Prey by Michael Crichton

Prey by Michael Crichton

This is a thrilling story about technology and experiments going horribly wrong.  Not only do they go wrong but they start to evolve, things start to think...start to copy us, start to try and take over.  It's a small piece of the world that this technology actually starts to control...but the thoughts are planted as to how far technology can go...and how fast it can go horribly wrong.

Our main character thinks his wife is having an affair...he's out of work and home with the kids.  She comes home later and later each night.  Sometimes not at all.  by the end of this story, he wishes she was having an affair.  I bet an affair would be much better than what he actually had to deal with.

These stories always start the same.  Jurassic Park for instance...we think...wow...a park where we can see dinosaurs, real life dinosaurs.  Wow!!!  Yes!!!  But one of my favorite lines from Jurassic Park was Jeff Goldblum's line where he says something along the lines of they were so busy thinking about if they COULD do it, they didn't stop to think whether they SHOULD do it.  I am not putting that in quotes because I'm sure it's not exact but you catch my drift, I'm sure.  This book is not about technology for entertainment such as live dinosaurs.  This one is about injecting teensy weensy cameras into your blood stream so they can see what the heck is wrong...the size of nano particles.  A great idea, right?  I mean, they would travel through the chambers of the heart, the lungs, etc.  Doctors could see EVERYTHING.  I was thinking...hey, maybe then they could tell me what was wrong with me and maybe I could enjoy food again...lol...sorry...I digress.

So it sounds great.  But some problems develop.  Lots of problems.  You want to know more?  READ THE BOOK!!!  I picked this book up at a thrift store on a Saturday.  I was done by Thursday.  I couldn't put it down.  It was thrilling, suspenseful and very creepy!!!  Very creepy.  LOVED IT!!!!  It's been a while since I've read a book that I just had to finish...but lately I've found a few.  I'll be reviewing another one later this week (sorry too tired tonight to do more than two reviews).  This book made me want to pick up other Michael Crichton books that I've had on the shelf but hadn't yet read.  Airframe will be next...but after I vary the genres a little bit.  I try hard not to clump all my books together like that.  Not everyone loves the same types of books and even though I only have a few followers, I have to think ahead to when I have a few hundred, right???

So yes, I give this book a fabulous five stars.  I loved it and will probably read it again in a few years.  A must read if you love reading about technology...but you don't have to be a geek.  There is enough information for us non-geeks to understand what is going on but not too much to cause us to get confused and say never mind!  We get the gist...and that is what we need in order to go for the thrill ride.  After reading this book, I will never walk through another swarm of gnats at the beach without being a little more afraid than I used to be.

"Julia's original email says, "We have nothing to lose."  But in the end they lost everything--their company, their lives, everything.  And the ironic thing is, the procedure worked.  The swarm actually solved the problem they had set for it.  But then it kept going, kept evolving.  And they let it.  They didn't understand what they were doing.  I'm afraid that will be on the tombstone of the human race.  I hope it's not.  We might get lucky."

--Prey by Michael Crichton pg 502