Rating: 
Summary: A good book.... captivating 'till the end!
Review: This book is absoloutly riveting! It has great writing and it starts the action right at the beging of the book, there was no waiting. I recomend it for a good read. This is one of his earliest works, and it is still a great book.
Rating: 
Summary: pretty good read
Review: i was kind of suprised when i found out that this book was written in the 60's. It seems that this was a taboo topic (i was not alive yet) that nobody should have really written about. the book is very slow moving and somewhat of a bother to have to go to the appendices to find out the various facts of what crichton is talking about. the novel could have been written better, and thank god that crichton has improved his writing skills. the ending is kind of blah and something that crichton whipped together right before turning in the manuscript to the publisher. it was intrueing to find out the actual lives of the patient and and her family and of how that affected her sitation. although it could have been better, it could have been a lot worse.
Rating:
Summary: A very good medical thriller
Review: A Case of Need helped introduce some medical history, and medical terms to the layperson. It gives the reader the thrill of being on the treatment end of the ER. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a bit of suspense, and enjoys reading grammatically challenging books. However, the ending was a little bit weak. Therefore, I gave the book 4 stars.
Rating: 
Summary: Ho-hum.
Review: Boy, did this book ever dissapoint me. Sure, Chrichton is very accurate in his details of the medical world, but at the expense of developing his characters. If you are a fan of Dickens, Greene, John Irving, who make their characters real living beings, do not pick up this Chrichton book. The "who did it" in this myster book is so insignificant to the story that I frankly found it the easy way out for the author. "I've got to invent something just to end this dang book," you can hear Chrichton saying to himself. Yawn.
Rating:
Summary: Chrichton's first novel.
Review: This book won the 1968 Edgar Award for best mystery novel of the year. An obstetrician has been accused of performing an illegal abortion in Boston in the late 1960's. A pathologist discovers that the girl, who died in the emergency room of a hospital, wasn't even pregnant. He sets out to clear his friend of the charges. Although some of the discussions on abortion may seem dated, this is still a good mystery. Michael Crichton originally published this book under the pseudonym Jeffrey Hudson. Some earlier reviewers have suggested that he did this because of the controversy generated by the topic of abortion. While this undoubtedly was a factor, we also have to recall that this was his first book and Crichton was a medical student in Massachusetts at the time he wrote much of this book. I'm not sure if his faculty would have been too keen on having a student devote a significant fraction of his time to writing a novel instead of to his studies, had they known. But, I may be wrong. Some other reviewers gave it a low rating because it contained too much jargon. Of course, that is a trademark of this category of books; however, I seem to miss the jargon in this novel. Perhaps I missed it but "A Case of Need" seems to be the least technical of Crichton's books.
Rating:
Summary: Almost his best
Review: Out of all of Crichton's books, only Jurassic Park topped this one. The book was gripping and interesting the entire way through. I would recomend this book to people of all ages. I read it the first time as a thirteen year old and enjoy it just the same now, six years later!
Rating:
Summary: Not One of His Best.
Review: The story was not gripping, and it did not have enough thrills to call it a thriller. However, I have to admit that the autopsy scene was spooky and sent a chill to my spine. I believe this is not one of his best given he wrote Jurassic Park, and the Lost World.
Rating:
Summary: Overall, very suspenseful and intriguing to read.
Review: A Case Of Need : by Michael Crichton 4½ Stars It has been three decades since the release of this captivating novel written by Michael Crichton. Originally, in 1969, this breathtaking novel was so 'hot', it was originally written under the alias of Jeffrey Hudson. Today, millions of readers acknowledge Crichton's mastery that begun long ago with this novel. Stephen King himself praised the novel as "Fantastic...I loved it!". I thought was a little confusing so that's why I gave it the last half star. Other than that the, plot was exhilarating and kept me going until the very end. I recommend this novel to anyone who is interested in stories about medical thrillers and constant suspense. Crichton most probably wrote under the pen name Jeffrey Hudson because he anticipated a mixed reaction from the public. At the time, as it is today, abortion was a very controversial subject that raised many eyes. In this book both opinions of the matter are represented in different characters. The ethics of Art Lee can be matched with someone who believes for abortion while the strict opinion of the public at the time believed against it.- Carlos Encalada
Rating:
Summary: Definitly not as good as some of his others.
Review: Although this book kept me hooked, it just wsn't as suspenseful as some of his others (such as Rising Sun, Jurassic Park and Disclosure). I found the footnotes and appendices confusing and annoying and also wondered about the weight gain and the hair growth as it really wasn't explained.
Rating:
Summary: Stephen King praised the novel as "Fantastic. I loved it!"
Review: A Case of Need centers around John Berry, a local pathologist in the Boston medical community. Quickly, the plot is thrown at you. While at his lab, John receives a call telling him that his good friend Art Lee has been arrested on charges of performing an illegal abortion resulting in the death of a young girl. The plot thickens as it is divulged that the deceased is actually the daughter of one of the most prestigious doctors in all of Boston, J.D. Randall. The Randall family was renowned throughout all of Boston as being a 'medical family'. Karen, however, the deceased, had spun off from tradition and was definitely the rebellious one in the family. During college she dormed with some friends, Bubbles and Angela, a training nurse. Throughout the novel John accumulates a plethora of facts that point to a few suspects that include Peter Randall, Karen's uncle, Angela Harding, Karen's roommate, and Roman Jones, an old boyfriend. The book drew me in until the final pages. The end I thought was a little confusing so that's why I gave it the last half star. Other than that the, plot was exhilarating and kept me going until the very end. I recommend this novel to anyone who is interested in stories about medical thrillers and constant suspense. Crichton most probably wrote under the pen name Jeffrey Hudson because he anticipated a mixed reaction from the public. At the time, as it is today, abortion was a very controversial subject that raised many eyes. In this book both opinions of the matter are represented in different characters. The ethics of Art Lee can be matched with someone who believes for abortion while the strict opinion of the public at the time believed against it.
|
