Poor Peter Evans!! He's just your average lawyer for environmentalists in LA when he realizes that most of what he knew about global warming was grossly exaggerated. Ever since then people seem to be trying to kill him and all his acquaintances. Luckily, he has an ally in John Kenner, a mysterious government agent and professor, who takes on him a worldwide adventure to stop a rogue group of terrorists (with a pro-environment agenda) from setting off any number of global catastrophes to "proove" global warming is a threat.

People who like science...but not necessarily science books. People who like thrillers/mysteries. A good read for the beach or airplane because it's quick and not very heady.

1. This book moves very fast!! Since I think my own stories tend to drag, I am always in awe of authors like Michael Crichton and Dan Brown who can make their stories fly. I think the speedy reading is partly because Crichton sticks to short chapters that almost always end with a cliffhanger.   2. Crichton continues to demonstrate his talent for seamlessly combining a ton of scientific research into the plot. I felt like some of it was dumbed down, but maybe that's just because I am used to reading nonfiction.

1. The characters can be a little cartoonish. John Kenner is as mysterious as you can get. Sarah is a stereotypical California girl. Ted Bradley is such an airhead you wonder if he can feed himself. Part of this flatness is due to the mystery Crichton tries to build. Peter Evans, the main character and the one the reader gets to know the best, is constantly trying to figure out who he can trust, so you only get bits and pieces of people. Unfortunately, even in the end when the mystery is resolved, the characters didn't really come alive for me.   2. The ending felt rushed. It goes from the world ending to complete resolution in a matter of a few pages. It just seemed a bit abrupt considering how many questions I still had about the characters.

Look up Crichton's references. He used quite a few footnotes that give his thriller a nonfiction feel in some places. I also wanted to go read/watch Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth. I am glad I read this book now because I feel like in a few decades it will be outdated, just like Gore's book/movie. The references will be old; new research will have more to say.

This Book made me think, which is pretty good for general fiction. Crichton writes in an appendix that his book has no agenda other than to encourage people to read all the facts before committing to a cause. I don't necessarily believe him when he says he has no agenda, but I felt like the facts he presented were compelling and worth looking at.

I feel that Michael Crichton was better in Jurassic Park and Sphere, but this was a fun quick read.

This book was recommended to me by my Grandfather after he read it for his book club.

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Created Mar 10, 2007 at 7:10pm • Submit your own review...