States Of Fear, Bad Science And Perceptions Of Reality

The plethora of books one reads every year are not, for the most part, difficult to categorize as good, bad or ugly. The bad ones rarely get finished, and the time spent is considered wasted. The really good ones make one think, feel and wonder.

Michael Crichton's new book "State Of Fear" is an ambiguous book to review. It is in fact, a very good book hidden inside a bad one. The master of the application of bad science to thrillers excels in the creation of tense situations that are resolved more by intellect than any deus ex machina devices. The action shifts from place to place, yet retains a sense of unity of purpose and character.

The main thing wrong with the book is the character development. Most of the characters at one time or another merely quote long bodies of science, or pseudoscience, and the motivations of a few key characters are not clarified until it is too late to matter. Peter Evans, minutes away from death, professes his love for Sarah, yet keeps his distance from her for much of the book, seeming to fancy another character, Jennifer. Kenner's knowledge of many fields is set off against his inability to explain the conspiracy clearly to Peter. The deliberate attempt at rendering a political statement cum scientific polemic detracts from the action and distracts the reader.

Peter, an environmental lawyer is shaken out of his placid life by the disappearance of his primary client, a billionaire named George Morton with a certain resemblance to George Soros, in word and deed. He joins a couple of mysterious agents cum scientists in trying to thwart an eco-terrorism conspiracy to set off a series of climactic catastrophes around the world timed to coincide with a major environmental conference. Break-neck action and tense moments abound, although things are mostly set right in the end, with a minor tsunami to boot. Along the way, the author paints almost the entire environment movement in as much of an unfriendly light as the movement itself characterizes big business. Many of the standard clichés about the environment are questioned, and it is made to appear as if the fears about global warming are unwarranted at best, and specious lies at worst.

It is not difficult to find crooks, bad scientists and unsavory characters in any movement, but that is no cause to doubt the ethics of the movement itself. This is similar to, say, considering all charities criminal because a few of them subvert public funds for 'uncharitable' purposes. As an author, Dr Crichton has the right to choose as crooked villains as his mind can dream up, and not introduce any other better representatives of the profession, but then he risks being classed a second-rate Sax Rohmer with stereotypical Fu Manchu-like characters rather than the masterful writer of good fiction he has shown himself to be.

Article Author: Aaman Lamba

Aaman Lamba is a Blogcritics editor, as well as the Publisher of Desicritics.org, a Blogcritics network site covering media, politics, culture, sports and more with a global South Asian focus

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