Book #5: State of Fear

Title: State of Fear


Author: Michael Crichton


We read State of Fear for the February meeting of my reading group, which I did not attend because Eddie was on call. Maybe if I had attended, I would have a different impression of the book. But since I didn't, I'll admit it here-- I wasn't a big fan of the novel, which is your basic Michael Crichton action adventure with a lot of anti-global-warming propaganda thrown in. The part that killed me the most was when Crichton made fun of several characters' narrow-minded viewpoints (one who he respected so much that he had him killed off by cannibals), when his thinly-veiled contempt for pseudo-environmentalists made him seem sort of petty and narrow-minded himself. It was an ok book, but not as quick a read as many action adventures-- more along the lines of The DaVinci Code, part action adventure, part textbook (complete with footnotes to science journals to back up the global warming platform).


--originally published 2/21/07