DRAGON TEETH takes us back to the old west in the early
days of the field of paleontology. Two men, Professor
Othniel Marsh and Edwin Drinker Cope, are engaged in a
race to discover the newest and largest number of
dinosaur fossils. William Johnson, the son of a prominent
Philadelphia shipbuilder and a Yale student, finds
himself caught between the two paleontologists after a
ridiculous bet sends him on a quest to travel out west.
William is about to get a firsthand view of just how
nasty the Bone Wars are.
William is a great narrator for DRAGON TEETH. He starts
off as a rich college student, wasting his father's money
as he engages in one reckless act after another. However,
it is his pride that sends him on the journey out west
after a bet with a fellow Yale student. The events that
ensue force him to grow up. I love seeing his evolution
from a privileged and often frivolous student into a man
willing to stand up for what he believes in and what he
knows is right.
One of the things I've always loved about Michael
Crichton's novels is the meticulous research incorporated
into the storylines. DRAGON TEETH is no exception as the
story had me googling facts and downloading a nonfiction
historical work recommended by Crichton. While the
character of William is fictional, the Bone Wars and the
deep animosity between Cope and Marsh are well
documented. In fact, the Author's Note points out that
DRAGON TEETH tones down the hostility that existed
between the two men. Michael Crichton does a brilliant
job at engaging the reader in the story line and the
characters as I actually wanted William to be real.
Published posthumously, DRAGON TEETH is exactly the sort
of story one expects from Michael Crichton. Michael
Crichton intersperses fictional journal entries to
heighten the believability of William's character. DRAGON
TEETH harkens back to the earlier works of Michael
Crichton and reminds me of why his books were on my auto-
buy list.
Michael Crichton, the #1 New York Times
bestselling author of Jurassic Park, returns to the
world of paleontology in this recently discovered novel—a
thrilling adventure set in the Wild West during the golden
age of fossil hunting.
The year is 1876. Warring Indian tribes still populate
America’s western territories even as lawless gold-rush
towns begin to mark the landscape. In much of the country it
is still illegal to espouse evolution. Against this backdrop
two monomaniacal paleontologists pillage the Wild West,
hunting for dinosaur fossils, while surveilling, deceiving
and sabotaging each other in a rivalry that will come to be
known as the Bone Wars.
Into this treacherous territory plunges the arrogant and
entitled William Johnson, a Yale student with more privilege
than sense. Determined to survive a summer in the west to
win a bet against his arch-rival, William has joined
world-renowned paleontologist Othniel Charles Marsh on his
latest expedition. But when the paranoid and secretive Marsh
becomes convinced that William is spying for his nemesis,
Edwin Drinker Cope, he abandons him in Cheyenne, Wyoming, a
locus of crime and vice. William is forced to join forces
with Cope and soon stumbles upon a discovery of historic
proportions. With this extraordinary treasure, however,
comes exceptional danger, and William’s newfound resilience
will be tested in his struggle to protect his cache, which
pits him against some of the West’s most notorious characters.
A page-turner that draws on both meticulously researched
history and an exuberant imagination, Dragon Teeth
is based on the rivalry between real-life paleontologists
Cope and Marsh; in William Johnson readers will find an
inspiring hero only Michael Crichton could have imagined.
Perfectly paced and brilliantly plotted, this enormously
winning adventure is destined to become another Crichton
classic.
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