Next (Hardcover)

by Michael Crichton (Author)
Key Phrases: maturity gene, comfort gene, novelty gene, Marty Roberts, Rick Diehl, New York (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Is a loved one missing some body parts? Are blondes becoming extinct? Is everyone at your dinner table of the same species? Humans and chimpanzees differ in only 400 genes; is that why a chimp fetus resembles a human being? And should that worry us? There's a new genetic cure for drug addiction--is it worse than the disease?

What's coming Next? Get a hint of what Michael Crichton sees on the horizon in this short video clip: high bandwidth or low bandwidth

We live in a time of momentous scientific leaps, a time when it's possible to sell our eggs and sperm online for thousands of dollars and to test our spouses for genetic maladies.

We live in a time when one fifth of all our genes are owned by someone else, and an unsuspecting person and his family can be pursued cross-country because they happen to have certain valuable genes within their chromosomes...

Devilishly clever, Next blends fact and fiction into a breathless tale of a new world where nothing is what it seems and a set of new possibilities can open at every turn.

Next challenges our sense of reality and notions of morality. Balancing the comic and the bizarre with the genuinely frightening and disturbing, Next shatters our assumptions and reveals shocking new choices where we least expect.

The future is closer than you think.

From Publishers Weekly
Bestseller Crichton (Jurassic Park) once again focuses on genetic engineering in his cerebral new thriller, though the science involved is a lot less far-fetched than creating dinosaurs from DNA. In an ambitious effort to show what's wrong with the U.S.'s current handling of gene patents and with the laws governing human tissues, the author interweaves many plot strands, one involving a California researcher, Henry Kendall, who has mixed human and chimp DNA while working at NIH. Kendall produces an intelligent hybrid whom he rescues from the government and tries to pass off as a fully human child. Some readers may be disappointed by the relative lack of action, the lame attempts to lighten the mood with humor (especially centering on an unusually bright parrot named Gerard), and the contrived convergence of the main characters toward the end. Still, few can match Crichton in crafting page-turners with intellectual substance, and his opinions this time are less likely to create a firestorm than his controversial take on global warming in 2004's State of Fear.
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Product Details

• Hardcover: 448 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins; 1 edition (November 28, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060872985
• ISBN-13: 978-0060872984
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.3 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (509 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #110,297 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Another Crichton warning shot, April 4, 2007

By	C. R. Marchese "Rogue preacher" (Grand Rapids MI) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Yes the plot is a little hard to follow, and too many characters are involved. I can understand those criticisms better than some knee-jerk liberals still sniping here at the author about his priceless expose of the so-called global warming crisis in 'State of Fear.' Which brings me to the point--most of Crichton's books do carry an agenda. But the agenda is not so much the topic dealt with in the books (global warming, genetics, etc.). I believe Crichton's mission is to deliver high impact warnings about the abuse of these sciences; the corruption of these sciences; the transformation of these sciences into multi-billion dollar profit ventures that are exploited by the greedy and powerful. The author has consistently been true to a science fiction platform, warning us about the impact of these fast-moving sciences on our everyday lives. NEXT is just such a book. Yes, there were too many characters, but I must admit that every single little chapter gripped me by the throat and provoked serious thought about what is happening in genetic engineering and where we are headed. And yes, he scared me. And I loved it.
Good work, Mr. Crichton, four stars only--plot could have been tighter.

48 of 59 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Simply Awful, April 4, 2007

By	Graboidz (Westminster, Maryland) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

I have been a big fan of Crichton's since first reading "Jurassic Park". I really enjoyed "State of Fear" and bought "Next" with the usual anticipation I bring to most of Crichton's work. I just finished the novel this afternoon, and I can't believe this was written by the same author as the previous novels. "Next" is not so much a coherant, linear story as it is a series of incidents revolving around a similar topic. In machine gun style you are rapidly hit with 2-3 page chapters each dealing with a different aspect of genetic research. You are also introduced to so many bland and undefined characters that confusion is bound to set in. I gaurantee even folks giving this novel a positive review asked themselves "Okay, who is this guy again" or "What was this person doing earlier in the book?" As a reader you are dropped in and out of these forgettable characters lives at such a rapid pace it is difficult to keep up with who is doing what to who and why. The only "characters" that are easy to distinguish are the half monkey/half human boy named Dave, and the extremely annoying talking Parrot who can quote old movie lines and do elementary level math.....(yes you read that right). The whole premise of the novel is taken to such an absurd level, that any interest built up over the first 100 pages soon dissipates with the "talking" animals. I will still buy Crichton's novels in the future, but this was a genuine A+ clunker.

18 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Good idea, but unfocused, May 18, 2007

By	D. Berdanis "endymion9" (Joliet, IL United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Next (Audio CD)

I listened to the unabridged audio CD version of this story.

The author presented some good ideas and some good scenarios and cautions against the dangers of gene ownership in current court decisions, but the ideas never really came together into a story for me.

Halfway through I still wasn't sure what type of story I was reading. Was this going to be a courtroom drama? A competitive business (including industrial espionage) story? A genetics run wild with strange creatures evolving story?

Finally I just relaxed and enjoyed the vignettes without trying to put them all together. It was sort of like flipping through channels on your tv set. Something might catch your interest for a few minutes, then flip to the next totally different storyline, etc.

Worth reading but not his best.