Book
Reviews
|
|||
|
Go to Executive Times
Archives |
|||
|
Prey
by Michael Crichton Rating: ••• (Recommended) |
|
||
|
Click on title or picture to buy from amazon.com |
|
||
|
|
|||
|
Mechanical Plague Michael Crichton’s imagination far
surpasses his writing skills, but readers are usually willing to cut him some
slack as they enter into the worlds he creates, and become engaged in the
plot. Crichton’s latest offering, Prey,
continues his tradition of weak dialogue and sub-par writing, but a solid
plot and scary story. Under Crichton’s watchful eye, genetic engineering,
computer programming and nanotechnology merge, leading to mishap that could
become disaster. The merger of real research programs and Michael Crichton’s
imagination produce a recipe for a tale to illuminate and frighten readers. Here’s an excerpt of what to expect in
terms of dialogue, ideas, plot and momentum (pp. 176-7): "And the PREDPREY program means they can solve
problems. And the program generates enough random elements to let them
innovate." "Right. Yes." My head throbbed. I was seeing
all the implications, now, and they weren't good. "So," I said,
"what you're telling me is this swarm reproduces, is self-sustaining,
learns from experience, has collective intelligence, and can innovate to
solve problems." "Yes." "Which means for all
practical purposes, it's alive." "Yes." David nodded.
"At least, it behaves as if it is alive. Functionally it's alive,
Jack." I said, "This is very
fucking bad news." Brooks said, "Tell me." "I'd like to know," I
said, "why this thing wasn't destroyed a long time ago. David said nothing. He just smoothed
his tie, and looked uncomfortable. "Because you realize,"
I said, "that you're talking about a mechanical plague. That's what
you've got here. It's just like a bacterial plague, or a viral plague. Except
it's mechanical organisms. You've got a fucking man-made plague." He nodded. "Yes." "That's evolving." "Yes." "And it's not limited by
biological rates of evolution. It's probably evolving much faster." He nodded. "It is
evolving faster." "How much faster,
David?" Brooks sighed. "Pretty damn
fast. It'll be different this afternoon, when it comes back." "Will it come back?" "It always does." "And why does it come
back?" I said. "It's trying to get
inside." "And why is that?" David shifted uncomfortably.
"We have only theories, Jack." “Try me.” "One possibility is that
it's a territorial thing. As you know, the original PREDPREY code includes a
concept of a range, of a territory in which the predators will roam. And
within that core range, it defines a sort of home base, which the swarm may
consider to be the inside of this facility." I said, "You believe
that?" "Not really, no." He
hesitated. "Actually," he said, "most of us think that it
comes back looking for your wife, Jack. It's looking for Julia." If you’re prepared for what Crichton has
to offer, Prey
will be an enjoyable book to read. If you wince at bad writing, take a pass,
or read it quickly. Steve Hopkins, January 7, 2003 |
|||
|
|
|||
|
ã 2003 Hopkins and Company, LLC The
recommendation rating for this book appeared in the February 2003
issue of Executive
Times URL
for this review: http://www.hopkinsandcompany.com/Books/Prey.htm For
Reprint Permission, Contact: Hopkins
& Company, LLC • 723 North Kenilworth Avenue • Oak Park, IL 60302 E-mail: books@hopkinsandcompany.com |
|||
