Next

Just finished "Next," and -- at the risk of sounding unladylike -- WTF?! Franken-animal experiments are certainly happening behind closed doors. (Dolly the sheep was no one-off.) This fascinating what-if story should come with three caveats: 1. Natural blondes, beware. 2. Never take a cross-country road trip with a half-human talking parrot. (Hysterically funny.) 3. If an orangutan swears at you in French, run. I do have a question about one of the "givens" driving the plot: Are the cells of a man, his daughter and his grandson all the same? I would think not, but, then again, I squeaked through high school and college without a single science class. (Well, there was that zoology course ... but I dropped it after three weeks.)

I will keep this short. This is the best Crichton novel to date because the author took risks and dared to be politically incorrect. He was not afraid to shock his readers with transgenic creations, dispel myths about blondes, etc. In this day and age where everyone is extremely careful not to offend anyone, it was refreshing to see an established author publishing a daring work of this kind.

In short, in NEXT Crichton presents the exciting, scary, and problematic aspects of current genetic research, and current applications, in the form of a very readable novel. Not as much fun as JURASSIC PARK, but still one of Crichton's best. As other reviewers point out, there are a few too many essentialy independent subplots to keep track of. Two exaggerated transgenic animals, an African Grey parrot and a chimpanzee ("humanzee") strain credulity. African Greys are impressive---an enhanced Grey might have astounding language stills---but not the reasoning skills to go with them that Gerard has. Similarly, a "humanzee" raised in a cage would be just at least as retarded as a human child raised in a cage. Dave is portrayed as being was well developed as a human child of the same age---albeit with a few peculiar quirks. Both are cute and provide comic relief. My only concern is that many readers will discount the other possibilities, problems, and threats Crichton presents which are not at all exaggerated. Still, these are minor quibbles. If you have enjoyed earlier Crichton novels because you enjoy being educated while reading fiction---you'll love NEXT. I can't imagine anyone giving it less than 4 stars---must be folks with ideological axes to grind, and mad about some of Crichton's earlier novels.

Michael Crichton - he's produced dinosaurs from amber, warned us of the perils of junk science, and combined business and mystery in a number of novels. All very serious stuff. Now Crichton brings us a multi-lingual orangutan, an avian Einstein, and a remarkably robust grade school body guard. It took me about 200 pages to realize that Cricton's sly sense of humor was at work and that I was reading a comedy. Sure there's some serious stuff about ruthless businessmen and scientists, as well as warnings about idiot laws formulated by clueless lawyers, judges, and politicians but once I realized my leg was being pulled the book took on an whole new character. It's a good read that will update you on the perils of modern genetics with lots of fun stuff thrown in. Here's hoping that Cricton includes the heroic Dave and Gerard combo in some of his future novels.

I'd rate this book just below "Jurassic Park" and "State of Fear" but above Prey. Crichton always seems to create a exciting story around a current event. This is no exception, the current event being genetic engineering and where it could take us. (Note: there were many characters, and I ended up writing them down to keep track of them. After all, what good is a thriller without trying to figure it all out before the book gives the answer.)

Next is a much more complex novel than Crichton's previous work. It is less intensely exciting and more realistic. The large cast of characters ring true, resembling many researchers I have met in biotechnology (though they are a bit over the top and over sexed). Their stories a very good job of addressing many of the issues surrounding biotechnological research, though sometimes Crichton brings in a few too many small disconnected underdeveloped stories in order to address some obscure ethical issue. The crazy hippie, the rebelling teenager and the ruthless advertiser are all stock characters overpopulating the novel and proving points that Crichton clearly wanted to make. The tone is much less heavy handed than his constant preaching in State of Fear. The complexities of the ethics is complemented by the complexity of the cast. Each character has their own flaws, unlike the Mary Sue of other popular fiction writers. They show the bio industry as it really is: no selfless heroes, many decent people. No one has a perfect vision of biotechnology's future. The best one can expect is to escape death by poetic justice.