"masterly, but formulaic"

Having lost his job at a high tech firm, forty year-old Jack Foreman has become a househusband while his wife is now the breadwinner, working on a top secret Defense Department project. Jack raises their three children, while wondering how everything could collapse so fast. He even believes that his wife is having an affair while working an experimental design nanotechnology project at the Xymos Corporation in the Nevada desert.

Suddenly, their baby becomes extremely ill, but just as abruptly the infant recovers. Jack is stunned by both related events that have no explanation. However, before he can ponder what occurred, Xymos hires Jack as a consultant on his spouse's project that has problems leading to the Pentagon ready to shut the funding. Something goes wrong leaving Jack and a few others trapped in a war of survival against a highly evolved deadly nanotechnical swarm that he believes his wife released.

Perhaps the leading modern day cautionary tale author, Michael Crichton provides readers with his latest alarm that focuses on nanotechnical research. The story line is standard Crichton lamenting runaway science conducting experiments in areas in which consequences are ignored as funding only is considered. As usual, work occurs inside an isolated facility that leads to individuals heroically struggling to survive humanity's latest blunder. Fans of the author or just solid science fiction readers centering on a modern day controversy will appreciate Mr. Crichton who is at his masterly, but formulaic (at least its his own DNA) best.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted December 27, 2002