Author: Michael Crichton
Pages: 268
Format: Mass Market Paperback
Published: March 1, 1972
Publisher: Ballantine Books
View on Goodreads
Date Completed: January 18, 2025
My rating: 
Thoughts
The second book by Michael Crichton, but twelfth overall when considering his publications under pseudonyms, didn’t exactly age well. Published in 1972, some of the things mentioned wouldn’t pass an editor’s review today. But does the actual story pass muster?
This book is about Harry Benson who is an incredibly smart man who suffers from violent seizures. That is, seizures that make him violent. He enters a hospital in police custody to undergo an experimental procedure to hook his brain into a miniaturized computer to help control the seizures. Let’s unpack this for a second… He’s in police custody because he beat the ever-loving pulp out of someone. They drill holes into his skull to insert electrodes in just the right places. 40 electrodes so they can find JUST the right place. And the miniaturized computer? It’s the size of a carton of cigarettes. I’ll wait while you sit in awe of that.
Crichton is up to his usual shenanigans and goes into extreme detail on just about everything medical. Similar to other books of his, this one underwent an incredible amount of research in order to achieve the most realism possible. However, in this the story just fell flat for me. I love a good, realistic story. But I don’t need to know all the ins-and-outs. In fact, even the experts in the fields in which Crichton writes probably don’t need as much realism. For me, it just made the story drag somewhat.
As is typical in these kinds of stories, the results of the surgery aren’t quite as planned. Now the police and doctors (some of them anyway) are doing all they can to bring back the escaped Benson. And Crichton takes it right to the last page. And then it’s The End. Story over. No cuddling. Get out. Kind of left wanting to know what happens to Dr. Ross afterwards.
If you’ve read this far, you’re probably dying to know what (besides the technology) didn’t age well. Let’s just say this was written in a time when peoples’ minds were more closed. Therefore “the gays” is a derogatory term and homosexuals are lumped in with prostitutes and drug addicts. These are really brief and passing statements; nothing pervasive. Just know they’re there. A trigger warning if you will.
Overall, the story was fine but the characters were kind of forgettable. Michael Crichton has proved early on that he’s a great writer and loves writing science fiction thrillers with as much science fact as possible. But I had to give this 2.5 or 3 out of 5 stars. I know Crichton has some bangers out there. I’m just not sure I’d put this one up very high on his list of hits.
