Ronnie G. (frenchgiant) reviewed on 12/15/2010 + 22 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 12

I've had a soft spot for Crichton ever since he blew my freaking mind with "Jurassic Park" when I was a wee lad. At that time I was an aspiring paleontologist and in my spare time I'd love sitting on my bedroom floor playing with fossils, reading stuff about dinosaurs and tracing dinosaur bone diagrams on wax paper. Needless to say I wasn't coolest kid around and "Jurassic Park" was pretty much my biggest wet dream come to life.

Over the years my interest in Crichton has waned quite a bit, but every once in a while I crack open one of his works and remember why I enjoy his stuff front time to time. "The Andromeda Strain" was great, "Congo" was entertaining, and "Next" was if nothing else thought provoking. Unfortunately as you most likely are aware, in 2008 Crichton passed away after a long battle with cancer. After his death a copy of "Pirate Latitudes" was discovered on his computer and luckily for us all it was published.

I'm not going to lie, the thought of Crichton writing a pirate story that takes place in the 1600s seemed a bit odd to me (What no time machines??), and perhaps he had no aspiration to ever actually publish it(apparently he completed it in '06), but much to my surprise he pulled it off masterfully. Complete with angry savages, corrupt politicians, sea monsters, witchcraft, Spanish treasure, an unsavory yet extremely likable crew of pirates, and a tough as nails Captain that would bitch slap Jack Sparrow to Davey Jones' Locker in a heartbeat, what more could you really ask for?

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