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15+ Best Michael Crichton Books
[RANKED]

Michael Crichton Books


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Best Michael Crichton Books: John Michael Crichton was born on October 23, 1942. He is an American author of science fiction, medical fiction, and techno-thriller.

Turns out…

Michael has sold over 200 million copies, and the best part of it is some of his incredible books have been converted into films.

If you’re curious about his success and novels, here are his top-rated novels, little fun facts, and more.

Put your feet up and prepare a cup of coffee.

This is going to be a good read.

#1. The Lost World: Jurassic Park

Michael Crichton Books

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The first novel on our list, “Jurassic Park,” is Michael Crichton’s best novel and his most admirable one.

The movie Jurassic Park has a very real-life based story as it combines real-life phenomena and ancient creatures.

Moreover…

In the film based on this book, the actor Sir Richard Attenborough plays the famous character of John Hammond.

This book is often regarded as Michael Crichton’s cautionary tale.

A spoiler alert:

Dr. Ian Malcolm dies in the first book. Oops!

Check out: The Lost World: Jurassic Park

#2. The Great Train Robbery

Michael Crichton Books

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“The Great Train Robbery” is the next one of the most incredible Michael Crichton novels.

It may appear to be an oddity at first sight…

…but The Great Train Robbery leans more on technology and the like just like Crichton’s other works.

What makes this one different is the fact that it’s laced with more emphasis on the technology of the nineteenth century.

The story is about a master thief named Edward Pierce. He assembles a mob of goons for a big and wide robbery against a backdrop of the dark Victorian landscapes. One of the most fascinating things about this book is that it’s based on a true heist of gold that happened in 1855.

Also…

The winding storyline entails “waxing,” or replicating four keys to get entry to a closed rail car, which necessitates the kind of rapid thinking that a great heist thriller thrives on.

Crichton successfully blends a sense of traditional adventure with period terminology and details.

While romanticized…

…Crichton’s departures from the historical record help heighten the tension and thrill without losing realism and truth. As a result, the work is fascinating and realistic.

You can find this classic heist story in only Crichton’s novel(s), right?

Check out: The Great Train Robbery

#3. The Andromeda Strain

Michael Crichton Books

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“The Andromeda Strain” is another remarkable book by the thriller writer Michael Crichton. Crichton’s groundbreaking work is considered a classic of “mundane” science fiction, defined as a science-based plot that relies on current and Earth-bound technologies.

An emergency containment strategy is initiated when a satellite crashes near a town in Arizona, killing everyone in the area.

Furthermore…

The satellite gets infected with Andromeda, a fast-mutating extraterrestrial creature that mutates and escapes confinement. The scientist’s team must deactivate their security systems to survive, which sets off a race against time.

There’s a reason this is Crichton’s most well-known narrative.

This book is regarded as the one that started Michael Crichton’s career and is sometimes referred to as the first “techno-thriller.” It continues to serve as a model for similar works to this day.

The Andromeda Strain is a must-read for every writer who wants to create tension with fewer techniques.

Crichton keeps the reader on the edge of their seat while keeping the plot on scientific reality.

Check out: The Andromeda Strain

#4. Sphere

Michael Crichton Books

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Michael Crichton here shows who’s the true master of the science fiction genre.

“Sphere” is evident in his 1987 novel Sphere, which starts as a science fiction story before morphing into a psychological thriller.

Scientists are dispatched to the depths to study a weird craft discovered on the ocean floor.

They quickly learn that the ship is from several centuries in the future and carries a mystery sphere with clearly alien origins.

When one of the team members enters the sphere…

…they are greeted by a weird alien presence that looks like a child. Strange and dangerous phenomena begin to occur.

Adding in more…

The scientists are suspicious, so they begin a dangerous game of cat and mouse.

They must piece together the sphere’s nature before returning to the surface, where they may be transporting something dangerous.

Crichton relies on well-drawn characters to keep this story grounded despite the twists and turns. It’s underappreciated at times, but it should be on every Crichton fan’s list.

Check out: Sphere

⭐⭐15+ Best Michael Crichton Books [Of All-time] [RANKED]⭐⭐ Science & Medical Fiction✔ Background✔ Techno Thriller Novels✔ Updated ✔ Lots More

#5. Rising Sun

Michael Crichton Books

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Crichton’s racist representation of the Japanese in his “Rising Sun” 1992 novel hasn’t aged well. The novel’s villains are invariably cold and calculated, looking down on everybody who isn’t Japanese while plotting financial ruin.

On the other hand, Rising Sun overcomes that tired trope with superb characters and a suspenseful, technologically enhanced murder investigation.

Turns out…

After an American sex worker is discovered dead inside the Nakamoto company’s new Los Angeles offices, Peter Smith is assigned to the case.

But it’s Japanophile detective John Connor, who’s been brought in as a Japanese specialist, steals the show.

Crichton’s thorough understanding of the forensic tools employed to uncover the culprit and Connor’s interesting insights into Japanese culture and business methods combine to produce this first-rate mystery.

They also transcend the film’s shaky, slightly racial assumptions, resulting in a gripping thriller that has aged rather well.

Check out: Rising Sun

#6. Disclosure

Michael Crichton Books

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“Disclosure” is another one of Crichton’s books that is hugely influenced by its politics, but it is still a fascinating plot.

The film of this book stars Michaell Douglas and Demi Moore. Meredith Johnson, a former beauty pageant queen who now works in technology, defeats her old lover Tom Sanders for a top executive post.

She later tries to convince Tom to renew their relationship, but she accuses him of sexual harassment when he refuses.

As Tom and Meredith play against one other, a chess game of legal and illegal moves begins.

Simply put…

Crichton handles the story with a deft touch, skilfully ramping up the suspense, despite Meredith being a bit of a straw man as he tries to establish how nasty the job had become for rich, suffering men in the 1990s.

Check out: Disclosure

#7. The Terminal Man

Michael Crichton Books

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The remake of Crichton’s The Andromeda Strain is another slow-burn thriller based on true science.

The science in “The Terminal Man” is a computer-controlled brain implant that predicts epileptic episodes and stimulates the brain’s pleasure centers to prevent them.

The first recipient is Harry Benson, a computer programmer who exhibits violent behavior when seizures strike.

Some medical team members warn that the implants will prevent seizures, not cure his psychosis; however, the surgery begins, and Benson swiftly disproves the critics.

Furthermore…

His behavior grows more violent as his paranoia worsens as his brain adjusts and takes control of his implants. Crichton’s talent for tracing the consequences of technology is on full display in this story.

Even if the technology in question is no longer science fiction, Benson radiates a sense of menace as he gets control of his mind and his madness grows more powerful.

Check out: The Terminal Man

#8. Timeline

Michael Crichton Books

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Michael Crichton’s work falls into two categories: science fiction and books that make a tale using real science. “Timeline” belongs to the first type. It tells the narrative of a group of young archeologists discovering their professor and mentor has migrated to the 14th century and gotten stranded there.

They plan to use their understanding of the period to travel back in time and save him.

Moving on…

The crew soon finds a gap between book knowledge and real life, resulting in a near-perfect blend of historical fiction and science fiction. Crichton’s lifelike plotting is what marks him as a master.

Everything that happens in the story makes sense and either advances the plot or adds to the tension. There isn’t a single word that goes unnoticed.

Whatever you do, please don’t make the mistake of judging a book by its poor film adaptation, or so they say!

⭐⭐15+ Best Michael Crichton Books [Of All-time] [RANKED]⭐⭐ Science & Medical Fiction✔ Background✔ Techno Thriller Novels✔ Updated ✔ Lots More

#9. Eaters of the Dead

Michael Crichton Books

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“Eaters of the Dead” is a legendary Michael Crichton novel, a retelling of Beowulf combined with the true narrative of Ahmad ibn Fadlan’s 10th century travels with Vikings, and one of Crichton’s most complicated works.

While on a diplomatic mission for The Caliph…

…Ahmad ibn Fadlan meets a gang of Vikings who are off on a hero’s quest and need to add an “outsider” to their ranks.

They come across unusual monsters and other threats as they go north. Eaters of the Dead is a multi-layered game.

Along with that…

There’s Ahmad ibn Fadlna’s first-hand narrative, the translator’s notes, and a modern academic’s running commentary on the text.

The novel is presented as a true work of historical analysis, with footnotes aplenty, and it’s a measure of Crichton’s skill that the concept adds to the story’s power and intensity.

At the same time, the concept gives Crichton plenty of leeway to experiment with mistranslations, both accidental and intentional, that could have altered the story’s reality.

This added depth elevates the novel to the level of a must-read.

Check out: Eaters of the Dead

#10. Airframe

Michael Crichton Books

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“Airframe,” Crichton’s 1996 novel, celebrates intricacy. When a commercial aircraft faces strange problems that result in an emergency landing and multiple deaths and injuries, the plane’s manufacturer investigates in a desperate attempt to rescue the firm.

As Crichton explains the details of flight safety and the complicated engineering that goes into keeping passengers suspended in the air, the outcome is a fascinating puzzle.

What you might not know…

What makes Airframe distinctive is how Crichton connects a series of errors and failures, proving that tragedies often defy simple explanations, even if that’s what everyone wants to hear.

Once again, Crichton takes something that should have been dull and tedious—a slow investigation—and turns it into a suspenseful series based on a confident grasp of difficult physics, engineering, and aviation issues.

This novel was written when Crichton’s creative talents were at their highest, and it shows.

Check out: Airframe

#11. State of Fear

Michael Crichton Books

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The over-the-top mix of sex and violence in “State of Fear” draws your attention: A lovely ecoterrorist uses a tiny poison octopus to disable her new lover, a tsunami researcher, leaving a “blue ring of death.”

Environmentalists in this town are part of a hidden international conspiracy of well-funded thugs who use young idealism, scorpions, and weather against their opponents, using storm-manipulating rockets to persuade the public that climate change is real.

The main part…

John Kenner, an MIT professor who also happens to be an international law-enforcement super-spy, recruits a squad of collaborators with some breezy speech focusing on climate change’s bogusness.

Crichton is at his most cynical and sarcastic in the State of Fear, but it’s fun to see how far he pushes his roaring anti-global-warming scream and all the clever ways he can pad it with facts and charts.

Every aircraft travel in Crichton’s most globetrotting journey is an excuse for a lavishly detailed lecture complete with bar graphs.

Check out: State of Fear

#12. Congo

Michael Crichton Books

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In the book “Congo,” the information concerns deadly primates with excellent communication skills trained to guard valuable diamond mines deep in the Zaire jungle.

It’s set in a place known as the Lost City of Zinj, which we learn rivals the Hotel California in terms of ominousness that you can’t leave.

Before a group of scientists and diamond miners, one super-smart gorilla named Amy finally arrives at ol’ Zinj.

Congo takes a while to get rolling, with many aircraft journeys and elaborate explanations of subjects like solar subject flares or the histories of military computing and African invasion.

Furthermore…

There are numerous lengthy, technically precise passages that huff and puff to convince us that, wow, those diamond things are very precious — so valuable that our underdogs are competing against a large consortium to unearth the treasure.

Crichton is brilliant at keeping your interest by throwing in things like an earthquake, a lightning storm, a volcano filled with blue diamonds, cannibals, and the occasional bout of human-versus-super-ape techno-warfare.

Check out: Congo

⭐⭐15+ Best Michael Crichton Books [Of All-time] [RANKED]⭐⭐ Science & Medical Fiction✔ Background✔ Techno Thriller Novels✔ Updated ✔ Lots More

#13. Prey

Michael Crichton Books

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“Prey” is another medical thriller about a biotechnology corporation, this time one staffed by overworked, Sun Chips-eating, Diet Coke-sipping employees at a VC-backed start-up named Xymos.

They’re creating dangerously unexpected kinds of artificial intelligence.

Because it’s situated in Silicon Valley’s spider’s web, there are more lattes drunk per page than in any Crichton novel.

The author’s excellent return to his previous The Andromeda Strain’s minuscule-but-deadly substance narrative, with bacteria, entering and disturbing “the cytoplasm of cardiac cells,” which is, of course, a horrifyingly horrible thing.

We have more…

The dark combination of genetic engineering and nanotechnology, in this case, ensures maximum creepiness: A rapidly changing bio-swarm is a powerful metaphor for the dangers of biotechnology and evolution’s runaway train.

Dirtbikes, hacked Windex, a feces-smelling mixture, and, in a pinch, bombs are used by the scientists tasked with finding and killing the nano swarms. Apart from the mechanical disease, Prey contains several unforgettable images.

Are you ready for this kind of thrill?

Check out: Prey

#14. Pirate Latitudes

Michael Crichton Books

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“Pirate Latitudes” tackles the issue of labeling colonial mariners while delving into the murky waters of 17th-century invasion.

While working on his next project, Crichton concluded his long-awaited pirate adventure and finally completed the novel, one of the techno-few futurist’s trips into the past.

However, there’s plenty of Caribbean adventure and grisly vengeance to balance the taxonomy issues.

Hunter and his joyful crew set off on a risky quest to raid and pillage an invincible Spanish fortress guarded by the legendary Über-dastard Cazalla — it’s “the most remarkable money lending expedition in the century since Drake invaded Panama.”

There’s also plenty of nasty sailor language and well-researched weapons history. You can have French grenades, rat-intestine fuses, cannons, and crossbows if you want them.

If that’s not thrilling enough, I don’t know what else is.

Check out: Pirate Latitudes

#15. Next

Michael Crichton Books

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Crichton’s ultimate talking-chimp story is titled “Next.” It’s a strange narrative of transgenic misbehavior, with none of the author’s other novels’ clear plot threads.

 It progresses from a rough start to interesting thoughts about the troubling scenes of gene patenting and the possible abuse and misuse of human organs by businesses and universities.

The book demonstrates Crichton’s active curiosity for these topics rather than trotting out an ossified position as he did in the State of Fear.

Adding in more…

It also features amusing monkey-in-the-household antics and a variety of weird animals, like a big-mouthed parrot, a purple glow-in-the-dark turtle, and huge cockroach pets to keep us entertained.

Some readers agree that it’s one big Crichton cliché, but for new readers, this one is one of the must-reads.

Check out: Next

Conclusion: Michael Crichton Books

Now, that’s one breathtaking list.

No wonder, Michael Crichton is certainly more than Jurassic Park. He certainly has what it takes to be called a master novelist.

clichésclichésNow you have an interesting lineup of books for an interesting weekend marathon!

Good news for you…

You can also read about other iconic authors and novelists such as Stephen King and all the richest authors in the world. Just check them all out at Bouncemojo.com

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