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

Michael Crichton + James Patterson = showstopping entertainment in a book you can't put down.

The biggest thriller of the year: A history-making eruption is about to destroy the Big Island of Hawaii. But a secret held for decades by the US military is far more terrifying than any volcano.

“The book is a classic summer beach read...Eruption will revive the art of speed-reading...told with a singular voice that is a compelling amalgam of the two writers.”—USA Today

“Eruption is an epic thriller…fast-paced and deeply considered…a cinematic story rooted in science and infused with plenty of heart, tackling big themes like love and loss.”
–Time
 
The master of the techno-blockbuster joins forces with the master of the modern thriller to create the most anticipated mega bestseller in years. 

Michael Crichton, creator of Jurassic Park, ER, Twister, and Westworld, had a passion project he’d been pursuing for years, ahead of his untimely passing in 2008. Knowing how special it was, his wife, Sherri Crichton, held back his notes and the partial manuscript until she found the right author to complete it: James Patterson, the world’s most popular storyteller.

“Red-hot storytelling... The action scenes will make readers’ eyes pop as the tension continues to build." –Kirkus, starred review

“Explosive…the summer’s ultimate literary mashup.” —Washington Post

"Takes readers on a thrilling journey." —BBC

"Beachbag-ready." —Boston Globe

“A seismic publishing event…all the elements of a summer blockbuster…it’s a thrill and the pages practically turn themselves.” —Associated Press

“Eruption is this summer’s literary version of a blockbuster action movie.” –Los Angeles Times

"Breakneck and plausible." —Publishers Weekly

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780316565073
Publisher:	Little, Brown and Company
Publication date:	06/03/2024
Pages:	432
Sales rank:	619
Product dimensions:	5.80(w) x 8.60(h) x 1.60(d)

About the Author

Michael Crichton remains one of the most popular writers in the world, best known as the author of the global phenomenon Jurassic Park. His books, which have been translated into 40 languages and adapted into 15 films, have sold more than 250 million copies worldwide. He wrote a number of global bestsellers, including The Lost World: Jurassic Park, The AndromedaStrain, Congo, Sphere, Rising Sun, Disclosure, Airframe, and The Great Train Robbery. His influence and creativity extended far beyond books—he was the creator of the landmark television series ER, which ran for 15 seasons, won 23 Primetime Emmy Awards, and received 124 Emmy nominations. He cowrote the screenplays of Jurassic Park and Twister and wrote and directed the film Westworld, which served as the basis for the HBO series. Crichton is the only writer in history to have a #1 book, #1 film, and #1 television series at the same time, and he did it twice.

James Patterson is the most popular storyteller of our time. He is the creator of unforgettable characters and series, including Alex Cross, the Women’s Murder Club, Jane Smith, and Maximum Ride, and of breathtaking true stories about the Kennedys, John Lennon, and Tiger Woods, as well as our military heroes, police officers, and ER nurses. Patterson has coauthored #1 bestselling novels with Bill Clinton and Dolly Parton, and collaborated most recently with Michael Crichton on the blockbuster Eruption. He has told the story of his own life in James Patterson by James Patterson and received an Edgar Award, ten Emmy Awards, the Literarian Award from the National Book Foundation, and the National Humanities Medal.

Hometown:

Los Angeles, California

Date of Birth:

October 23, 1942

Date of Death:

November 4, 2008

Place of Birth:

Chicago, Illinois

Place of Death:

Los Angeles, California

Education:

B.A.. in Anthropology, Harvard University, 1964; M.D., Harvard Medical School, 1969

Website:

http://www.michaelcrichton.net/

Editorial Reviews

06/24/2024

Working from a partial manuscript discovered in Crichton’s archives, Patterson (the Alex Cross series) delivers a surprisingly seamless posthumous collaboration with the Jurassic Park author, who died in 2008. The action opens in 2016, when a class field trip to Hawaii’s Hilo Botanical Gardens is disrupted by the sudden appearance of deadly black stains on the park’s banyan trees. Nine years later, Hilo makes headlines again: Mauna Loa, an active volcano inside the park, is days away from an eruption that could unleash more lava than it has in a century. In addition to endangering nearby communities, the lava is likely to reach a cache of secret materials the U.S. military is storing on the Big Island, which could lead to the release of toxic waste—likely the same stuff that killed Hilo’s trees. The U.S. government assembles a team of experts to avert disaster, led by Mark Rivers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and geologist John MacGregor, who heads the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory. Together, they race against the clock to divert the lava flow in hopes of saving life on Earth. As in Crichton’s lesser works, character comes second to plot, but the plot is suitably breakneck and plausible. Crichton’s fans won’t be disappointed. (June)

Publishers Weekly

★ 2024-06-20
Two master storytellers create one explosive thriller.

Mauna Loa is going to blow within days—“the biggest damn eruption in a century”—and John “Mac” MacGregor of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory leads a team trying to fend off catastrophe. Can they vent the volcano? Divert the flow of blistering hot lava? The city of Hilo is but a few miles down the hill from the world’s largest active volcano and will likely be in the path of a 15-foot-high wall of molten menace racing toward them at 50 miles an hour. “You live here, you always worry about the big one,” Mac says, and this could be it. There’s much more, though. The U.S. Army swoops in, and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff personally “drafts” Mac into the Army. Then Mac learns the frightening secret of the Army’s special interest in Mauna Loa, and suddenly the stakes fly far, far beyond Hilo. Perhaps they can save the world, but the odds don’t look good. Readers will sympathize with Mac, who teaches surfing to troubled teens and for whom “taking chances is part of his damned genetic code.” But no one takes chances like the aerial cowboy Jake Rogers and the photographer who hires him to fly over the smoldering, burbling, rock-spitting hellhole. Some of the action scenes will make readers’ eyes pop as the tension continues to build. As with any good thriller, there’s a body count, but not all thrillers have blackened corpses surfing lava flows. The story is the brainchild of the late Crichton, who did a great deal of research but died in 2008 before he could finish the novel. His widow handed the project to James Patterson, who weaves Crichton’s work into a seamless summer read.

Red-hot storytelling.

Kirkus Reviews

Eruption is this summer’s literary version of a blockbuster action movie.”—Los Angeles Times

“Eruption is an epic thriller…fast-paced and deeply considered…a cinematic story rooted in science and infused with plenty of heart, tackling big themes like love and loss.”—Time

“Explosive … the summer’s ultimate literary mashup."—Washington Post

“Pulse-pounding … the heartbreaking climax and satisfying style are what listeners have come to expect from these two masters of the genre.”—AudioFile

“Eruption is so much more than just a great summer read. It combines the impeccable research and scientific knowledge that Crichton consistently infused into everything he wrote with the breakneck suspense of a James Patterson novel… A wild ride that takes no prisoners.”—Bookreporter

“The book is a classic summer beach read...Eruption will revive the art of speed-reading...told with a singular voice that is a compelling amalgam of the two writers.”—USA Today

"Takes readers on a thrilling journey."—BBC

"Beachbag-ready."—Boston Globe

“A seismic publishing event…all the elements of a summer blockbuster…it’s a thrill and the pages practically turn themselves.”—Associated Press

"Breakneck and plausible."—Publishers Weekly

“Explosive…The action scenes will make readers’ eyes pop as the tension continues to build…Red-hot storytelling.”—Kirkus, starred review

"The once-in-a-lifetime combination of Michael Crichton and James Patterson results in one of the most entertaining novels I've read in years."

—Adrian McKinty, #1 internationally bestselling author of The Chain

"Eruption is extraordinary. It's the return of the big summer blockbuster but it is also something more — the first summer blockbuster masterpiece. Michael Crichton and James Patterson have come together to create a novel that is as thrilling and jaw-dropping as Jurassic Park. Every page of this novel features the best gifts of two writing giants. Full of suspense, frighteningly real and absolutely unforgettable." 
 —Don Winslow, #1 internationally bestselling author of The Cartel and City on Fire

“Breathtaking and brilliant! Eruption gives us everything we want in a thriller: huge scale, huge stakes, fascinating details and characters so real we feel we’ve known them all our lives. Bravo!”—Jeffery Deaver, author of The Bone Collector and creator of the Colter Shaw character on CBS’s Tracker

"This is heart-pounding storytelling at its finest. I dare you to try and put this amazing book down."

—T.J. Newman, #1 internationally bestselling author of Falling and Drowning: The Rescue of Flight 1421

From the Publisher

An epic thriller…A cinematic story rooted in science and infused with plenty of heart.”

Time

Michael Crichton + James Patterson = showstopping entertainment in a book you can’t put down.”

Barnes&Noble.com

The book is a classic summer beach read…Eruption will revive the art of speed-reading.”

USA Today

A wild ride that takes no prisoners.”

Bookreporter

Narrator Scott Brick delivers for fans of Crichton and Patterson…A ticking clock and Brick’s increasingly tense pacing bring pulse-pounding action to an almost intolerable level.”

AudioFile

Narrator Scott Brick delivers for fans of Crichton and Patterson. Based on research and notes left behind by Crichton, who died in 2008, Patterson and Brick combine their talents to finish the story and create characters driven to the edge to save the world. Brick's smooth and empathetic performance conveys the chills and thrills surrounding a volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii that is predicted to erupt, releasing a deadly toxin into the air and killing everyone and everything on the planet. A ticking clock and Brick's increasingly tense pacing bring pulse-pounding action to an almost intolerable level. Both the heartbreaking climax and satisfying style are what listeners have come to expect from these two masters of the genre. R.O. © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine

JUNE 2024 - AudioFile