If the current literary rage for Young Adult, Paranormal, Zombies and all things Dystopian has you craving the straightforward, action-packed thrillers of the past, look no further than the early works of Michael Crichton and let the master show you how it’s done. It’s no wonder all of his books are bestsellers, or that most of them have been adapted into very successful films as well.
Random House has re-released some of his most popular and acclaimed works in discounted editions for Kindle, so it’s a great time to rediscover this master of the thriller genre.
State of Fear (3.5/5 stars, currently priced at $5.99)
New York Times bestselling author Michael Crichton delivers another action-packed techo-thriller in State of Fear.
When a group of eco-terrorists engage in a global conspiracy to generate weather-related natural disasters, its up to environmental lawyer Peter Evans and his team to uncover the subterfuge.
From Tokyo to Los Angeles, from Antarctica to the Solomon Islands, Michael Crichton mixes cutting edge science and action-packed adventure, leading readers on an edge-of-your-seat ride while offering up a thought-provoking commentary on the issue of global warming. A deftly-crafted novel, in true Crichton style, State of Fear is an exciting, stunning tale that not only entertains and educates, but will make you think.
Jurassic Park (4.5/5 stars, currently priced at $4.95)
From the author of Timeline, Sphere , and Congo, this is the classic thriller of science run amok that took the world by storm.
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
“Wonderful . . . powerful.”—The Washington Post Book World
An astonishing technique for recovering and cloning dinosaur DNA has been discovered. Now humankind’s most thrilling fantasies have come true. Creatures extinct for eons roam Jurassic Park with their awesome presence and profound mystery, and all the world can visit them—for a price.
Until something goes wrong. . . .
In Jurassic Park, Michael Crichton taps all his mesmerizing talent and scientific brilliance to create his most electrifying technothriller.
“Frighteningly real . . . compelling . . . It’ll keep you riveted.”—The Detroit News
“Crichton’s dinosaurs are genuinely frightening.”—Chicago Sun-Times
“Full of suspense.”—The New York Times Book Review
The Lost World (4/5 stars, currently priced at $5.22)
It is now six years since the secret disaster at Jurassic Park, six years since the extraordinary dream of science and imagination came to a crashing end—the dinosaurs destroyed, the park dismantled, and the island indefinitely closed to the public.
There are rumors that something has survived. . . .
“Harrowing thrills . . . fast-paced and engaging.”
—People
“A very scary read.”
—Entertainment Weekly
“Action-packed.”
—New York Daily News
“An edge-of-the-seat tale.”
—St. Petersburg Times
Timeline (3.5/5 stars, currently priced at $5.99)
In this thriller from the author of Jurassic Park, Sphere, and Congo, a group of young scientists travel back in time to medieval France on a daring rescue mission that becomes a struggle to stay alive.
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
“Compulsive reading . . . brilliantly imagined.”—Los Angeles Times
In an Arizona desert, a man wanders in a daze, speaking words that make no sense. Within twenty-four hours he is dead, his body swiftly cremated by his only known associates. Halfway around the world, archaeologists make a shocking discovery at a medieval site. Suddenly they are swept off to the headquarters of a secretive multinational corporation that has developed an astounding technology. Now this group is about to get a chance not to study the past but to enter it. And with history opened up to the present, the dead awakened to the living, these men and women will soon find themselves fighting for their very survival—six hundred years ago.
“Exciting . . . classic adventure . . . [a] swashbuckling novel . . . Crichton delivers.”—USA Today
“More screams per page . . . than Jurassic Park and The Lost World combined . . . The pace will leave many breathlessly grasping for oxygen masks.”—The San Diego Union-Tribune
“One of his best . . . [a] nonstop roller coaster of a novel.”—The Philadelphia Inquirer
Prey (3.5/5 stars, currently priced at $6.99)
Michael Crichton’s Prey is a terrifying page-turner that masterfully combines a heart–pounding thriller with cutting-edge technology.
Deep in the Nevada desert, the Xymos Corporation has built a state-of-the-art fabrication plant, surrounded by miles and miles of nothing but cactus and coyotes. Eight people are trapped. A self-replicating swarm of predatory molecules is rapidly evolving outside the plant. Massed together, the molecules form an intelligent organism that is anything but benign. More powerful by the hour, it has targeted the eight scientists as prey. They must stop the swarm before it is too late…
In Prey, Michael Crichton combines scientific brilliance with relentless pacing to create an electrifying, chilling techno-thriller.
Eaters of the Dead (4/5 stars, currently priced at $6.11)
KF on KND Editor’s Note: this is the book that was adapted into the film The 13th Warrior, starring a young Antonio Banderas.
From the bestselling author of Jurassic Park, Timeline, and Sphere comes an epic tale of unspeakable horror.
It is 922 A.D. The refined Arab courtier Ibn Fadlan is accompanying a party of Viking warriors back to their home. He is appalled by their customs—the gratuitous sexuality of their women, their disregard for cleanliness, and their cold-blooded sacrifices. As they enter the frozen, forbidden landscape of the North—where the day’s length does not equal the night’s, where after sunset the sky burns in streaks of color—Fadlan soon discovers that he has been unwillingly enlisted to combat the terrors in the night that come to slaughter the Vikings, the monsters of the mist that devour human flesh. But just how he will do it, Fadlan has no idea.
One reviewer says:
“Though based heavily on the rediscovered manuscripts and references of the real Ibn Fadlan, Crichton clearly tells us the book is considered as fiction and was/is marketed as fiction…’Eaters Of The Dead’ is a riveting tale, with enough footnotes and factual base to make it a realistic peek at the ancient Norsemen and a quick, exciting read.”
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