This book has all the ingriedients of a M.C thriller and is written in typical fashion. But I must say that crichton dissappoints with the ending in many ways.
The theme of the book is getting repetitive. All Crichton books seem to have this runaway animal/being/creature which creates havoc. Its written well, be sure of that, but in the end one begins to feel that the end is predictable. He fails to surprise anymore. Unlike the Jurassic park/Lost world books, this book lacks the ability to captivate the reader throughout. There are parts in the book, where u might want to put it down and watch TV instead... for a while atleast. This was not the case with Jurassic.. So is he losing his touch?
The technical aspects of his books have always been marvellous and seemed well researched, but in the ’’prey’’ I found that part to be a bit sketchy. It almost reads like he had the idea, processed it, went half way and started writing the book, without a clear definition of his end product. There are a hundred loop holes and somewhere it doesnt hold.
AM not saying that the concept is not good or inventive, its just without a strong research foundation and crichton is not convincing with this ’particle’ sketch.
The character sketches in the book once again lack consistency. Our hero’s wife is hardly know to us, right till the end. On what basis are we expected to generate a feel of her? how do we place her in the whole scenario? But the hero’s character has been built beautifully and very carefully and this helps. When we read we are experiencing the situation from the position of the character in the book, and that helps to make the book interesting, especially when the character is so well depicted and constructed that we feel we know him.
The book begins slowly, picks up rapid pace, dies a bit (this seems to be there in almost every crichton book), picks up again and goes home quietly.
The book otherwise is a good read and like other crichton books, always enjoyable and thrilling. Its innovative, new, bizarre and makes one think if this is really possible. It may well be and that small nagging thought it leaves behind in your head is probably its best selling point.
I always complained about the way Crichton finished his books. After Prey...I am still complaining....