Prey

By: Michael Crichton

Narrated by: George Wilson

Length: 12 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's summary

In the Nevada desert, an experiment has gone horribly wrong. A cloud of nanoparticles (micro-robots) has escaped from the laboratory. This cloud is self-sustaining and self-reproducing. It is intelligent and learns from experience. For all practical purposes, it is alive.

It has been programmed as a predator. It is evolving swiftly, becoming more deadly with each passing hour.

Every attempt to destroy it has failed.

And we are the prey.

As fresh as today's headlines, Michael Crichton's most compelling novel yet tells the story of a mechanical plague and the desperate efforts of a handful of scientists to stop it. Drawing on up-to-the-minute scientific fact, Prey takes us into the emerging realms of nanotechnology and artificial distributed intelligence in a story of breathtaking suspense.

Prey is a novel you can't pause.

Because time is running out.

©2002 Michael Crichton (P)2002 HarperCollinsPublishers, Inc.; 16 9; 2002 Recorded Books, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Crichton is the master of the sci-tech thriller, and nowhere is that more evident than in his latest page-turner, a scary, wild ride that is, without a doubt, his best in years." (Booklist)

"From the opening pages of Crichton's electrifying new thriller...readers will know they are in the hands of a master storyteller." (Publishers Weekly)

Nice

Enjoyed the narrator and the premise of this book. was hoping for a different ending, but I suppose I just wanted a happy ending.

Meah

As a Crichton fan I was disappointed with this book. The protagonist seemed incompetent much of the time. The enemies seemed hyper-capable at times and then completely incompetent at other times. How some people acted and changed actions later in the book defied explanation. The eventual solution to the enemies and their reactions to it didn't seem well thought out or possible. The book had some interesting ideas, hence the three stars, but I was just more frustrated than entertained.

I'll give one small example that I don't think will spoil anything. The airlock to the facility apparently has individual sensors to detect how many feet are standing in it and will automatically operate when and only when there are two feet touching the floor. Why would anyone design an airlock to operate this way? What if someone had crutches? What if they had only one leg? What if they had a suitcase? What if, as in the book, there was a time when it was required for two people to go through at once? It felt like the limitation was there for an artificial moment of tension, which is precisely how much of the rest of the book felt also.

Andromeda Strain 2.0

This book reminds me of "The Andromeda Strain." From the interaction of the characters, to the way the technology is a part of the story, to another "contagion" problem. Overall, the book was enjoyable, though it had somewhat of a pre-1990 feel to it.

The narrator did a good job of telling the story, though it needs some editing. Quite often, there are gaps between sentences. At first, I thought these may have been new chapters or sections, but it's difficult to tell, as they also appear in the middle of the action.

The book had a lot of technical information, which was fine for me, as I like details. The author waited until the epilogue to fill in many of the missing pieces of the puzzle, as well as a warning for the real world use of technology and I found this to be more of a monologue than part of the story.

One of Crichton's Best

I am a fan of Michael Crichton. I have enjoyed nearly every book of his that I have read. This is one of my favorites, up there with Andromeda Strain and Timeline. The story is fast-paced and interesting. It's standard Crichton--evil company with evil technology. However, it is still highly entertaining, which is why I read his books.

Expected more

This story came out of the gate swinging, but once the protagonist gets stuck in the trap, it follows a lot of the typical sci fi tropes. For as informed as the character is, he still ignores unfolding events at an astounding level. Solid performance by the narrator. His angry wife voice actually made me cringe.

Crichton is a great story teller

This is a fun story, engaging, compelling and thought provoking.
The narration is flawless, I love when a narrator reads with accurate inflections but doesn't try to imitate a voice of the opposite gender...and one who knows that just because the character shouts it doesn't mean he should yell while reading.
Well written, expertly delivered.

Ending

Great book, page turner, HOWEVER.... I personally didn’t like how the story ended!! But I still would recommend it to others

Keeps you on your t oes,

Hard to stop listening, like the rest of this writer's stories. Can't wait to start his next book.

the story was fairly good but

The narrator was terrible. he had good tone and inflection and could narrate well, however, several times in the book he was quite obviously eating and you could hear chewing and swallowing. Then, he would pause to do, whatever, and you would have to sit and wait for him listening to him chew, swallow, drink, whatever. it was like he waited to finish the book until the last second to make his contract and couldn't even take time to eat so he ate while he read. This is not the first time I've had this problem with this narrator.

Good read

I enjoyed being taken on a journey. Like most Crichton books I wanted more story when it was over.