Sphere

If you're like me, you appreciate modern techno-thrillers such as Project Hail Mary because they're cleverly designed theoretical science books that masquerade as taught action thrillers. In the case of Sphere by Michael Crichton (the master of the genre), it warms my heart that we can have a book with real human emotion in one chapter and spend the next chapter waxing poetic on astrophysics and oceanography. Sure, the book satisfies the inner thrill seeker, but to me, the most exciting bits have to do with tangents on psychology, space, medicine, and the nerdy first contact bits. If you enjoy mission-based, high-science thrillers, this might be for you.

// A team of scientists is summoned to investigate the remains of a ship in the murky depths of the ocean. Everything goes awry when they find a sphere. What is it, and more importantly, how do they communicate with it? //

You're probably thinking, “Oh no, another run-of-the-mill, deep sea exploration novel with corny dialogue and a ho-hum ending.” This is not that, by a long shot. What we do have is a team consisting of an astrophysicist, a marine biologist, a zoologist, a mathematician, and a psychologist. As you can imagine, the team is at odds with each other over how to proceed with the discoveries they make in the deep blue sea. It gets kind of hairy because the habitat that they reside in is only set up for them to survive for a few days, and when communication gets cut off to the surface, it becomes a fight for survival.

** In my eyes, Sphere does three things especially well. **

1. It creates a setting that is on the cusp of reality and stages it with a believable cast of characters. They may not be right for the job, but they use their unique skills and training to make the best of the situation.

2. The team often makes decisions based on logic rather than emotion. It is not at all robotic, though; some people might not be themselves, while others might act a certain way because they have skin in the game.

3. The impact of their decisions is not inherently clear. As far as you know, nobody is trying to save the world or prevent some sort of disaster. This is a fact-finding mission where the stakes are subtle, giving the story a chance to breathe.

// You always have an option. There is always something you can do. You are never without choice. //

I will not delve into spoilers, but I had a grand time trying to figure out what was going on in the murky depths. Once the sphere is brought to the forefront and you have an understanding of what is going on, other strange occurrences start to happen. The habitat is seemingly changing its layout, others seem to be losing their wits, and some crew are even becoming much more beautiful as time rolls on. Weird!

// “Myths had once represented the common knowledge of humanity, and they served as a kind of map of consciousness.” //

I thoroughly enjoyed the ending. It has one of those winks to the reader that makes you smirk at its cleverness. It's definitely a 5-star rating for me, and like I said before, if you like Blake Crouch and Andy Weir books, this will definitely be up your alley. Just like Jurassic Park and Congo, this is sci-fi at its best.

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