Micro: A Novel

Michael Crichton · Richard Preston

Nov 2011 · Sold by Harper Collins

About this ebook

In the vein of Jurassic Park, this high-concept thriller follows a group of graduate students lured to Hawaii to work for a mysterious biotech company—only to find themselves cast out into the rain forest, with nothing but their scientific expertise and wits to protect them.

In the lush forests of Oahu, groundbreaking technology has ushered in a revolutionary era of biological prospecting, feeding a search for priceless drugs and applications on a scale beyond anything previously imagined. In Cambridge, Massachusetts, seven graduate students at the forefront of their fields are recruited by a pioneering microbiology start-up, Nanigen MicroTechnologies, which dispatches the group to a mysterious lab in Hawaii. But once in the rainforest, the scientists are thrust into a hostile wilderness that reveals surprising dangers at every turn. Armed only with their knowledge of the natural world, they find themselves prey to a technology of radical and unbridled power

An instant classic, Micro pits nature against technology in vintage Michael Crichton fashion. Completed by visionary science writer Richard Preston, this boundary-pushing thriller melds scientific fact with pulse-pounding fiction to create yet another masterpiece of sophisticated, cutting-edge entertainment.

Ratings and reviews

It may be unfair to call this a subpar Crichton novel, since it was incomplete and finished by Preston. But this was pretty poorly written. Clunky exposition, oddly repetitive prose (sometimes the same thing was mentioned two or three times in a paragraph), one dimensional characters, and plot twists that don't make much sense (and are clearly there just to try to shock you). Don't bother.

This book really makes you stop and think of how little we know of our world and how much of it carries on, unnoticed, that is such an important part of sustaining our planet and our way of life. If you can accept the premise of the book, you will find only a few obvious flaws that both the reader and the author admit can't be explained; my only reason for four instead of five stars.

I had always been a Crichton fan - read all of his other books - but this one is well below expectations. The "science" is elementary at best and there are huge holes in the logic of the plot and characters. I'll assume the fault lies with Mr. Preston, who seems unable to match the creative skills obvious Crichton's long list of successful novels, series, movies, etc. I hope this is the last time the publisher tries to sell inferior work by placing Crichton's name on the cover!

About the author

Michael Crichton (1942-2008) was the author of the bestselling novels The Terminal Man, The Great Train Robbery, Jurassic Park, Sphere, Disclosure, Prey, State of Fear, Next and Dragon Teeth, among many others. His books have sold more than 200 million copies worldwide, have been translated into forty languages, and have provided the basis for fifteen feature films. He wrote and directed Westworld, The Great Train Robbery, Runaway, Looker, Coma and created the hit television series ER. Crichton remains the only writer to have a number one book, movie, and TV show in the same year.Daniel H. Wilson is a Cherokee citizen and author of the New York Times bestselling Robopocalypse and its sequel Robogenesis, as well as ten other books. He recently wrote the Earth 2: Society comic book series for DC Comics. Wilson earned a PhD in Robotics from Carnegie Mellon University, as well as master’s degrees in Artificial Intelligence and Robotics. He has published over a dozen scientific papers and holds four patents. Wilson lives in Portland, Oregon.

Michael Crichton has sold over 200 million books, which have been translated into thirty-eight languages; thirteen of his books have been made into films. Also known as a filmmaker and the creator of ER, he remains the only writer to have had the number one book, movie, and TV show simultaneously. At the time of his death in 2008, Crichton was well into the writing of Micro; Richard Preston was selected to complete the novel.Richard Preston is the internationally bestselling author of eight books, including The Hot Zone and The Wild Trees. He is a regular contributor to The New Yorker. He lives with his wife and three children near Princeton, New Jersey.