Micro
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3.5 • 69 Ratings
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- £6.49
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- £6.49
Publisher Description
An instant classic in the vein of Jurassic Park, this boundary-pushing novel has all the hallmarks of Michael Crichton’s greatest adventures with its combination of pulse-pounding thrills, cutting-edge technology, and extraordinary research
Three men are found dead in a locked second-floor office in Honolulu. There is no sign of struggle, though their bodies are covered in ultra-fine, razor-sharp cuts. With no evidence, the police dismiss it as a bizarre suicide pact. But the murder weapon is still in the room, almost invisible to the human eye.
In Cambridge, Massachusetts, seven graduate students at the forefront of their fields are recruited by a pioneering microbiology start-up company. Nanigen MicroTechnologies sends them to a mysterious laboratory in Hawaii, where they are promised access to tools that will open up a whole new scientific frontier.
But this opportunity of a lifetime will teach them the true cost of existing at the cutting-edge…
The group becomes prey to a technology of radical, unimaginable power and is thrust out into the teeming rainforest. Armed only with their knowledge of the natural world, the young scientists face a hostile wilderness that threatens danger at every turn.
To survive, they must harness the awe-inspiring creative – and destructive – forces of nature itself.
Reviews
Praise for Prey:
'One of the most ingenious, inventive thriller writers around … Prey sees him doing what he does best – taking the very latest scientific advances and showing us their potentially terrifying underbelly. Another high-concept treat … written in consummate page-turning style' Observer
'This is Crichton on top form, preying on our fears about new technology and convincing us that we aren't half as afraid as we should be' The Times
'Mixing cutting-edge science with thrills and spills, this is classic Crichton' Daily Mirror
Praise for Next:
'A wonderful farrago, energetically stirring up a lot of scientific, medical, business and legal issues… marvellous' Evening Standard
'A satirical black-comedy thriller… Crichton writes likes Tom Wolfe on speed… completely brilliant… Crichton's treatise on how breakthroughs in genetic science have been hijacked by science is anything but dull… top form' Daily Mail
'One of the most reliable purveyors of brain-engaged fiction at work today… he is too good a writer not to nail us… diverting stuff' Daily Express
'Crichton has certainly done his research… his alarm is hard to dispute… compelling… extremely funny' Sunday Times
'Be very afraid… expertly blending science fact with fiction, Crichton sets up mind-boggling scenarios where doctors, lawyers, scientists and big business play God… the pace and intrigue last to the final page' News of the World
'A satiric polemic… a convincing and scary warning from Crichton' Sunday Times
Praise for State of Fear:
'The pages whip by. Does exactly what you want the prose in a thriller to do' Telegraph
'Crichton's new novel is an environmental adventure of truly global proportions. Intelligent, readable and guaranteed to get the grey matter going' Mirror
'A page-turner…this is an action-packed read concerning a Machiavellian global-warming scam' Daily Mail
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Does this sound at all familiar? A greedy capitalist exploits a technological breakthrough that could benefit humanity. His effort to show off his work to visitors on an island ends up with them fighting for their lives against savage creatures. Preston (The Hot Zone) has completed a partial manuscript by bestseller Crichton (1942 2008) that will remind many readers of Jurassic Park, though the action takes place on a rather different scale, as the title suggests. Peter Jansen, a 23-year-old Cambridge, Mass., grad student, and his colleagues accept an invitation from his older brother, Eric, and Eric s boss to join NaniGen MicroTechnologies, a Hawaii-based concern with tools that will define the limits of discovery for the first half of the twenty-first century. Via a scientific innovation that comes across as less plausible than recovering dinosaur DNA, NaniGen can miniaturize people. Inevitably, Peter and his companions are shrunk to a size that makes them vulnerable to lower life forms. Most of the book relates their struggle for survival, including the requisite gory deaths of some members of the party. Crichton fans will miss any sense of a larger scientific moral in what amounts to a high-tech 21st-century version of The Incredible Shrinking Man.
Customer Reviews
Great story. Shame about the writing.
The storyline of this book follows well-worn and engaging Michael Crichton territory. However, the quality of the writing leaves a great deal to be desired and the whole novel needs the services of a great editor.
Phrases such as "a complicated machine" don't sit well with the authorship by Crichton. So. Watch for the film. It'll be spectacular. But the dialogue may be poor.
Micro- fab
Couldn't put it down. Fantastic and exciting. Sad I've finished. (although my family will be happy now they don't have to eat cold beans out of a tin)!!
Usual Crichton rubbish.
Crichton uses some cod science to explain how to make people shrink. Some people get shrunk. They do some triumphing over adversity and get un-shrunk. Good triumphs over evil. The end. I'll stick to proper books on the future.