The Andromeda Strain

Rating:
Summary: A familiar concept presented with frightening credibility
Review: The little desert town of Piedmont lies dead. Or almost so, with just two of its residents still alive: an elderly man and an infant. The apparent cause? A crashed space probe. When two Air Force men sent to investigate die, also - so fast that they never get out of their vehicle - a group of five top scientists assemble at a secret facility called Wildfire. If they can't figure out what "Project Scoop" brought back before the infection starts to spread, humankind could be decimated.

This is a familiar science fiction concept, the "alien germ" against which humans have no defenses. What makes this novel's use of it compelling (even when somewhat dated, 35 years after first publication) is the author's sure grasp of the science involved. While the detail presented is overwhelming at times, and the characters wooden, the story still has frightening credibility.


Rating:
Summary: Threats from space might not be just little green men
Review: In Crichton's first novel, he explores the possiblity that first contact might not be with an intelligent lifeform, but a single-celled organism that is more like a virus than anything else. A satellite crash lands is a remote down in Arizona. A virus from the satellite seems to have decimated the local populace and scientists must find a way to contain and destroy the virus. Written in 1967, the novel still manages to be just as scary today as when it was first published. Those looking for something more action oriented, like Jurassic Park or Congo, might be a little disappointed. But the suspense and thrills are abound in this book. I've read it several times and have found it just as exciting each time. Crichton's background in the medical field serves him well in his first novel, with top notch scientific know-how to match the suspensefull plot. Simply a must read.

Rating:
Summary: An Amazing Piece of Crichton
Review: I just finished reading The Andromeda Strain for the third time, and I still found myself on the edge of my seat. Crichton created a truly gripping, engaging novel his first time out, and this book deserves to be revisited every few years. Crichton's background in medical science and filmmaking makes him an author to be reckoned with. Michael Crichton is one of my favorite authors, and this book proves his mettle.

I'm sure you can read a description of the plot in any number of places on this page, but what I especially wanted to mention is the way Crichton piles coincidence on coincidence to show how quickly something can go wrong. As he says in the acknowledgements section, "As in most crises, the events surrounding the Andromeda Strain were a compound of foresight and foolishness, innocence and ignorance." Perhaps most impressive is how subtle some of the setups are, so that the reader never feels like something comes out and hits them in the face. What I mean is that the story is frighteningly plausible. Should you read this? Absolutely. It's the best couple of hours you'll ever spend with a science fiction novel.

Rating:
Summary: Stereotypical Crichton Book
Review: This is now the sixth Crichton book I've read and I always seem to come away with the same feeling...slightly disappointed. I always enjoy the immense amount of detail he provides in his books about the subject matter at hand but am always disappointed in character development. His characters are typically very thin and I am left at the end of the book not really caring about how the story ends. If rating this book based on the interesting background on biochemical studies I rate this book a five. If rating the book on character development I rate it a one. Overall a three.