Trans-genetic chimp and bird provide characterization

In addition to being entertaining, Michael Crichton’s novels are based on scientific fact which makes their relevance greater than the literary merit. Although he will not go down in history as a literary writer, the timeliness of his books may. He brings up issues that need to be discussed and addressed. Next deals with genetic research and modification, and patents. It also gets bogged down with too many plot lines, too many characters including some of the absurdly written ones I’ve ever seen.

In addition to a bounty hunter from a spaghetti western, confused generation X’ers with drug addicted siblings and cranky parents, you will get a pedophile, a genetically modified bird and chimp. The last two characters actually provide some of the best character realization in the story. These two actually elicited sympathy from me.

The afterward at the book should be read first as he talks about what the book’s facts are based upon. This part is more than scary; I did not know that a company can patent a gene. His case against patents and company ownership of viruses is excellent. The hepatitis B disease is owned by a company.

Genetic patents, not one storyline are the core of this book. Companies, people and colleges are fighting against each other as to who owns what. A company has a lawyer plead case that they have the right to obtain genetic material from anyone who possesses it (it is passed down from generation to generation which makes up a significant part of the plot as a bounty hunter – aka recovery agent – is employed to get the DNA material from anyone related to the original patient).

The book lacks a central plot. There are too many plots in this book. Many short stories are thrown together. The threads attaching some of them are thin and coerced. For example, Gerard, the bird literally travels the planet. He starts out as a pet for a family and he helps the little boy with his homework. The father doesn’t like him as the bird vocally mimics his shenanigans. The father gets rid of him, he goes to a man who dislikes him, giving him to someone who drives him 3,000 miles to his aunt. 30 miles away, he is tired of Gerard, leaving the obnoxious bird in the desert (I’d have left him at the first exit on the highway and gone home but then about 50 pages of the book would not have been written). Gerard escapes wild coyotes and goes to a fashionable spa and is adopted by the family that has the trans-genetic chimp. Oy vay!

Another plot is Dave, the trans-genetic chimp who is part human. He appears to have more common sense than some of the human characters. Chimps are strong; he seems to have some super-human strength and knows how to go after the bad guys. There is a chase scene wherein he saves his kidnapped half-brother. There is some suspense in this scene but one can almost figure out what will happen. I don’t want to say anything to destroy the reader’s pleasure of the book, but there are more than a couple of parts in this part of the book where the reader must suspend their common sense. It comes across as a Wiley E. Coyote cartoon scene for many pages. Yes, it is entertaining but I found myself scratching my head through this and many other sections.

There is also commentary from news services about many inane things such as blondes becoming extinct; talking monkeys in the jungle, logos on fish, etc. Whether this is to provide a picture of a brave new world or to be satire, I don't know. It stops the book dead in its tracks.

Having read many of Michael Crichton’s books, this is probably the weakest one I ever read. He brings up issues; the book is entertaining, but ultimately falls very short in providing coherence to the reader. It really feels like he just slapped this book together without any forethought. This could’ve been a really good book if the editor asked him to spend more time instead of churning out his annual foray.