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Book Review of State of Fear

State of Fear
State of Fear
Author: Michael Crichton
Genre: Mystery, Thriller & Suspense
Book Type: Mass Market Paperback
VickyJo avatar reviewed on + 49 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 8


I was hoping for a thrilling adventure story with some sound scientific ponderings to keep me thinking. Instead, what the author has given us in "State of Fear" is a poorly disguised rant.

Look, whether or not you "believe" in global warming, this is a poorly written effort. The characters are cardboard, one-dimensional. If the characters believe in global warming, they are superficial, ignorant and pompous. You hate them. If they don't believe, they are superficial, suffer from superiority complexes, and arrogant. You hate them. Then there are the few characters that don't even reveal THAT much in the way of personality; all they do is lecture. A lot. To the point of tears.

The story part of the book is added as an afterthought. Most of the time is spent flying somewhere (usually a very long flight) and having the characters lecture until the plane lands.

Oh, and Michael...that throwaway comment about the anthropologist who wrote the book on cannibalism? I read that book too. It was fascinating, and not nearly as black and white as you portrayed it for your purposes. What a shame. The minute you mentioned it, I KNEW the fate of your character Bradley. You should have just written a non-fiction book on the environment and been done with it, rather than torture your devoted readers.