About the Author

Michael Crichton (1942-2008) was the author of the bestselling novels The Terminal Man, The Great Train Robbery, Jurassic Park, Sphere, Disclosure, Prey, State of Fear, Next and Dragon Teeth, among many others. His books have sold more than 200 million copies worldwide, have been translated into forty languages, and have provided the basis for fifteen feature films. He wrote and directed Westworld, The Great Train Robbery, Runaway, Looker, Coma and created the hit television series ER. Crichton remains the only writer to have a number one book, movie, and TV show in the same year.

Daniel H. Wilson is a Cherokee citizen and author of the New York Times bestselling Robopocalypse and its sequel Robogenesis, as well as ten other books. He recently wrote the Earth 2: Society comic book series for DC Comics. Wilson earned a PhD in Robotics from Carnegie Mellon University, as well as master's degrees in Artificial Intelligence and Robotics. He has published over a dozen scientific papers and holds four patents. Wilson lives in Portland, Oregon.

Reviews

"TERRIFYING...IRRESISTIBLY SUSPENSEFUL." -- New York Times Book Review"INTRICATE PLOTTING AND FLAWLESS PACING...you won't be able to put it down." -- Time magazine"CRACKLING...MYSTERIOUS...." -- Entertainment Weekly"Just what his fans expect: A WILD, SCARY RIDE..." -- Detroit Free Press"Another PAGE-TURNING TRIUMPH" -- Charlotte Observer"INCREDIBLY SCARY and relentless" -- Minneapolis Star Tribune"PREY WILL KEEP YOU TURNING PAGES" -- Chattanooga Times"RELENTLESSLY ENTERTAINING" -- Raleigh News & Observer"... a harrowing tale of nanoparticles gone beserk." -- USA Today"A TERRIFYING TALE...combining technological verisimilitude with heart-pounding suspense..." -- The Oregonian (Portland)"Serious and scary..." -- Washington Post Book World"This is how to write a thriller ...Crichton's latest page-turning triumph." -- Detroit Free Press"Crichton has proved he knows how to ratchet up the fear factor." -- Denver Post"...so god-awful scary and relentless, it'll knock your head clear of whatever ails you." -- St. Petersburg Times"Once again, Crichton has proved to be uncannily timely." -- St. Louis Post-Dispatch"Crichton is a master storyteller." -- Detroit News"A cross between Jurassic Park and The Andromeda Strain...." -- Columbus Dispatch"PREY delivers that expected Crichton charge." -- Seattle Post-Intelligencer"A terrific novelist...He could make most readers lose sleep all night and call in sick the next day." -- San Francisco Chronicle"Readers turn to Michael Crichton's novels for entertainment with relentless drive." -- San Antonio Express"Crichton is a doctor of suspense." -- Des Moines Sunday Register"Crichton writes superbly...the excitment rises with each page." -- Chicago Tribune"Crichton's books [are]...hugely entertaining." -- New York Times Book Review"Crichton delivers." -- USA Today"He is without peer." -- Chattanooga Times"One of the great storytellers of our age...What an amazing imagination." -- New York Newsday"Michael Crichton has written some of America's most fantastic novels." -- Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

From the opening pages of Crichton's electrifying new thriller, his first in three years, readers will know they are in the hands of a master storyteller (Timeline, Jurassic Park, etc.). The book begins with a brief intro noting the concerns of Crichton (and others) with the nascent field of nanotechnology, "the quest to build manmade machinery of extremely small size, on the order of... a hundred billionths of a meter"-for this is a cautionary novel, one with a compelling message, as well as a first-rate entertainment. Rare for Crichton, the novel is told in the first person, by Jack Forman, a stay-at-home dad since he was fired from his job as a head programmer for a Silicon Valley firm. In the novel's first third, Crichton, shades of his Disclosure, smartly explores sexual politics as Jack struggles with self-image and his growing suspicion that his dynamic wife, Julia, a v-p for the technology firm Xymos, is having an affair. But here, via several disturbing incidents, such as Jack's infant daughter developing a mysterious and painful rash, Crichton also seeds the intense drama that follows after Julia is hospitalized for an auto accident, and Jack is hired by Xymos to deal with trouble at the company's desert plant. There, he learns that Xymos is manufacturing nanoparticles that, working together via predator/prey software developed by Jack, are intended to serve as a camera for the military. The problem, as Crichton explains in several of the myriad (and not always seamlessly integrated) science lessons that bolster the narrative, is that groups of simple agents acting on simple instructions, without a central control, will evolve unpredictable, complex behaviors (e.g., termites building a termite mound). To meet deadlines imposed by financial pressures, Xymos has taken considerable risks. One swarm of nanoparticles has escaped the lab and is now evolving quickly-adapting to desert conditions, feeding off mammalian flesh (including human), reproducing and learning mimicry-leading to the novel's shocking, downbeat ending. Crichton is at the top of his considerable game here, dealing with a host of important themes (runaway technology, the deleterious influence of money on science) in a novel that's his most gripping since Jurassic Park. In the long run, this new book won't prove as popular as that cultural touchstone (dinos, nanoparticles aren't), but it'll be a smash hit and justifiably so. Film rights sold to 20th Century Fox; simultaneous abridged and unabridged audiotape and CD editions; large-print edition. (One-day laydown Nov. 25) Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Crichton's latest thriller combines the biotechnology of Jurassic Park with nanotechnology, creating a new menace for the human race. Julia Foreman and her team at Xymos Technologies have developed microscopic artificial organisms designed to function together as a group. However, they used a computer program, developed by Julia's at-home husband and programmer Jack, which employs a hunter and prey behavior model to allow the organisms to achieve stated goals through experimenting with different behaviors. However, the organisms escape the Nevada-based factory and begin to reproduce, evolve, and learn, and they are learning to hunt other life forms. This story is fast paced, with interesting characters and enough twists and turns to hold the listener's attention. Narrator George Wilson effectively tells this exciting tale in both productions; except for the price, the recordings are the same. Recommended for all audio collections.-Stephen L. Hupp, West Virginia Univ., Parkersburg Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

"TERRIFYING...IRRESISTIBLY SUSPENSEFUL." -- New York Times Book Review"INTRICATE PLOTTING AND FLAWLESS PACING...you won't be able to put it down." -- Time magazine"CRACKLING...MYSTERIOUS...." -- Entertainment Weekly"Just what his fans expect: A WILD, SCARY RIDE..." -- Detroit Free Press"Another PAGE-TURNING TRIUMPH" -- Charlotte Observer"INCREDIBLY SCARY and relentless" -- Minneapolis Star Tribune"PREY WILL KEEP YOU TURNING PAGES" -- Chattanooga Times"RELENTLESSLY ENTERTAINING" -- Raleigh News & Observer"... a harrowing tale of nanoparticles gone beserk." -- USA Today"A TERRIFYING TALE...combining technological verisimilitude with heart-pounding suspense..." -- The Oregonian (Portland)"Serious and scary..." -- Washington Post Book World"This is how to write a thriller ...Crichton's latest page-turning triumph." -- Detroit Free Press"Crichton has proved he knows how to ratchet up the fear factor." -- Denver Post"...so god-awful scary and relentless, it'll knock your head clear of whatever ails you." -- St. Petersburg Times"Once again, Crichton has proved to be uncannily timely." -- St. Louis Post-Dispatch"Crichton is a master storyteller." -- Detroit News"A cross between Jurassic Park and The Andromeda Strain...." -- Columbus Dispatch"PREY delivers that expected Crichton charge." -- Seattle Post-Intelligencer"A terrific novelist...He could make most readers lose sleep all night and call in sick the next day." -- San Francisco Chronicle"Readers turn to Michael Crichton's novels for entertainment with relentless drive." -- San Antonio Express"Crichton is a doctor of suspense." -- Des Moines Sunday Register"Crichton writes superbly...the excitment rises with each page." -- Chicago Tribune"Crichton's books [are]...hugely entertaining." -- New York Times Book Review"Crichton delivers." -- USA Today"He is without peer." -- Chattanooga Times"One of the great storytellers of our age...What an amazing imagination." -- New York Newsday"Michael Crichton has written some of America's most fantastic novels." -- Milwaukee Journal Sentinel