Next

By: Michael Crichton

Narrated by: Dylan Baker

Length: 13 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's summary

Is a loved one missing some body parts? Are blondes becoming extinct? Is everyone at your dinner table of the same species? Humans and chimpanzees differ in only 400 genes; is that why an adult human being resembles a chimp fetus? And should that worry us? There's a new genetic cure for drug addiction - is it worse than the disease?

We live in a time of momentous scientific leaps; a time when it's possible to sell our eggs and sperm online for thousands of dollars or test our spouses for genetic maladies. We live in a time when one fifth of all our genes are owned by someone else, and an unsuspecting person and his family can be pursued cross-country because they happen to have certain valuable genes within their chromosomes.

Devilishly clever, Next blends fact and fiction into a breathless tale of a new world where nothing is what it seems, and a set of new possibilities can open at every turn. Next challenges our sense of reality and notions of morality. Balancing the comic and bizarre with the genuinely frightening and disturbing, Next shatters our assumptions and reveals shocking new choices where we least expect.

The future is closer than you think. Get used to it.

What's next:

The abridged version of Next,

the free interview with Michael Crichton, and

an exclusive sneak preview of Next.

Take your pick.

©2006 Michael Crichton (P)2006 HarperCollins Publishers

Dull

This book has no story until about 12 hours into it. There are several unrelated "story"lines ongoing, none of which are interesting. At the end, they come together in such a far fetched way that a talking monkey-boy seems reasonable by comparison. I would not recommend this one at all.

OMG ! Next please

Not what I expected, lousy story, very confusing. The book is simply terrible, and the narrator was extremely boring, very poor voice imitation.

Don't make this NEXT

Although I am big Crichton fan, I thought this book was far below par. As usual (and what I look forward to) there is a story written around a technology. However, I felt that the depth of the technology was not particularly deep and did not really plumb the complexity of the issue. The story line was weak and more predictable than expected.

If you are fan of this author, you might find it very average.

polarizing

Clearly, MC has animosity for the left. Infusing his political views into his fiction is why I'm done reading his work.

That, and this last one was a yawner. What happened to the MC who wrote Jurassic Park?

Blah

What a waste of time. Reading this was like reading a collection of short stories that were impossibly tied together in the final chapters. What a bore.

Avoid

This book is ridiculous, badly written, disorganised and a waste of time - I could get no further than half way - and resent the time wasted!

Waste of money

I usually like Mike but this book is awful. I wish I hadn't wasted an audio-credit. I could have read a comic book and had greater satisfaction.

Just plain boring

How can you listen to this reader? he made a dull book Horrible

Made me want to say NEXT

This was perhaps the worst read book I have ever listened to. Many times I wondered if the person was actually reading the newspaper to me. It was so dry and without emotion. I listened through to the end, but should have said Next after the first few chapters.

Too bad...

I've been a devoted Crichton fan since the late seventies but, unfortunately, the Crichton of late seems to have lost his knack for story-telling.

I kept holding out hope the story would turn around and listened to the end to no avail.

I guess I'll wait on some reviews before jumping at his next novel.

Too bad... Could have been one of the greats...