Michael Crichton

[Forsaken Lover]

Brain: And by the time I'm through with its training, it shall be cunning, ruthlessly brilliant and possibly deadly.
Pinky: Oh, like Michael Crichton.

So I re-read JP and TLW about once per year (it's a travesty the cruddy TLW movie thoroughly overshadows the far superior novel) but this year I've started to read some of Mr. Crichton's other works. So far I've downed Sphere and Congo. Sphere I really, really liked. The fact it was a psychological tale more than a typical alien thriller was really neat. I'd consider it about on par with JP1. Congo I liked a bit less but it was still alright. The coolest thing about it were the gray gorillas.

Right now I'm starting Prey and then I'll move onto Timeline. I also plan to give State of Fear a try just to see if it's nearly as bad as people say. This being the internet, I think I have a justifiable wariness to "popular e-opinion."

Overall I really like his style of taking modern technology or foreseeable technology and using it to explain a horror situation. His tendency to filibuster does not bother me one bit. As long as the author is talking about things that interest me, I don't mind having a little lecture in the midle of my story. Victor Hugo's Les Mis was much worse about it than any Crichton novel I've read and I love that book to death.

Anyway, what Crichton novels have the posters here read? Thoughts on teh best or worst?

And, of course, R.I.P..

[The Man]

His early stuff is just about as good as thrillers get. He had a tendency to get more didactic and less subtle in his later writings, which is why State of Fear got such a negative reception. I haven't read that one and probably won't; it would likely end up in my throwing the book across the room. But yeah, Jurassic Park, Congo, The Andromeda Strain, etc., are classic thrillers.

[Pike]

Timeline is my favorite book of his. I love that book so much. I need to re-read it.

[Shorty]

I also love Timeline. I remember reading Jurassic Park as a kid and I liked it, but it didn't leave much of an impression. Sphere has been suggested for me to read but for whatever reason, I've never picked it up.

and holy trout, he DIED?! I had no idea!

[Forsaken Lover]

Yep, he died way back in 2008 of cancer. He was only sixty-something.

[The Man]

Sphere was good. The Lost World also wasn't bad, as sequels go. I don't think I ever read Timeline. I guess I should.

I also read Airframe but I don't remember all that much about it other than that there was a lot of swearing.

Don't think I've read anything else of his other than the six I mentioned, but I can't remember for sure.

The news about Crichton dying probably got swallowed up in the election, because as I recall it happened right around the same time.

[Del Murder]

I love JP, one of my favorite books ever. Also I agree that the awful awful Lost World movie overshadows what is actually a pretty good book sequel to JP.

Timeline is great, Airframe is pretty good, as is Andromeda Strain (which was either his first or second book). The Great Train Robbery is pretty decent too. Congo is good as well. I agree with The Man that his later stuff was not as great as his other works, though State of Fear was ok.

And, last but not least, Sphere was amazing. Second only to JP in my eyes, and only because JP has dinosaurs and pretty much dominated my childhood. In many ways, Sphere is his best writing. Any Crichton fan should read it.

RIP MC

[Forsaken Lover]

I finally found an unabridged audio version of The Andromeda Strain and I've been looking for one since forever. I'm so frickin' psyched!

Timeline will have to wait. After I finish Prey later today, I'm jumping right into TAS.

[Agent Proto]

I love Michael Crichton. I've read some of his earlier books, Jurassic Park, The Lost World, The Andromeda Strain, Congo, Sphere, and Timeline. I should buy the books to reread at some point this year.