Michael Crichton is one of those writers who has used his imagination to come up with incredible plots and twists with a variety of subject matter. If I remember correctly, this was his very first. Many of his books have been made into movies, and this one is no exception.The movie was pretty good, I personally think the book was even better. It allows you to personify the characters.
The story begins when five eminent biophysicists warn the US government that sterilization procedures for probes returning from space are highly inadequate for bacterium or any other life form. Basically their warnings are ignored and the programme continues as before.
Isn’t that always the way with the government? We seem to think that we are superior to smaller, less visible life forms?
Two years later, one of 17 satellites sent into space to collect material for study returns (unkowingly) carrying a bacteria to which the human body has no immunity. This seems much more true to life now that we know about ebola virus, which has no known cure, anthrax, and even AIDS - considering the way the AIDS virus manages to mutate.
Anyway, this probe returns to earth and lands in a remote area of Arizona. The closest town, Piedmont, succumbs to a mystery killer. Bodies are found, faces frozen in surprise, all over the town.
Their deaths are highly suspicious and perplexing as autopsies show the bodies appear drained of blood. All the blood seems to have clotted in the heart.
The only resolution the government can come up with is to drop an atomic bomb on the area. However, in an underground lab, five physicists realise that the alien bacteria has the ability to convert energy into matter. They are horrified as they comprehend that the energy supplied by the detonation of an atomic bomb would enable the bacteria to destroy humankind. Before they can tell anybody in the government this, an atomic bomb kept underground in case they had to self-destruct their lab, is activated.
The scientists are trapped in their underground lab as the clock ticks. There are only three minutes left - is mankind destined to end forever? Will the alien bacteria be destroyed?
You’ll have to read the book for the answers.
To my mind, this is where the real story begins. As always Michael Crichton keeps you on the edge of your seat, weaving an incredible tale in an easy to read and engrossing manner. You will find this book hard to put down.
In the light of recent events, one has to wonder if we have reached a similar impasse at the moment. It obviously makes the book seem less like science fiction and more a believable possibility. And makes us realise that maybe we are not the superior life form after all.