Thursday, October 21, 2010

Thrilling Pages


I love Michael Crichton books. I may be a wimp when it comes to watching suspense and horror movies, bu I can totally read suspense thrillers for days. I actually prefer it.

There are a lot of suspense writers out there. But only one appeals to me. Michael Crichton. He's not really into horror novels, but he's quite a genius in writing thrillers. He's just your typical novelist, screenwriter, director.. born in Chicago. But damn, can he write a story!!! He was diagnosed with lymphoma in the early 2008, and died unexpectedly, while undergoing chemotherapy, on November 4 of the same year.

Michael Crichton was quite well known for his work in the science fiction and thriller genres. Some of us may be familiar with some of his best sellers, which already have movie adaptations. He is also the creator and executive producer of the hit TV drama, ER.

The most famous of his books-turned-into-movies thrillers would be these two.. the Jurassic Park and The Lost World. Both are science fiction novels which tells a story about some genetically-engineered dinosaurs, roaming around in some secluded islands of Costa Rica. Steven Speilberg adapted the books into blockbuster films and have won numerous awards from many award-giving bodies.

Of course, there are still other international best selling trirllers like Rising Sun, Disclosure, Sphere, Andromeda Strain, Congo, The Terminal Man and State of Fear. But my favorite of all his books is "PREY".


Prey is a science fiction novel which tells a story about nano-technology and its threat to humankind. It also features some advances in the science community, such as artificial intelligence, emergence and genetic algorithms. Like Jurassic Park, this book tells a cautionary tale about the developments in science and technology, and especially focuses on the horrors of nano-tech.

The story begins with Jack Forman, a stay-at-home dad and a software programmer, who used to work for a company, MediaTronics and got fired after uncovering a scandal and threatening to go public. As a result, his wife, who works as a vice president for Xymos, a nanorobotics company, had to work double time. Also, she says that the company is on the verge of perfecting a new medical imaging technology that could just change the face of medicine forever.

At first, Jack actually thought that his wife is cheating. Her actions really shouts "affair". She's always at work at some secluded Nevada desert, with only a few friends and colleagues. She usually comes home very late, never bothers to check up on their kids and became too oddly distant. But as a series of weird, unexplained things began to happen, Jack realizes that it's not just his wife and their marriage that's in danger, but all of mankind.

An experiment had gone horribly wrong in that hot desert. A cloud of nano-particles or micro-robots had gone rogue and escaped the laboratory. A handful of scientists, which included Jack, his friend Ricky Morse and a field biologist Mae Chang, did their best to control this swarm, but to no avail. The cloud is self-sustaining and self-reproducing. It is extremely intelligent and has the ability to immediately adapt to its environment. For all practical purposes, it is ALIVE! Now, it is evolving quickly and becoming more and more deadly.

Every attempt to destroy it has failed. Now, Jack and the other survivors were stranded in that secluded Nevada desert, planning and making desperate attempts to stop it, locked in a battle for their own survival and that of mankind. "The swarm is the predator and they are the prey".

Whoa! Hehe. Sorry about that.. I don't want to scare you. I just got a little carried away. Just talking and writing about this book still gives me the chills. Maybe because this scenario COULD happen. I mean, we are living in the 21st century. A lot of science advances had been discovered.. a lot of experiments and technology developments had been made. I'm probably right when I say that nanotechnology or molecular-size robots are currently used for a variety of medical purposes inside and outside the human body.

This book is just science fiction, but we can't deny the fact that nanotechnology is really scary stuff. Why? Just imagine, a cloud of dust, composed of molecular-sized robots.. could come into your home, take over your body and kill you. Scary, right! Come on.. Don't be a hypocrite. Imagine what a cloud of dust could do to you. What if this cloud has gone completely rogue! Uncontrollable. Knows no master and sees you as its host.. its prey. They're basically invisible to the naked eye.. You could only see them when they're in clusters or groups. How do you defend against that? Really! They could simply go inside your lungs and block your airway. You'd be dead in seconds. Whew! Scary stuff, indeed.

Okay. it may seem like I'm scaring you but honestly, I'm not. Actually, I want to recommend that you read this book. This is one book that I truly enjoy reading over and over and over.

I rememeber the first time I read this. It was about 2 years ago. I bought this from a book sale for 130.00Php.. Kinda expensive for a second-hand book.. but I love Michael Crichton's novels so much that I bought it immediately. I picked it up, started reading.. and I find it too difficult to stop reading. I did all the chores, finished reports or whatever errands, as quickly as I can, so that I can get back to it.

This book could really make the wheels in your head turn full speed and make the drums in your heart beat faster. It's that kind of book that leaves you wanting more. In fact, after reading this, I connected my laptop to the net and googled everything about nanotechnology.

This book is one hell of a ride. As the Detroit Free Press said.. "Now this is how you write a thriller.".

I couldn't agree more.







* Image from Google

18 comments:

  1. wow, thanks for the detailed review and summary. i like it.. recently i borrowed two of my officemate's Crichton books - Airframe & STate of Fear.. those are great too.. i'd love to read Prey later on.. thanks!

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  2. hi Leah. i'm a fan of Stephen King! and my favorite from him is The Green Mile. Have you read it? It was also on the big screen with Tom Hanks as the main character. It really gave me the creeps.

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  3. Now I'm thinking of borrowing his books from the library and have a Michale Crichton Weekend Marathon. :D

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  4. parang nabasa ko na sa kwento mo plang:)
    crichton is such a genius that most of the times he defied the laws of science, parang si h.g wells.

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  5. sad mode ma miss ka namin.

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  6. i like michael crichton too! i've read most of his books that have turned into movies.

    i'll definitely add the prey on my list of to-read.

    happy GT!

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  7. wooo!!! a detailed post here Sis ^_^ seems you are indeed a fan of Michael Chrichton!!! -->> para tuloy nabasa ko na rin ang prey book nya!! hihi..

    Happy GT ^_^

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  8. thank you for such a fantastic review! I have yet to read a Crichton work.

    http://kcelebration.blogspot.com/2010/10/its-thriller-time.html

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  9. Prey seems like such a nice thriller to read. I wonder if they have this in a movie? Haha.

    Happy GT!

    Mine is here:
    http://thedomesticatedwahm.com/2010/10/gt-i-heart-suspense/

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  10. i have not read any of his books, but i did enjoy his movies Jurassic Park and The Lost World. I thought the idea of it is superb.

    Here's my entry:
    http://ddarlys26.blogspot.com/2010/10/gt-thrilling-books.html

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  11. I have seen ER and some of the movies, but my hubby is a huge fan; he has read all the books. Such a pity that Crichton passed away so young.

    BTW, before your comment on the Market on the Railway, my hubby also spoke in passing that besides Thailand, India and the Philippines have similar phenomena as well...

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  12. i heard about the author and the book:D pero di ko pa nabasa yan :(

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  13. i read only one Michael Crichton book, RISING SUN. it sure was good!

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  14. i have already read prey, and i finished it from start to finish in one sitting because i couldn't put it down. LOL. really great stuff, what crichton writes about. one of the greatest suspense novelists of all time, methinks :)

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  15. Another author to hunt this week thanks for the comment

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  16. di ako familiar sa author na ito..time to hunt him down..he..he..thanks to you..

    thanks for the comments:)

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  17. In Prey Michael Crichton once again helps your imagination run riot. If you have ever enjoyed one of his novels, I suspect that you will love this one. It's the kind of a book that leaves you wanting more, and when I finished, I damn near went to the library to check out whatever I could find on nanotechnology.

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  18. I read jurassic park
    wow so many fanatic in reading

    Godbless you more

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