I have a fond recollection of reading Jurassic Park (pre-movie release) in college and being so caught up I read until dawn then hit Skyway Jacks for the Fisherman’s Special. The homefries! This will likely not enrapture you as much. It’s not bad, but much of it feels like ground covered by Rick Moranis. And Slither. (An amusing combination.)
A group of ambitious graduate students from Cambridge is flown to Hawaii to be impressed and hopefully employed by Nanigen, a biotech firm with a psychotically unethical CEO. Things go wrong. Like, Jurassic Park wrong. With insects instead of dinosaurs.
Instead of the classic man-against-nature scenario it begins as, Micro closes in a man-versus-technology vein. After the students find classified, stolen and extremely advanced technology they’re miniaturized and left at the mercy of one of the most biologically diverse environments in the world. The rain forest. ‘”Mother Fucking Nature,” Danny Minot muttered. “It’s nothing but monsters with insatiable appetites.”’ Pretty much.
My understanding is that Crichton began the novel before his death. Preston does a decent job of maintaining tone and character consistency (except for the one-dimensional antagonist who grew flatter as the story progressed) but doesn’t have Crichton’s knack for scientific detail and tension building. There is a dramatic shift about halfway through, in regard to the protagonist, that reads like a divergence in the authors’ vision. I don’t remember encountering anything similar as a literary device in other novels. It was surprising but… unnecessary? A waste of suspense? Poor planning?
Not Crichton or Preston’s best effort.
Crichton, Michael; Preston, Richard (2011-11-22). Micro: A Novel (p. 384). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.
Interesting! It would be hard to step into such big shoes. I always think I’ll like Crichton’s work (I also have fond memories of Jurassic Park), but I’m always underwhelmed. Sounds like this one might be a pass, even with the Slither shout-out.