The Andromeda Strain, The Great Train Robbery —and now Congo! It's Crichton in top form—and the terrain this time is darkest Africa. Three daring adventurers trek into the jungle—into the very' heart of the Congo, through cannibal country, past flaming volcanoes—in search of the diamonds of the Lost City of Zinj. Pure H. Rider Haggard, but with the incomparable Crichton difference! His intrepid band (two of them Ph.D.'s) consists of:
• A young California scientist (specialty: primate research) who is accompanied by his sensitive, intelligent "talking" gorilla, Amy (a vocabulary of 620 words, a will of her own, and she cries if he leaves her) .
• A genius-y and gorgeous young woman from ERTS (Earth Resources Technology Services, Inc., a Houston-based corporation with hush-hush global interests) who is ruthlessly determined to secure the (industrial) diamonds before her equal- ly ruthless Euro-Japanese rivals beat her to it ..
• A …
The Andromeda Strain, The Great Train Robbery —and now Congo! It's Crichton in top form—and the terrain this time is darkest Africa. Three daring adventurers trek into the jungle—into the very' heart of the Congo, through cannibal country, past flaming volcanoes—in search of the diamonds of the Lost City of Zinj. Pure H. Rider Haggard, but with the incomparable Crichton difference! His intrepid band (two of them Ph.D.'s) consists of:
• A young California scientist (specialty: primate research) who is accompanied by his sensitive, intelligent "talking" gorilla, Amy (a vocabulary of 620 words, a will of her own, and she cries if he leaves her) .
• A genius-y and gorgeous young woman from ERTS (Earth Resources Technology Services, Inc., a Houston-based corporation with hush-hush global interests) who is ruthlessly determined to secure the (industrial) diamonds before her equal- ly ruthless Euro-Japanese rivals beat her to it ..
• A ' 'white hunter" whose awesome savvy about the jungle (and the competition) stems from his deadly experience as a Congo mercenary....
The obstacles they must face—pygmies, killer hippos, ferocious tribal warfare, flowing lava, spies from a rival (global) consortium, and, most dangerous of all, a murderous species of jungle gorilla apparently fixated on their destruction—demand from them more than grace under pressure. And they have more. They have all the incredible modern technology Crichton is so brilliant at describing: laser beams, satellite communications, the most sophisticated computer systems. To say nothing of Amy herself!
What happens is a glorious mélange of suspense, excitement, exhilaration, and electronics. This is Michael Crichton doing what he does best: turning a classic genre upside down by introducing and making us understand—while he tells a great story—the miraculous gadgetry and grand designs that dazzle us on the frontiers of science.
--jacket
I absolutely loved this book. There's a reason Michael Crichton is so famous, he's a great story-teller. I thought the pace of this book was perfect. It was supremely better than the movie, and the characters were not basic in their desires and personalities. My only complaint is that it seems he rushed the ending a bit. I wish he had taken more time to explore the aftermath of the expedition, and the way the characters' relationships to each other had evolved.
