State of Fear is.. well, not just a book. Or not just a Fiction book. Or not just a techno-thriller... State of Fear is more than that. It is almost a well researched thesis. I felt a chill when I saw that the last TWENTY-THREE pages of the book are just ’sources’ and ’bibliography’. This is a book that tackles one of the most important topics that heat up the discussions these days... Environment.
Introduction:
Let me first tell you a word of caution. This book is not an easy read. You probably cannot munch chips or popcorns, or have a pizza and read... It demands a little more attention than what we care to give to any fiction book. Because though it is thrilling to turn pages as the story progresses, it is also an intellectual treat to read all the scientific stuff.. Especially the two Interviews that the main character, Peter Evans, goes through. Those Interviews, though lengthy (they take 9 and 19 pages respectively), provide a valuable insight on the "Global Warming" issue.
The Storyline:
Let me now get into the details of the story. The book opens to a coversation between a young researcher in Paris and a beautiful, half-vietnamese girl. And in no time, we witness the Researcher killed by her, his research data copied and sent to an unknown location.
The next is a million dollar sale of Hypersonic Cavitation Generators, a deadly technology. The sale is conducted between a Chinese and a person posing as a field geologist. Place of Sale - Jungles of Malaysia. While you sit wondering what could be the relation between these, the next scene opens in London, where a man collects half a million feet of guide wire, supposedly for 500 missiles...
And there’s more. A couple of men lease a submarine in Vancouver. They don’t even blink when they know that it is going to cost them $583, 000. Rather, they pay an advance of $250, 000, and leave...
And this cheque for a quarter of a million dollars bounces, and there starts a small investigation, which in a matter of days, increases to a global search. All this data, of seemingly unrelated incidents, happening in different parts of the world, is collected by a Japanese Company, for an intelligent Agent named John Kenner and his nepali assistant, Sanjong Thapa.
The events unfold themselves slowly. It looks like most of the Environmental organizations are focussed on making money, and not really concerned about doing some solid work. A leading philanthropist, George Morton, is concerned about his donations to one of such organizations, and decides to check on them. Kenner helps him in the work... But all that takes a hit, when Morton dies in an accident.
However, Peter, Morton’s assistant Sarah, and Kenner-Sanjong, decide to press on the work Morton has undertaken, and they come across a shocking document that tells them about some environmentally destructive events planned all over the world. How they deal with it, and how the events climax in a cannibal-village is better read in the book!!
The Concept:
I liked the way Crichton spins the tale. At all times, we know that this book is a work of fiction. But almost every alternate page, there are so many foot-notes, and the book is interspersed with so many graphs, that you get an eerie feeling like it is all happening in a real world.
The central concept of the book is State of Fear. As Crichton says, the "notion of Social Control..." is "..the requirement of every sovereign state to exert control over the behavior of its citizens, to keep them orderly and reasonably docile. To keep them driving on the right side of the road... To keep them paying taxes. And of course we know that social control is best managed through fear.... For fifty years, Western nations had maintained their citizens in a state of perpetual fear. Fear of the other side. Fear of nuclear war. The communist menace. The Iron Curtain. The Evil Empire. And within the Communist countries, the same in reverse. Fear of us..."
"...Industrialized nations provide their citizens with unprecedented safety, health, and comfort... Yet modern people live in abject fear. They are afraid of strangers, of disease, of crime, of the environment. They are afraid of the homes they live in.. the food... the technology... germs, chemicals, additives, pollutants... And even more amazingly, they are convinced that the environment of the entire planet is being destroyed around them...."
"How has this world view been instilled in everybody? Because although we imagine we live in different nations... in fact, we inhabit exactly the same state, the State of Fear..."
Crichton’s Research:
Crichton has a well documented research base to build this book on. And he knows that a book like this may finally leave the reader wonder, what is the Authors stand on these topics. The author makes it clear in the "Author’s Message". In fact this is one book where the Appendix section is as good-read as the rest of the book. It consists of Author’s Message, which has 25 points that clearly state what Crichton thinks about these issues. It also has an insight on "Why Politicized Science Is Dangerous", where he explains the hype that was created by the Theory of Eugenics, and how it led to the death of millions of people. This is followed by the List of Reference Materials, under Sources of Data for Graphs, and of course, Bibliography.
Conclusion:
The book makes for a great reading. Although people who know Crichton through his sensational movies like Jurassic Park, The Lost World, Congo, Disclosure and such, may get disappointed a little. Because this is what we call a "Realistic Fiction". And it may bore a casual reader. Perhaps, one who wants to read a real thriller by the author, should start with Prey, or Jurassic Park, or Disclosure. They are great-reads as well...
References:
While writing this review, I have made use of some material, apart from the book itself. You can find additional information about the book at the following places:
1) Official Website of Michael Crichton - https://crichton-official.com/
2) State of Fear on Author’s Website - https://crichton-official.com/fear/index.html
3) Excerpts from the book - https://crichton-official.com/fear/fear_excerpts.shtml
4) About the Author - https://crichton-official.com/aboutmc/biography.html