Book Review: The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton

 

I had almost zero expectations going into reading this book other than that Michael Crighton is a great writer and I enjoyed Congo a lot and I enjoyed the Jurassic Park movies. I could tell that it was about some kind of virus as the term "strain" usually means something bad and biological and there are lots of strains of viruses and viruses are on the mind of late. Based on the previous titles I was expecting some kind of action-adventure story but that is not what I found with this book. Instead, I was slowly taken on a cerebral journey through a subtle world of science fiction in a way that I haven't experienced before. 

The Andromeda Strain starts off in a small town where everyone but two people has died from a mysterious cause. Some of them have committed suicide while others choked to death and some had their blood solidify in their veins. The only survivors are a baby and an old man. The connection between the two unlikely survivors will become the key to understanding the solution to the problem. In an effort to understand this potential threat a covert government agency known as Project Wildfire is put into action. Project Wildfire was created for the purpose of preparing for the inevitable event that an alien lifeform, likely bacterial-sized, would end up on Earth and potentially cause a threat to humanity. Millions of dollars were allocated to the project which allowed for a state-of-the-art laboratory to be built in order to study and contain anything the potential threat had to offer. 

It turns out that something did hitch a ride on a government satellite and fell from space into the small town. The satellite is taken to the Project Wildfire facility and studied by the elite group of scientists selected for the project. From there it is up to the team of scientists to study this potentially life-ending strain of unknown life before it is too late. With nuclear protocols in place to destroy the town if needed, the facility if needed, and anything else, if needed, the scientists go to work around the clock to come up with a cure knowing that they will be left to die if they are contaminated by the unknown strain. 

Michael Crighton takes some of the most potentially boring material and makes it somehow extremely interesting. With historical fiction about the underworld of government activities adding to the intrigue and an immense sense of impending dread, the story is compelling without any of the typical action one is expecting. Scientific technologies and methods are the keys to saving humanity and are the real heroes here. Biochemistry, virology, biology, and physiology could easily bring boredom to a story but I found the writing made these technical things accessible and interesting. The story does seem a little slow at times but has good pacing that kept me interested throughout and by the end, I was on the edge of my seat for the climactic finale. 

I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a more scientific mystery that is both thrilling and thoughtful. Michael Crighton put a lot of research into the science here and it shows. If you like biology, viruses, alien encounters, and government conspiracies this book is for you. With Covid 19 existing and permeating culture I am sure that this book might freak people out a little so if you have a hard time separating fact from fiction then this may not be the book for you but you probably won't admit it any way that so go ahead and read it. 

Read my Review of Congo:

 https://joesnotesblog.com/blog/book-review-congo-by-michael-crichton?rq=congo

Book Review: The Terminal List by Jack Carr

The Terminal List exemplifies the adage "write what you know" and the author Jack Carr apparently knows how to kill people. This becomes apparent as the protagonist, James Reece, goes on a rampage of revenge on the people that conspired to kill his platoon, his family, and his friends. James Reece employs a wide variety of military and insurgency tactics in order to surveil, trap, interrogate, and kill his enemies. These details are well developed and offer an insight into the world of modern combat, espionage, and terrorism. Whether he is using encrypted message systems, employing night vision optics, custom sniper rifles, or using disguises, James Reece is an unstoppable and ruthless operator. Also, he has a brain tumor, which doesn't help. 

The story here is not complicated or poetic. It reads like a typical action movie with straightforward good versus evil dichotomies. James has racked up a ton of favors from the perfect set of friends to help him exact his revenge. His life in the Navy Seal Teams has allowed him to meet just the right people to help him fund, plan, and execute his plans, including an insanely wealthy Mexican benefactor and a pilot that owes him her life. Without these people, he would not have gotten very far but thanks to them he can freely roam the USA and Mexico and make his enemies pay. 

The bad guys are equally stereotypical. They are politicians, lawyers, and corrupt leaders, and they all have personal vices that make them even worse. Womanizers, powerful sociopaths, master manipulators, and spineless lackeys make up the "bad guys" team and they have no redeemable qualities. They deserve to die so why not make it interesting? James Reece makes it interesting. 

 This is the first book Jack Carr has written and it suffers from another adage, "show don't tell". The author covers a ton of ground just saying what is happening and what has happened instead of allowing the reader to fill in the gaps by providing the subtle details that would lead the reader to realize a more vivid and deep world. I found the whole thing to be so typically action-oriented that from the very beginning I could predict what would happen, roughly speaking. This doesn't mean that I could predict the specifics but that the overall outcomes were unsurprising. The lack of character development and the excess of stereotypical personalities made it difficult to empathize and connect to the characters. It is just taken for granted that we should care about the good guys and hate the bad guys, which I found to be uninteresting. There were few points in which I was excited to get back to the book and went days without reading. 

That said, I really enjoyed the military details that added to the authenticity and helped create a realism that grounded the book. Specific details related to weapons, tools, strategies, and tactics are the reason to read this book. Like any good Bond movie or Jason Bourne movie, the act of putting yourself into the shoes of a highly trained, intelligent, and nearly unstoppable soldier is a lot of fun. I enjoyed the action of this book but didn't feel like it took sufficient advantage of the medium of literature. I think it is coming out as a movie and that will probably be a more satisfying way to enjoy this story. If you like military action thrillers and straightforward writing then you will like this book. Otherwise, wait for the movie or pick up something a little more literary, like Deadwood, which I just finished and found exceedingly compelling.

 

Jödingers Bullet

May 22nd. Noon

Micah and Jared sat across from each other at their favorite diner. They had been coming here since they were in high school together. Now they were in their thirties. Jared was married and had two children and Micah has been divorced and has one child. They did their best to meet up once a week for lunch at the Lucky Horseshoe Diner and while Jared ate his pastrami sandwich Micah stared at him with a crooked smile and wide eyes.

"What?" Jared said after finally noticing Micah's gaze.

"Can you make me a cartridge that looks perfectly real but is actually not?" Micah asked.

"A blank?" Jared asked in return.

"No, it wouldn't go off but instead would just make it seem that the gun was loaded," Micah explained.

"Of course I can. That's easy," said Jared who quickly added, "But why?"

"It has to be the correct weight and pass an expert's test," Micah said.

"Sure, sure. But why?" Jared asked again and started fidgeting in his seat.

Micah displayed a joker's smile and said, "I am going to put on a Russian Roulette show."

"Oh yeah," Jared responded with mild amusement. "But why?"

"I'm going to charge people to watch and bet on when it will go off. I use a real bullet to prove that the gun works but then I will put in the fake bullet for the real show."

"That sounds really dangerous," Jared said while getting back to his sandwich.

"Nah," Micah said with a shrug. "It'll be fun."

"What caliber?" Jared asked without looking up from his sandwich.

"357 please," Micah replied.

May 21st. Noon

Jared was excited. He had flowers in his hand when he walked up the driveway to his front door when he noticed Micah's car in the driveway. Curious, he thought but shrugged it off. He continued into his house as quietly as possible. It was Sarah's day off and he wanted to surprise her by coming home from work at lunch, which he never does and tell her that he booked them a trip to Tahiti.

He made his way silently up the stairs where, as he climbed, a sound came from upstairs and it grew in intensity with each step. Loud breathing, grunts, and high pitched trills caused Jared's hair to stand on end and his smile turned to a look of terror. As he turned the corner and peeked into his bedroom he saw it. His wife writhing on top of another man. Sarah blocked his view but he could make out some brown hair matching that of his long-time friend Micah's. He fell to the ground. As shock settled in he sat and listened to the sounds of his wife having sex with his friend for far too long. Before they could notice him lying there Jared got up, dropped the flowers and slowly made his way to his car and left.

May 23rd. Noon:

Jared sat in his garage reloading bullets. It was a way to keep his mind off of what had happened the day before. His wife had found the flowers on the floor and they hadn't spoken since he had come home from work that day. They just artfully avoided each other, neither one wanting to start with the other. He had been reloading his own cartridges for years and was masterful at it. He meticulously weighed the powder. Each bullet was pressed into its casing with precision and care. After he had created a few dozen normal 357 shells he started to make his faux bullet for Micah.

He put the faux bullet together the same as the others but instead of using black powder he weighed out an equivalent amount of black pepper. In order to differentiate it from the others, he cut a small notch in the rim of the casing. He looked at the cartridge and as he stared at it he remembered the shit eating grin on Micah's face at the diner the day after he caught him having sex with his wife. Jared was filled with rage and he threw the faux cartridge against the wall. Then he grabbed a real cartridge and held a small sharp blade to the rim of the casing and made a very small cut. As he held the cartridge in his hand he called Micah to tell him that he had his cartridge and to pick it up when he got off work that night. Jared informed Micah that the fake cartridge would have a distinct cut in the rim of its casing so he could tell it apart from the real ones.

May 24th. Midnight

The basement of the Lucky Horseshoe Diner was dark and dank. It smelled of mold and dead mice. It had not been used by its owner for many years but it was a place that Micah had learned to sneak into a long time ago. Tonight the room also smelled of sweat and cigarettes as it was filled with 25 men bustling around a small table at the back of the room. As they waited for the night's entertainment to begin they loudly placed bets and drank liquor out of styrofoam cups.

Micah sat at the small round table and then suddenly jumped onto the top of the table and waved his arms to get the crowds attention. "Gentlemen!" He barked and the crowd roar simmered down. "Thank you all for coming out this evening and I assure you it will be a night you will never forget."

The crowd roared for a moment and then simmered down allowing Micah to continue. "Tonight I will risk my life to show you that...I am the luckiest man alive. I have studied for years to persuade the Gods to increase my helping of luck and they have delivered! Tonight I will take this real gun and this real bullet." With this, he pulled out a large revolver from behind his back and held out his left hand to show the audience a single cartridge. He flung open the revolver with a flick of his wrist and gingerly placed the cartridge into one of its chambers.

He cocked the hammer back, pointed it across the room at a bottle sitting on a ledge and fired. An incredible blast rang out which caused all in the room to wince except Micah who had remembered to wear ear protection. The glass shattered and after a moment of realization and recovery, the crowd roared again. They turned to Micah who said, "I will take five shots and will not be harmed!' He paused and continued briskly, "The show is about to begin. Finalize your bets and make sure that door is locked!" He jumped down from the table and sat in a chair facing the crowd. He stared at the door on the other side of the room and hoped that this would work.

May 24th. Midnight

Jared woke up on the couch with sweat on his brow. He rushed to the garage and frantically searched for the black pepper cartridge that he had made. Finally, he found it and tried to call Micah.

"Hello?" Micah asked. 

"It's Jared. Don't do it! I think I gave you the wrong one!" Jared panted as he spoke. 

"Gotcha!" Micah exclaimed with glee. "Leave a message, you idiot!" BEEP.

"Fuck!" Jared yelled into the microphone. 

He ran out of the house and rushed to the only place he could think Micah could be. 

Moments later he was in the parking lot of the Lucky Horseshoe Diner and when he saw the group of cars that lined the street he knew he had the right place. He rushed to the back of the diner where the doors to the basement were hidden behind some vines but when he pushed them away he found the doors were locked from the inside. He stomped his foot on the doors until he was exhausted but nothing happened.

He decided to run around and try the front door. To his surprise, the door was unlocked. He crept inside the dark and desolate diner and made his way to the back room where he ran down the stairs that led to the basement's main entrance and tried the door. It opened to reveal a room filled from wall to wall with men, most of whom cocked their heads toward him as he entered. He scanned the eyes that looked at him looking for Micah but only saw angry faces. 

"Get out of my way," said a short and stout man with a gray baseball cap who pushed passed Jared. He closed the door and locked it, looked at Jared and said with a smile, "The shows about to begin."

Jared made his way through the crowd slowly and as he pushed passed the front row he stumbled and the faux cartridge fell out of his hand toward Micah. Micah swooped down and picked up the cartridge without thinking. As they stared at each other in the midst of a room full of bloodthirsty animals Micah held out his open hand to show Jared two identical cartridges. 

Jared took a step forward and whispered into Micah's ear, "I know you had sex with my wife but I don't want you to die man. I brought the real "fake" one but you just picked it up with the same hand as the real "real" one."

Micah's eyes maximally widened and he whispered back into Jared's ear, "I haven't seen your wife since I let her borrow my car on Friday."

"Fffuuuuuuuuck," Jared said softly.

Micah let out a resigned, "Shit."

The both turned and looked at the ravenous crowd. The cutthroats were rocking back and forth, waving their wands, and chattering incessantly with excitement. They wouldn't settle for anything less than mayhem that night and the two friends knew it. They stepped back, Micah held out his hand with the two cartridges, looked down at them and then back up at Jared. Jared looked at the cartridges and then back at Micah who gave him a reassuring look. With reluctance, Jared slowly picked one up and handed it to Micah. Micah took the cartridge and began his show. 

"Alright, everyone!" Micah announced. "Take a look at this bullet," He said and handed it to the nearest man other than Jared. After only a moment's inspection, Micah took the cartridge from the man and with a flourish opened the revolver's action and placed the cartridge in a chamber. He swept the revolver's wheel with his hand and it clicked like a bicycle with cards clattering against its spokes. The room fell silent save the sound that reminded every man in the room both of their own childhoods and the impending violence. The spinning wheel slowed and soon stopped with a soft 'click'. All eyes were on Micah as he pressed the warm muzzle flush with the side of his head. He pulled the hammer back, held it there for a moment, took a breath and squeezed the trigger.