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tjkory's review
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
zarasecker23's review against another edition
5.0
I have had this book sitting on my bookshelf for sometime now but until just recently I didn’t feel I wanted to read it. It wasn’t until after I picked this book up that I found out that Crichton wrote the famous Jurassic Park series. I had only ever watched Jurassic Park on TV so I was interested to see what I thought of Crichton’s writing style. It didn’t take long for me to decide that I absolutely loved his writing. He had my interest piqued when he spoke about CD-ROMs and CD-ROM players etc. It was so fascinating to read about the problems associated with developing these products with 2017 eyes. It was like stepping back in time and guided through what the early development of these products involve to get where we are today some 23 years later. It was also interesting to find that, like today, many of the tech people were young (in their 20s) indicating that some things stay the same regardless of the number of years that have elapsed in the meantime.
Throughout this book (and this is a good indication of how well written it was) I found myself being pulled so much into the book that I lost all sense of where I was, at least whilst reading. I was very much in the book and couldn’t wait to read it every chance I got. As a result of this I managed to finish it in 3 days! I loved the book's whole premise and the way it was dealt with allowed the reader to see how notoriously fraught with difficulty sexual harassment cases are.
There are many characters throughout but it never felt like it was overdone. We meet Meredith Johnson who is the woman who harassed the male protagonist, Tom Sanders. Tom’s lawyer proved to be a force to be a reckoned with and she didn’t hold any prisoners. She certainly knew her stuff and rarely allowed herself to be ruffled by people who should have known better. This book also showed how nasty office politics can get especially when there’s a company merger on the table. I’m sure that this sort of thing can also happen outside of a merger as well. The characters in this book were well described and developed and they came across as very real and believable.
I absolutely loved this book and now I want to get, and read, many more of Crichton’s books. I have added him to my list of favourite authors. I can’t recommend him highly enough.
Throughout this book (and this is a good indication of how well written it was) I found myself being pulled so much into the book that I lost all sense of where I was, at least whilst reading. I was very much in the book and couldn’t wait to read it every chance I got. As a result of this I managed to finish it in 3 days! I loved the book's whole premise and the way it was dealt with allowed the reader to see how notoriously fraught with difficulty sexual harassment cases are.
There are many characters throughout but it never felt like it was overdone. We meet Meredith Johnson who is the woman who harassed the male protagonist, Tom Sanders. Tom’s lawyer proved to be a force to be a reckoned with and she didn’t hold any prisoners. She certainly knew her stuff and rarely allowed herself to be ruffled by people who should have known better. This book also showed how nasty office politics can get especially when there’s a company merger on the table. I’m sure that this sort of thing can also happen outside of a merger as well. The characters in this book were well described and developed and they came across as very real and believable.
I absolutely loved this book and now I want to get, and read, many more of Crichton’s books. I have added him to my list of favourite authors. I can’t recommend him highly enough.
sharpness's review
4.0
A departure from his usually science dependent works, this gem deals with the then VERY hot topic of sexual harassment in an often overlooked, or outright ignored, iteration. Though it was not what I was looking for when I picked up a Crichton novel, neither was "Jurassic Park" after I read "A Case of Need".
If you like Crichton's style, you'll enjoy this story.
If you like Crichton's style, you'll enjoy this story.
pdkauffmann's review
5.0
This is my favorite Crichton story so far. Why haven't they made a movie out of this one?
moonshinemoxie's review
challenging
informative
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Interesting read. It's a little rough to read 90s hottakes on women presented by the various characters, but I got the distinct impression that this book was aimed primarily at men, so that they could relate with and sympathize with, and therefore better understand, sexual harassment. The outdated, borderline cringy 90s technobabble was a little silly but very easily skimmed and not too present. I really enjoyed the political mystery. Great characters. I can see myself reading more Crighton as this was my first of his novels.
c_rabbit's review
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
bookosaurusrawr's review against another edition
1.0
This is just not a book for a person like me to read 30 later. It’s just too out of date on technology and corporate culture for me to be interested in and that’s completely fine!
zarasecker23's review against another edition
5.0
I have had this book sitting on my bookshelf for sometime now but until just recently I didn’t feel I wanted to read it. It wasn’t until after I picked this book up that I found out that Crichton wrote the famous Jurassic Park series. I had only ever watched Jurassic Park on TV so I was interested to see what I thought of Crichton’s writing style. It didn’t take long for me to decide that I absolutely loved his writing. He had my interest piqued when he spoke about CD-ROMs and CD-ROM players etc. It was so fascinating to read about the problems associated with developing these products with 2017 eyes. It was like stepping back in time and guided through what the early development of these products involve to get where we are today some 23 years later. It was also interesting to find that, like today, many of the tech people were young (in their 20s) indicating that some things stay the same regardless of the number of years that have elapsed in the meantime.
Throughout this book (and this is a good indication of how well written it was) I found myself being pulled so much into the book that I lost all sense of where I was, at least whilst reading. I was very much in the book and couldn’t wait to read it every chance I got. As a result of this I managed to finish it in 3 days! I loved the book's whole premise and the way it was dealt with allowed the reader to see how notoriously fraught with difficulty sexual harassment cases are.
There are many characters throughout but it never felt like it was overdone. We meet Meredith Johnson who is the woman who harassed the male protagonist, Tom Sanders. Tom’s lawyer proved to be a force to be a reckoned with and she didn’t hold any prisoners. She certainly knew her stuff and rarely allowed herself to be ruffled by people who should have known better. This book also showed how nasty office politics can get especially when there’s a company merger on the table. I’m sure that this sort of thing can also happen outside of a merger as well. The characters in this book were well described and developed and they came across as very real and believable.
I absolutely loved this book and now I want to get, and read, many more of Crichton’s books. I have added him to my list of favourite authors. I can’t recommend him highly enough.
Throughout this book (and this is a good indication of how well written it was) I found myself being pulled so much into the book that I lost all sense of where I was, at least whilst reading. I was very much in the book and couldn’t wait to read it every chance I got. As a result of this I managed to finish it in 3 days! I loved the book's whole premise and the way it was dealt with allowed the reader to see how notoriously fraught with difficulty sexual harassment cases are.
There are many characters throughout but it never felt like it was overdone. We meet Meredith Johnson who is the woman who harassed the male protagonist, Tom Sanders. Tom’s lawyer proved to be a force to be a reckoned with and she didn’t hold any prisoners. She certainly knew her stuff and rarely allowed herself to be ruffled by people who should have known better. This book also showed how nasty office politics can get especially when there’s a company merger on the table. I’m sure that this sort of thing can also happen outside of a merger as well. The characters in this book were well described and developed and they came across as very real and believable.
I absolutely loved this book and now I want to get, and read, many more of Crichton’s books. I have added him to my list of favourite authors. I can’t recommend him highly enough.