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Prey  By  cover art

Prey

By: Michael Crichton
Narrated by: George Wilson
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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)

What listeners say about Prey

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    2,911
  • 4 Stars
    1,836
  • 3 Stars
    854
  • 2 Stars
    222
  • 1 Stars
    124
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    2,682
  • 4 Stars
    1,250
  • 3 Stars
    483
  • 2 Stars
    109
  • 1 Stars
    65
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    2,443
  • 4 Stars
    1,279
  • 3 Stars
    632
  • 2 Stars
    171
  • 1 Stars
    81

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Starts slow but picks up lots of momentum

A great "read" overall. It starts slow thanks to TONS of background on the characters -- far too much, I thought -- but once Jack gets into the meat of the plot it is thrilling. I'd also reiterate what's been said earlier: The sample clip is largely of Michael Crichton himself narrating the foreward to the book - very dry. The actual narrator, George Wilson, picks it up at Chapter 1 and is SUPERB in his reading. He expertly acts all the parts in the book, convincingly giving you men, women, and children characters. His performance really elevated this audiobook a notch.

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110 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

intriguing premise, but difficult to tolerate

If you could overlook just how ignorant the main character was of anyone else's intentions, it was an intriguing book. The guy was a real dope. And it was a shame that most of the questions that came up during the story were only answered in the summary at the end, rather than truly being part of the story - like Crichton got tired of writing and just wanted to quickly tie up the loose ends in one paragraph. Where "Timeline" was one of the most thoroughly memorable books I've ever been through, this one will be notable only with respect to it's unfulfilled potential.

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86 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

Bring a hair dryer

George Wilson (the reader) must drool more than my 4 month old daughter. Geesus! He made me sick after the first three sentences. Be forewarned that at the end of about every three sentences, the reader slurps, swallows, and slurps again. You'd think a best selling author could keep his reader from what sounds like eating corn on the cob while doing the performance. I can just see the guy, jowls flopping, waddle quivering, foaming lips - and a pool of saliva gathering on the desktop and dripping off the microphone. He all but destroyed any value. Be sure to towel off after listening to this book.

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77 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Decent story with irritating reading

The story was the sort of story I was expecting. If you've read other Michael Crichton books think Andromeda Strain not Jurassic Park. Lots of technical stuff but doesn't get to gripping suspense until the end. Unfortunately the narrator did an adequate job of reading but was licking his lips or swallowing constantly. I'm usually pretty tolerant about such things but this was so bad that I found it very distracting from the story.

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51 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Important about sample.

This is verry important for those of you who want to check out the sample. I almost just closed it when i herd the droling monolog voice of what sounded like a text book but skip ahed about 6 minuts there you will find the real reader. the first 5 minuts is a fowerd.

This book is a verry involving i like thw writer's use of tech talk not to teche not to lamen :) plenty of descriptions and lots of excitment. i hevily recomend this book. :)

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46 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Good Thriller

If you are a fan of Creighton's other works, especially his earlier titles, this is a very enjoyable listen. I did find that I was able to deduce the plot after about 2 chapters maximum, but the elegant way the story unfolds makes up for a degree of this transparency. The last few chapters were very exciting and I found myself truly doubting whether the hero would be able to come out on top, which in my mind is the sign of a good thriller.

The only other problem I had was the heavy use of technical asides that really didn't add very much to the story. In most cases, the information presented is mildly interesting at best and could be left out with no real difference. It seems almost as though Creighton can't decide if he should explain everything or nothing, and the technical details fall into the middle range, where the scientific minded will find them superficial and cumbersome, and the average reader will find an excessive amount of jargon and trivia.

Still, it was a good story and worth your time.

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35 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

I wanted to smack the main character

The overall premise of the book was excellent. The main character's actions and thoughts were very infuriating. At several times while reading this book I wanted to reach out and smack the main character in the back of the head. What action there was to the book seemed to be very typical. If I could make the decision again I most likely wouldn't read this book.

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34 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Great Book!

This was a great sci-fi, suspence, action novel! It kept me on my toes guessing what was next. I am in the computer/technology industry and this has some very interesting concepts. The narrator did a very good job which helped make the book even better. This was one of the best ones I have listened to since joining Audible. Definitely recommend!!!

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28 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

Simply awful

First of all, characterizing Prey as a novel is deceptive. It is clearly nothing more than the early storyboard work for a truly awful summer blockbuster. The plot is slow, predictable, and overburdened with alarmist tangents. The characters and dialog are inane and infuriatingly stupid. I found myself rooting for the evil faceless cloud, at least until the evil cloud got a face of its own and became just as insipid as the rest of the characters. The science, of which there is a heavy dose delivered without apparent critical thinking, is implausible on every level. I remember enjoying Sphere and Jurassic Park several years ago, and I don't really know how Prey turned out this way. All I can think is that Prey must have been ghostwritten, churned out not by Crichton but by a fog of swarming nanomachines, able to type but having no knowledge of how actual people think, communicate, or behave.

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28 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Pretty good buuut....

Having read books or seen movies based on his books, and having read the summary of this book, I began to listen with great anticipation. However, one of the biggest dispponitments was the amount of time that was devoted to the characters in the opening portions of the book. That honestly could have been cut down to 1 1/2 to 2 hours and--I think--still would have given us enough info about the characters. I personally thought that 4 hours was *way* too much time. Yet once he got into the meat of the story, it was a fast and exciting ride. Some good edge of your seat moments.

I also agree with 2 points brought out in earlier reviews:

1) There was too much foul language in the story. I sometimes will listen to a book at work and I had to be very careful because I work in a place where the public can hear what I'm listening to.

I would like to see Audible institue a rating system or at least a warning as to content for those who may have a need to be concerned over such things.

2) And on a more positive note, I too thought that the narrator did and excellent job with voice characterization. Young Eric's, "It"s not fair!" is just how you would expect an 8 year old boy to sound.

I would have liked to have given the book 4 or 5 stars, but the language and the slow start have moved me to give it three.

If you don't have a problem with thw slow begining or the language, it's a pretty good book to listen to.

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22 people found this helpful