State of Fear
Ratings97
Average rating3.4
This is an appalling work of staggering ignorance. Phew, now that that's out of the way - [b:State of Fear 15860 State of Fear Michael Crichton https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1388212698s/15860.jpg 1749610] is actually a decent read. It has all the hallmarks of an excellent [a:Michael Crichton 5194 Michael Crichton https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1359042651p2/5194.jpg] novel: suspense, intrigue, conspiracies, twists, bad science. Unfortunately, Mr. Crichton built the entire premise of the book upon fear mongering, finger pointing, and deplorably bad science. I cannot in good conscience recommend this book to anyone.
The plot is shaky, and feels at times as if it is just a cheap ploy, secondary in importance to its purpose, which is to create opportunities for Crichton to insert educational information about global warming into the book.
The characters, while fun and diverse, are all too familiar from Crichton previous works (A wise, eccentric, determined and objective billionaire businessman, a young, cynical, pragmatic nonconformist male scientist, and a brave, resourceful woman with “surprisingly” masculine skills are back bone of the team of “good guys.” The exact same description is true, almost word for word, for Lost Word, Congo, Sphere etc...).
If there are other Crichton novels that you haven't yet read other than State of Fear, read the other ones first.
This book was fun to read, but at times it turned into a lecture. The characters have a hard time grasping ideas that denounce the theory of global warming, so other characters go into pretty long Q&A sessions over the argument. I'm not sure if the science in the book is 100% accurate, which is ok. I can see the angle Michael Crichton was trying to explain and I can see the logic behind it, but I would definitely have to read up more on the topic myself to draw my own solid conclusions.
Other than that, the action was good, the characters weren't too annoying and the book kept my interest enough to make me stay up until I couldn't keep my eyes open anymore reading.
For years, Michael Crichton has been known for releasing books at exactly the right moment. He released Jurassic Park when cloning and DNA extraction were all over the media. He released Airframe at a time of worry over air travel safety (but before 9/11). He released Prey during the introduction of nanotechnology concerns. Indeed, all the way back to The Andromeda Strain, Crichton's books have been uncannily tied to recent events, and his research has proven to uncover new insights into the events that shape our world.
With his latest novel, State of Fear, Crichton once again releases a novel at a strangely and scarily perfect moment, as the world deals with an unparalleled catastrophe.
State of Fear primarily deals with the global-warming issue, and the book is about eco-terrorists, who are actually working for environmental groups, trying to make the world see their point of view. In order to reinforce their point, and get the world to pay attention to them, they actually try to control the weather, in the form of hurricanes, storms, and tsunamis.
What makes this book so interesting is that Crichton essentially argues that global-warming is, in fact, not occurring, as today's media reports, but in fact, it is entirely possible that the Earth is headed for its next ice age. Crichton does make it clear however, that so little is known about our environment, nobody can predict with any accuracy what our climate will look like 100 years from now, or even 20 years from now.
Of course, the timing of this book couldn't be more coincidental. With the horrible tsunami that has taken so many lives, it was almost surreal reading about a tsunami's effects in this book. Indeed, Crichton could not have anticipated what the world is currently experiencing. It is beyond comprehension.
Nevertheless, State of Fear is a book that I feel I must recommend, even though it really is not a fantastic read. It rates up there with The Da Vinci Code as a thought-provoking novel, that challenges the reader to reexamine their opinions about a great many subjects. Unfortunately, there are no less than three separate climaxes in the book, which lead to a frustrating and rollercoaster reader involvement level. There are times that the book begins to pick up, when suddenly, we are treated to essentially a lecture about global-warming, including charts and article references, before we get to continue with our story. The plot suffers in order for Crichton to include all his research information into the story, rather than the story flow around his research.
But nevertheless, readers are treated to an exciting and rather compelling story that reads quickly, and in fact, feels very much like a movie—not surprising, considering the source. State of Fear has some fantastic characters who are well fleshed-out, and readers should enjoy the plot twists, as few as they are.
Is State of Fear Michael Crichton's greatest novel? Certainly not. Is it a great piece of literature? I wouldn't classify it that way, but it is a fun read and one worth picking up, if only for the coincidence factor of the tsunami, and for the ironic events that occur in the pages.