Customer Reviews

Binary

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Less is not necessarily more. Binary is one of Michael Crichton's shorter novels, and its not at all bad, but it does feel a touch underdeveloped, rather like an adapted short story or a novelised television movie.

It's a curious novel about a security agent, John Graves (aptly named for he has to save the day) and his protagonist the ingenious plotter John Wright. Graves is the man assigned to track Wright, who is regarded as suspicious and possibly subversive. It's played out against a 12-hour countdown to mass murder and with Wright's knowledge of Graves' psychological profile built in to his intentions.

The word Binary is literally two chemical agents that produce a result together but it also represents the duel between the two men to `out-puzzle' each other's actions and motives. Both are intelligent gamblers. Wright is rich and crazed; Graves is hamstrung by bureaucracy. It's a good read, but in the end, its brevity prevents any real depth to the characters when this is a psychological thriller. I wanted to know more about them. It's hard to think Crichton would write this without considerably more depth today. Frederick Forsythe would have made a lot more from the very good idea that forms the basis of the plot. The two writers have a lot in common.

That said, it's hard to stop turning the pages. This is spare: no aimless diversions, existentialism or sub-plots. You just wish there had been more of it to bring the characters fully to life!

It's worth adding this was written in 1972 and Crichton has always been one or two steps ahead of the game. The detail he routinely deploys to add credibility to his plotting is good, though not as detailed as many of his best efforts, and his vision of political terrorism remains ominous and unnerving.

Although it took me a long time to find that this book was published under the pseudonym John Lange, and then it took me even more time to find the book itself, it was extremely worth it. It keeps a great pace and is better than many standard Crichton works. This book should be reprinted with the Crichton name so it wil be easy to find for everybody.

I like some of Michael Crichton's "John Lange" work better -- "The Venom Business," for example -- but this was satisfying enough. I only wish I could find more of these now very out-of-print early novels.

This is a great read. After exausting all of crichton's other books, finding one I haven't read was exhilarating. To make it better this novel is just as captivating and ahead of it's time as all of his more popular or well know works. Buy it just for the sake that your friends will think that you're cool.........Punk Rock!

Some of Crichton's early work is some of his best. This is a good example. A little different from his usual science style. A crazy millionare is going to blow up San Diego and the political convention being held there

Kind of kooky. REALLY hard to find. I know from first hand experience

Binary, by Michael Crichton/John Lange, is extremely hard-to-find. It is and out-of-print thriller written by one of America's most prefound authors, back in the early 70's. This book was not in print long, and because of that there are not many copies. I wish these old, out-of-print novels would be re-released for the readers enjoyment. Binary is non-stop action, if you can't find the book, check out the movie, called PURSUIT, directed by none other than the auther himself, Michael Crichton. Binary is a 10++++!!!!!

Being a longtime Michael Crichton fan, it was nice to uncover this gem. Very face paced and to the point, the plot was great and ahead of it's time. Something could be said about character development, but this is MC. You read him for the story. If you are saddened that there will be no more novels from him, pick this up.

This book is a kind of bridge between Crichton's early Hard Case Crime series and his later work. Even his early work contains elements of a technical nature, but this is a little more exotic, a few more twists and turns, while retaining that early "whodunnit" theme. I've read 23 of Crichton's 30 published works, and this is definitely in the upper half of his offering.

This used hardback arrived promply and in good condition. Very satisfied.