Book Review: Micro

Book: Micro by Michael Crichton and Richard Preston

Cover Design and Illustration by Will Staehle

Edition: Hardcover

Description:

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 forest 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, the must harness the inherent forces of nature itself.




Rating: 4 stars

Review:

Micro is an interesting sci-fi thriller, the story follows several science grad students (Peter Jansen, Jenny Linn, Karen King, Amar Singh, Rick Hutter, Erika Moll and Danny Minot) who unfortunately were shrunken to micro size and need to figure out how to survive the harsh and dangerous wilderness.

The young scientists were being recruited by Vin Drake, the CEO of Nanigen MicroTechnologies, Alyson Bender, the CFO and Eric Jansen, the Vice President of Technology and Peter's older brother. The grad students were given an opportunity to visit Nanigen's headquarter and research facility in Hawaii to get a better understanding of the company. Just before Peter and the rest of the group were scheduled to make the trip to Hawaii, he received a call from Alyson Bender telling Peter that his brother had died during a boating accident.

The surprising thing is Peter had also received a text from his brother that warned him not to go to Hawaii. Needing to find out what happened to his brother, Peter left ahead of his group. The police described what happened to Eric and showed him a video that was recorded by a tourist. While looking at the video, Peter noticed something that connected to Nanigen which made him believe his brother's death wasn't accidental. Instead of telling the police what he found, Peter used the arrival of his fellow grad students as possible witnesses to him finding the truth at Nanigen.

His plan worked a little too well because after it was discovered what he had done, not only was he shrunk but also the other grad students and a Nanigen employee (who was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time).

After being shrunken, the group were in an extremely dangerous situation once they ended up in the forest. They were going to have to find a way to survive but that was easier said than done now that they were at the bottom of the food chain. Not only did they have to look out for all types of predators but they need to find a way back to Nanigen in hopes of getting back to their normal size. However, someone at the company was trying to ensure that they never make it back.

This was a fascinating and exciting sci-fi story that takes an interesting look at Man vs Nature with a touch of greed, corruption, espionage and the advancement of science and technology. This group of micro sized people were thrust into an unbelievable world where they had no choice but to figure out a way to survive. And with so many unexpected things happening there was no guessing as to which characters would make it to the end. This scientific story turned out to be real page turner.