Book Review: Micro By Michael Crichton & Richard Preston WOWs, as young upcoming grad students find themselves heading to Hawaii in pursuit of cutting-edge careers in microbiology a whole new world is opened up to them on the wake of a murder investigation.

The Crichton manuscript and notes for Micro were posthumously delivered to Preston who continued the stunning, thrilling, science-based adventure story Crichton is so well known for.

Preston deserves exceptional credit for delivering the novel with Crichton’s pacing and tone – a work that he would truly be proud of.

Here is the story synopsis, and the review continues below it.

From michaelcrichton.com:

Hardcover
Published in 2011 by HarperCollins

Paperback
Published in 2012 by HarperCollins

First Edition Release Date: March, 2019

In a locked Honolulu office building, three men are found dead with no sign of struggle except for the ultrafine, razor-sharp cuts covering their bodies. The only clue left behind is a tiny bladed robot, nearly invisible to the human eye.

In the lush forests of Oahu, groundbreaking technology has ushered in a revolutionary era of biological prospecting. Trillions of microorganisms, tens of thousands of bacteria species, are being discovered; they are feeding a search for priceless drugs and applications on a scale beyond anything previously imagined.

In Cambridge, Massachusetts, seven graduate students at the forefront of their fields are recruited by a pioneering microbiology start-up. Nanigen MicroTechnologies dispatches the group to a mysterious lab in Hawaii, where they are promised access to tools that will open a whole new scientific frontier.

But once in the Oahu rain forest, the scientists are thrust into a hostile wilderness that reveals profound and surprising dangers at every turn. Armed only with their knowledge of the natural world, they find themselves prey to a technology of radical and unbridled power. To survive, they must harness the inherent forces of nature itself.

This is a *SPOILER-FUL Review WARNING*

Micro starts with a murder mystery and captivates the reader with gripping action scenes that only get more compelling until the novel ends.

As a Hawaiian tech company’s malicious owner – a crook and a killer – uses his new technology to shrink a group of grad students down to half an inch, they find themselves stranded in the rainforest, in an unknown environment, running from giant insects and other gruesome creatures.

Michael Crichton doing research for Micro in Hawaii | Photo credit: Sherri Crichton

Charles Darwin’s Survival of the Fittest is law and it takes all of their intellect to survive.

Crichton and Preston take us to a whole new world – delightful imagery, chilling predators, and a new ecosystem.

They show their love for the natural world, but remind the readers of its explicit cruelty. The authors adopt a shocking realism. Characters are picked off right and left, sometimes without warning, and in the cruelest of ways.

An argument can be made for one dimensional characters; but heroic rescues always make up for character flaws.

A page of Michael Crichton’s handwritten Micro notes

Crichton died in 2008 at the age of 66. He was writing thrillers in medical school under the pen name John Lange.

His novels often blend medical and technological elements with adventure and violence. Upon his death, he left this unfinished manuscript, including detailed plot outlines and notes, with Richard Preston, himself a respected author of science-related novels such as The Hot Zone.

All in all, Micro ensures all readers will reflect upon the beauty and horror of the natural world. Especially if/when a villain has the technology to create micro-drones that could kill any leader on Earth.

The Forgotten Fiction Grade: YEA (read it!)

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“Book Review: MICRO By Michael Crichton & Richard Preston WOWs” was written by Peter Maisano for The Forgotten Fiction.