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In the Nevada desert, an experiment has gone horribly wrong. A cloud of nanoparticles — micro-robots — has escaped from the laboratory. This cloud is self-sustaining and self-reproducing. It is intelligent and learns from experience. For all practical purposes, it is alive.
It has been programmed as a predator. It is evolving swiftly, becoming more deadly with each passing hour.
Every attempt to destroy it has failed.
And we are the prey.
As fresh as today's headlines, Michael Crichton's most compelling novel yet tells the story of a mechanical plague and the desperate efforts of a handful of scientists to stop it. Drawing on up-to-the-minute scientific fact, Prey takes us into the emerging realms of nanotechnology and artificial distributed intelligence — in a story of breathtaking suspense. Prey is a novel you can't put down.
Because time is running out.
About the Author:
Michael Crichton was born in Chicago in 1942. His novels include The Andromeda Strain, Congo, Jurassic Park, and Timeline. He is also the creator of the television series ER.
All is not well in Silicon Valley. In an intriguing opener, we get a scary little flash forward where 40-year-old Jack is sitting at home listening to his three desperately sick children, hoping they don't die. Flash back a few days before that and Jack is running to Crate & Barrel, playing the role of house-husband ever since he got laid off as program division head at MediaTronics. Wife Julie is now the primary breadwinner, doing hush-hush Pentagon work with nanotechnology at the Xymos Corporation. Julie has seemed distracted recently, Jack is increasingly sure that she's having an affair, and his sister is telling him to get a good divorce lawyer on deck. Then the baby, nine-month-old Amanda, comes down sick with a bizarre and terrifying illness that inexplicably disappears as suddenly as it arrived. Things aren't going too well at Xymos, meantime, so Jack is called in to consult at their research facility out in the middle of the Nevada desert. The project that Julie was working on involved creating swarms of nanotech entities that the military could then use as weapons, surveillance systems, or whatever they wanted. Except the Pentagon was about the pull the plug because Xymos can't get the bugs worked out. Pretty soon Jack and a few survivors are running about the lab jerry-rigging defenses against some highly evolved and deadly nanotech swarms gone rogue, which Julie just might have let escape on purpose. All the usual Crichton elements are here: pedantic display of research about an emerging technology (Jurassic Park), the emasculated husband (Disclosure), isolated researchfacility in lockdown (Andromeda Strain), and a motley crew of people trying to survive in a hostile environment (just about all of them). Normally, this would not be a problem, as even Crichton (Timeline, 1999, etc.) on autopilot still makes for a quick and entertaining, if ultimately unsatisfying, read. But this time the product is so by-the-numbers that even die-hard fans may find themselves bored.
Disappointing effort from an author who simply refuses to change an old, tired template.
First printing of 2,000,000; film rights to 20th Century Fox; Book-of-the-Month Club/Literary Guild/Doubleday Book Club main selection; Quality Paperback Book Club alternate selection; author tour
Michael Crichton’s novels include Pirate Latitudes, Next, State of Fear, Prey, Timeline, Jurassic Park, and The Andromeda Strain. He is also known as a filmmaker and the creator of ER. One of the most popular writers in the world, he has sold over 150 million books, which have been translated into thirty-six languages; thirteen have been made into films. He remains the only writer to have had the number one book, movie and TV show at the same time.
Richard Preston is an internationally acclaimed bestselling author of eight books, including The Hot Zone and The Wild Trees. Many of Preston’s books have first appeared in The New Yorker. He has won numerous awards, including the American Institute of Physics Award and the National Magazine Award, and he is the only person not a medical doctor ever to receive the Centers for Disease Control’s Champion of Prevention Award for public health. He lives with his wife and three children near Princeton, New Jersey.
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."
DAY 6
7:12 A.M.
With the vibration of the helicopter, I must have dozed off for a few minutes. I awoke and yawned, hearing voices in my headphones. They were all men speaking:
"Well, what exactly is the problem?" A growling voice.
"Apparently, the plant released some material into the environment. It was an accident. Now, several dead animals have been found out in the desert. In the vicinity of the plant." A reasonable, organized voice.
"Who found them?" Growly.
"Couple of nosy environmentalists. They ignored the keep-out signs, snooped around the plant. They've complained to the company and are demanding to inspect the plant."
"Which we can't allow."
"No, no."
"How do we handle this?" said a timid voice.
"I say we minimize the amount of contamination released, and give data that show no untoward consequence is possible." Organized voice.
"Hell, I wouldn't play it that way," said growling voice. "We're better off flatly denying it. Nothing was released. I mean, what's the evidence anything was released?"
"Well, the dead animals. A coyote, some desert rats. Maybe a few birds."
"Hell, animals die in nature all the time. I mean, remember the business about those slashed cows? It was supposed to be aliens from UFOs that were slashing the cows. Finally turned out the cows were dying of natural causes, and it was decomposing gas in the carcasses that split them open. Remember that?"
"Vaguely."
Timid voice: "I'm not sure we can just deny-"
"Fuck yes, deny."
"Aren't there pictures? I think the environmentalists took pictures."
"Well, who cares? What will the pictures show, a dead coyote? Nobody is going to get worked up about a dead coyote. Trust me. Pilot? Pilot, where the fuck are we?"
I opened my eyes. I was sitting in the front of the helicopter, alongside the pilot. The helicopter was flying east, into the glare of low morning sun. Beneath my feet I saw mostly flat terrain, with low clumps of cactus, juniper, and the occasional scraggly Joshua tree.
The pilot was flying alongside the power-line towers that marched in single file across the desert, a steel army with outstretched arms. The towers cast long shadows in the morning light.
A heavyset man leaned forward from the backseat. He was wearing a suit and tie. "Pilot? Are we there yet?"
"We just crossed the Nevada line. Another ten minutes."
The heavyset man grunted and sat back. I'd met him when we took off, but I couldn't remember his name now. I glanced back at the three men, all in suits and ties, who were traveling with me. They were all PR consultants hired by Xymos. I could match their appearance to their voices. A slender, nervous man, twisting his hands. Then a middle-aged man with a briefcase on his lap. And the heavyset man, older and growly, obviously in charge.
"Why the hell did they put it in Nevada, anyway?"
"Fewer regulations, easier inspections. These days California is sticky about new industry. There was going to be a year's delay just for environmental-impact statements. And a far more difficult permitting process. So they came here."
Growly looked out the window at the desert. "What a shithole," he said. "I don't give a fuck what goes on out here, it's not a problem." He turned to me. "What do you do?"
"I'm a computer programmer."
"You covered by an NDA?" He meant, did I have a non-disclosure agreement that would prevent me from discussing what I had just heard.
"Yes," I said.
"You coming out to work at the plant?"
"To consult," I said. "Yes."
"Consulting's the way to go," he said, nodding as if I were an ally. "No responsibility. No liability. Just give your opinion, and watch them not take it."
With a crackle, the pilot's voice broke in over the headsets. "Xymos Molecular Manufacturing is dead ahead," he said. "You can just see it now."
Twenty miles in front of us, I saw an isolated cluster of low buildings silhouetted on the horizon. The PR people in the back all leaned forward.
"Is that it?" said Growly. "That's all it is?"
"It's bigger than it looks from here," the pilot said.
As the helicopter came closer, I could see that the buildings were interlocked, featureless concrete blocks, all whitewashed. The PR people were so pleased they almost burst into applause. "Hey, it's beautiful!"
"Looks like a fucking hospital."
"Great architecture."
"It'll photograph great."
I said, "Why will it photograph great?"
"Because it has no projections," the man with the briefcase said. "No antennas, no spikes, no things poking up. People are afraid of spikes and antennas. There are studies. But a building that's plain and square like this, and white-perfect color choice, associations to virginal, hospital, cure, pure-a building like this, they don't care."
"Those environmentalists are fucked," said Growly, with satisfaction. "They do medical research here, right?"
"Not exactly . . ."
"They will when I get through, trust me. Medical research is the way to go on this."
The pilot pointed out the different buildings as he circled them. "That first concrete block, that's power. Walkway to that low building, that's the residences. Next door, fab support, labs, whatever. And then the square windowless three-story one, that's the main fab building. They tell me it's a shell, it's got another building inside it. Then over to the right, that low flat shed, that's external storage and parking. Cars have to be under shade here, or the dashboards buckle. Get a first-degree burn if you touch your steering wheel."
I said, "And they have residences?"
The pilot nodded. "Yeah. Have to. Nearest motel is a hundred and sixty-one miles. Over near Reno."
"So how many people live in this facility?" Growly said.
"They can take twelve," the pilot said. "But they've generally got about five to eight. Doesn't take a lot to run the place. It's all automated, from what I hear."
"What else do you hear?"
"Not very damn much," the pilot said. "They're closed-mouthed about this place. I've never even been inside."
"Good," said Growly. "Let's make sure they keep it that way."
The pilot turned the stick in his hand. The helicopter banked, and started down.
I opened the plastic door in the bubble cockpit, and started to get out. It was like stepping into an oven. The blast of heat made me gasp.
"This is nothing!" the pilot shouted, over the whirr of the blades. "This is almost winter! Can't be more than a hundred and five!"
"Great," I said, inhaling hot air. I reached in the back for my overnight bag and my laptop. I'd stowed them under the seat of the timid man.
"I have to take a piss," said Growly, releasing his seat belt.
"Dave . . ." said the man with the briefcase, in a warning tone.
"Fuck, it's just for a minute."
"Dave-" an embarrassed glance toward me, then lowering his voice: "They said, we don't get out of the helicopter, remember?"
"Aw hell. I can't wait another hour. Anyway, what's the difference?" He gestured toward the surrounding desert. "There's nothing the fuck out here for a million miles."
"But, Dave-"
"You guys give me a pain. I'm going to pee, damn it." He hefted his bulk up, and moved toward the door.
I didn't hear the rest of their conversation because by then I had taken off my earphones. Growly was clambering out. I grabbed my bags, turned and moved away, crouched beneath the blades. They cast a flickering shadow on the pad. I came to the edge of the pad where the concrete ended abruptly in a dirt path that threaded among the clumps of cholla cactus toward the blocky white power building fifty yards away. There was no one to greet me-in fact, no one in sight at all.
Looking back, I saw Growly zip up his trousers and climb back into the helicopter. The pilot pulled the door shut and lifted off, waving to me as he rose into the air. I waved back, then ducked away from the swirl of spitting sand. The helicopter circled once and headed west. The sound faded.
The desert was silent except for the hum of the electrical power lines a few hundred yards away. The wind ruffled my shirt, flapped my trouser legs. I turned in a slow circle, wondering what to do now. And thinking about the words of the PR guy: They said, we don't get out of the helicopter, remember?
"Hey! Hey, you!"
I looked back. A door had cracked open in the white power block. A man's head stuck out. He shouted, "Are you Jack Forman?"
"Yes," I said.
"Well, what the hell you waiting for, an engraved invitation? Get inside, for Chrissake."
And he slammed the door shut again.
That was my welcome to the Xymos Fabrication Facility. Lugging my bags, I trudged down the dirt path toward the door.
Things never turn out the way you expect.
* * *
Things never turn out the way you think they will.
I never intended to become a househusband. Stay-at-home husband. Full-time dad, whatever you want to call it -- there is no good term for it. But that's what I had become in the last six months. Now I was in Crate & Barrel in downtown San Jose, picking up some extra glasses, and while I was there I noticed they had a good selection of placemats. We needed more placemats; the woven oval ones that Julia had bought a year ago were getting pretty worn, and the weave was crusted with baby food. The trouble was, they were woven, so you couldn't wash them. So I stopped at the display to see if they had any placemats that might be good, and I found some pale blue ones that were nice, and I got some white napkins. And then some yellow placemats caught my eye, because they looked really bright and appealing, so I got those, too. They didn't have six on the shelf, and I thought we'd better have six, so I asked the salesgirl to look in the back and see if they had more. While she was gone I put the placemat on the table, and put a white dish on it, and then I put a yellow napkin next to it. The setting looked very cheerful, and I began to think maybe I should get eight instead of six. That was when my cell phone rang.
It was Julia. "Hi, hon."
"Hi, Julia. How's it going?" I said. I could hear machinery in the background, a steady chugging. Probably the vacuum pump for the electron microscope. They had several scanning electron microscopes at her laboratory.
She said, "What're you doing?"
"Buying placemats, actually."
"Where?"
"Crate andBarrel."
She laughed. "You the only guy there?"
"No ... "
"Oh, well, that's good," she said. I could tell Julia was completely uninterested in this conversation. Something else was on her mind. "Listen, I wanted to tell you, Jack, I'm really sorry, but it's going to be a late night again."
"Uh-huh ... " The salesgirl came back, carrying more yellow mats. Still holding the phone to my ear, I beckoned her over. I held up three fingers, and she put down three more mats. To Julia, I said, "Is everything all right?"
"Yeah, it's just crazy like normal. We're broadcasting a demo by satellite today to the VCs in Asia and Europe, and we're having trouble with the satellite hookup at this end because the video truck they sent -- oh, you don't want to know ... anyway, we're going to be delayed two hours, hon. Maybe more. I won't get back until eight at the earliest. Can you feed the kids and put them to bed?"
"No problem," I said. And it wasn't. I was used to it. Lately, Julia had been working very long hours. Most nights she didn't get home until the children were asleep. Xymos Technology, the company she worked for, was trying to raise another round of venture capital -- twenty million dollars -- and there was a lot of pressure. Especially since Xymos was developing technology in what the company called "molecular manufacturing," but which most people called nanotechnology. Nano wasn't popular with the VCs -- the venture capitalists -- these days. Too many VCs had been burned in the last ten years with products that were supposedly just around the corner, but then never made it out of the lab. The VCs considered nano to be all promise, no products.
Not that Julia needed to be told that; she'd worked for two VC firms herself. Originally trained as a child psychologist, she ended up as someone who specialized in "technology incubation," helping fledgling technology companies get started. (She used to joke she was still doing child psychology.) Eventually, she'd stopped advising firms and joined one of them full-time. She was now a vice president at Xymos.
Julia said Xymos had made several breakthroughs, and was far ahead of others in the field. She said they were just days away from a prototype commercial product. But I took what she said with a grain of salt.
"Listen, Jack, I want to warn you," she said, in a guilty voice, "that Eric is going to be upset."
"Why?"
"Well ... I told him I would come to the game."
"Julia, why? We talked about making promises like this. There's no way you can make that game. It's at three o'clock. Why'd you tell him you would?"
"I thought I could make it."
I sighed. It was, I told myself, a sign of her caring. "Okay. Don't worry, honey. I'll handle it."
"Thanks. Oh, and Jack? The placemats? Whatever you do, just don't get yellow, okay?"
And she hung up.
I made spaghetti for dinner because there was never an argument about spaghetti. By eight o'clock, the two little ones were asleep, and Nicole was finishing her homework. She was twelve, and had to be in bed by ten o'clock, though she didn't like any of her friends to know that.
The littlest one, Amanda, was just nine months. She was starting to crawl everywhere, and to stand up holding on to things. Eric was eight; he was a soccer kid, and liked to play all the time, when he wasn't dressing up as a knight and chasing his older sister around the house with his plastic sword.
Nicole was in a modest phase of her life; Eric liked nothing better than to grab her bra and go running around the house, shouting, "Nicky wears a bra-a! Nicky wears a bra-a!" while Nicole, too dignified to pursue him, gritted her teeth and yelled, "Dad? He's doing it again! Dad!" And I would have to go chase Eric and tell him not to touch his sister's things.
Prey. Copyright © by Michael Crichton. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold.Anonymous
Posted March 26, 2007
Prey By Michael Crichton Reviewed by Josh There are always problems with finding a good book to read. You want to try to find a topic you like, and then you see if the book has a well known reliable author, then you see how long the book is. All these challenges can be solved with this book Prey by Michael Crichton. I initially chose this book on a recommendation from my dad. He had just recently read it and said it was an extraordinary book. Unfortunately, I wasn¿t very keen on reading a 300 odd page book however I was looking for something enticing and something I was interested in. He had recommended this book before but I had put the idea aside. Finally we were assigned an independent reading assignment, so I said ¿Ah, why not,¿ and I picked it up and started to read. Ever since then, I haven¿t been able to put the book down. If you¿re a person that¿s interested in today¿s technology and science this is definitely a book for you. This is a realistically based fiction of technology and modern science with a bit of romance. Jack Forman, a currently unemployed programmer is assigned the position of ¿house dad¿ and he¿s doing a heck of a job, but when things start going awry with his hard working wife Julia, he starts to suspect she¿s having an affair in Townsend 2 the office. She works at Xymos Technology, one of the leading technology distributors in the Silicon Valley. Jack is hired as a consultant to Xymos and takes a trip out to the companies¿ fabrication building. He is surprised to find out they are currently programming nanotechnology as a military weapon. After they get the technology advanced enough, the nano- bots begin to learn from experience and think on the spot. This ends up as a terrible outcome and could mean the end of human civilization as we know it. Crichton has done a magnificent job with his descriptive sci-fi action writing It really makes you think you¿re in the story so much, that it¿s scary. Though Prey is a great read, I would suggest limits and restrictions. It should be noted that if you are influenced by harsh language, this book is definitely not for you. There are feelings expressed in language that normally would not be accepted as polite or even correct for that matter. Also, there is slight sexual content but nothing to be alarmed about. Other than that, this book is a fantastic read and should be taken into consideration next time you¿re looking for a book worth your while. Prey is for those interested in today¿s modern science and technology, and for those looking for a good book. I recommend this book if you are looking for a good action adventure and a story that will keep you on the edge of your seat. But be careful, to be human¿is to be hunted.
7 out of 8 people found this review helpful.
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Posted April 29, 2011
Prey is a book by the famous author Michael Crichton. He has written many other famous and award winning books that are also worth a read. Prey itself is a book that commands you to keep reading it all the way through. It is definitely worthy of anyone who reads love stories or science fiction romance novels. This book is also similar to some other Crichton books that follow the theme of massive technological discovery destroying humans for their insolence and hubris. The protagonist of prey is Jack Forman. He is a middle aged father of three that has a loving wife and a good job. Everything goes wrong from here, Jack has almost everything taken from him and events push him to the edge. It starts with his job being taken away and then his family is also hurt. This leads to other events that show how human expansion of technology can be very dangerous. Michael Crichton's style can be summarized by saying that he allows the actions to speak for themselves. He perfectly balances action and suspense, and romance and dialogue. He writes in a style that purely exemplifies the actions that are pushing you to your seat. Prey is also divided into 4 parts that all have specific problems and answers. Each part seems to answer one of the questions you are thinking, but as each is answered another is proposed until finally the final truth is revealed. I highly recommend this book as one that will entertain and surprise.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Posted December 10, 2009
I Also Recommend:
I have read this book so many times (at least 4). I even have two copies, one paperback and one hardcover. As with all other books from this author. I love it!
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Posted January 7, 2012
The plot is thin, some of the characters totally glossed over, and the big twist will only surprise you by being exactly what you expected after page 20 : but I still couldn't put it down. And he really expertly huts on the post-modern implications of hubris.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted January 2, 2012
Keeps you in suspense for the entire read. Don't know much about nanotechnology, but the implicantions are frightful, if maybe unrealistic in this book. If you like suspense, this is for you.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Had to skim through several pages of technical mumbo jumbo that didn't seem to be key to the story. Much of the story line was good and definitely held my interest but overall a disappointment.
1 out of 4 people found this review helpful.
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Posted December 23, 2011
Entertaining.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted May 6, 2011
Starts slowly but stick with it by page 200 you wont be able to put it down! :)
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted May 20, 2012
Niiice.
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Posted May 20, 2012
Football...im a quarterback.
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Posted April 19, 2012
love it! great easy read....completely suspenseful to the end! love love love love
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Posted April 9, 2012
You're right. Couldn't put it down till I finished, but all the science stuff passed over often.
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Posted April 8, 2012
Wow! I loved it! I could not stop reading! I was skipping lines to see what happened next!
Grat read!
Anonymous
Posted April 7, 2012
Good and adicting. Very intense and could not put it down
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Posted April 2, 2012
If you dont know much about science kepp pushing through the first 120 pages
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Posted March 28, 2012
I am 15 and I just finished reading this book and my only complaint is that it went by so fast because i could not put it down
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Posted April 2, 2012
*waits for Littlepaw*
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Posted March 25, 2012
I delayed reviewing this book because I hoped time would make me fonder of it, but it didn't. I just didn't care for it & I had to force myself not to abandon reading it. Perhaps I'm naive about what goes on in the world around me, but the story was just too over-the-top to even be intriguing & there was so little about the characters that made you warm to them. For me at least, I need a connection to a story or its characters, but sadly neither was there for me.
0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Garrett13
Posted March 5, 2012
The book Prey By Michael Crichton brought out many interesting ideas and expressed the vivid imagination of the author. The basic rundown of the book is about a man who works for a company that has been experimenting with nanotechnology trying to find uses in the medical field. However, it goes terribly wrong and millions of the bugs escape and cause terror throughout the area. A major idea that I feel the author attempted to portray was that people have a hard time being patient. The reason the research went wrong was because they got too excited and began to rush the process when it was still not perfected. This is a common thing we see throughout our society where people are not willing to take the extra time to make sure something is working correctly before it is called "finished". Things I liked about this book were that is was very detailed with vivid imagery, it kept me attached with the excitement and it was an intelligent read for people who know somewhat about science. Things I didn't like about the book were that it used an excessive amount of vulgar language, the story line was very unrealistic and it went too deep into the main characters social life. I would recommend this book to anyone who is fascinated by science fiction and enjoys a fun and entertaining read. One of Michael Crichton's more popular works would be Jurassic Park which is also another excellent book. I would only give this book a 4 out of 5 though because it was still missing some key things that would have made it stand out more even though it was a great read.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted February 10, 2012
I really enjoyed most of this novel. It was very suspenseful and I could picture such a failed experiment going wrong with all the rapid advances in science and technology. However, several chapters of the novel were filled with nano-technology, computer gobblety-goop ~ that unless you're an MIT graduate or a computer programmer, it's very difficult to understand (And I'm pretty good with computers). Too much jargon instead of writing it in laypersons language. For that reason I gave it 3 stars.
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Overview
In the Nevada desert, an experiment has gone horribly wrong. A cloud of nanoparticles — micro-robots — has escaped from the laboratory. This cloud is self-sustaining and self-reproducing. It is intelligent and learns from experience. For all practical purposes, it is alive.
It has been programmed as a predator. It is evolving swiftly, becoming more deadly with each passing hour.
Every attempt to destroy it has failed.
And we are the prey.
As fresh as today's headlines, Michael Crichton's most compelling novel yet tells the story of a mechanical plague...