This is a super-intelligent sci-fi about the consequences
of finding a SPHERE inside a space-age ship under the
ocean. Michael Crichton covered a myriad of consequences
to finding a spaceship under the ocean and opening the
sphere within.
The book opens with a doctor being contacted for an
immediate job with the military. He is flown out to the
middle of nowhere before being dropped off with a bunch of
other scientists. They soon find they are supposed to be
helping the military unravel a top-secret mission of alien
nature....or so they all think! The sphere turns out to be
something completely unexpected with an equally unexpected
impact on the crew and the outcome of the mission. First,
there were the immediate consequences on the crew of the
underwater compound. But more interesting were the
speculations of the characters about what was in the sphere
and later, the implications for the rest of the world
should those contents be released.
This was my first Michael Crichton book and I doubt it will
be my last! The pacing was excellent, as was the
characterization. What I really enjoyed was his assumption
that I, as the reader, was smart enough to keep up. Just
when the science started to takeover the storyline,
Crichton would switch it up. The characters had depth but
he wasn't afraid to kill people off! The tension was great
and kept me running to pick the book back up. I've heard
the movie version wasn't so hot, but the book was good.
In the middle of the South Pacific, a thousand feet below
the surface of the water, a huge vessel is discovered
resting on the ocean floor. It is a spaceship of phenomenal
dimensions, apparently undamaged by its fall from the sky.
And, most startling, it appears to be at least three hundred
years old.
But even more fantastic—and frightening—is what waits inside
. . .