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annikamcginn's review
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
risky_oak's review
«I began writing as a medical student, and felt that I would continue as a doctor and ought to protect my patients from the fear that they might pop up in the pages of a thriller. The best protection would not be to disguise them, but to disguise me. Once I decided not to practice medicine, I dropped the pseudonyms expect for convenience. I wrote too much, so I decided to publish some books under false names, and in that way, could publish more books.»
And that's how Michael Crichton began his writing career. One of my favourite and most read authors. The creator of Jurassic Park, Westworld and ER, among many others.
From the summer of 2011 until November 2018, I read 19 of the 32 books he published. November 2018 was the 10th anniversary of his death. That's when I decided to do a project dedicated to Crichton. One book per month for the next 32 months.
The thrillers he wrote as a medical student between 1966 and 1972 under the pseudonym John Lange were eight, and with the exception of the last one he wrote in 1972 (the year he decided to publish under his own name something that lasted until his death,) were a large part of his bibliography that I had not read. So I ordered them all in one go.
Every time I need to review one of these I'll repeat this general introduction about his early writings rather than extensive reviews on each individual book.
Because beyond the interest of reading early works of your favourite author, reading what he wrote and seeing his writing slowly evolving, they are not masterpieces and you cannot dedicate more than five lines for their sake. It's like Schwarzenegger movies. You are having a good time and that's it. And I also didn't want to confuse you every second day with a new book by Crichton.
They were written quickly and, as he said, he wrote them to gain money to pay for utilities and groceries while he was a student.
They are not masterpieces as I mentioned above, but their writing was something like writing exercises, a writing with which in the medical thriller [b:A Case of Need|35385796|A Case of Need|Jeffery Hudson|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1496874074l/35385796._SY75_.jpg|2651727] (that he wrote in 1968 under another pseudonym (Jeffery Hudson)) gained the Edgar Award in 1969.
A year in which he published for the first time under his own name one of his best novels, the science fiction thriller [b:The Andromeda Strain|7670|The Andromeda Strain (Andromeda, #1)|Michael Crichton|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1587497243l/7670._SY75_.jpg|997271], which was made into a film in 1971.
In 1970 he and his brother Douglas Crichton co-wrote another hippie thriller under a common pseudonym Michael Douglas ([b:Dealing, or The Berkeley-To-Boston Forty-Brick Lost-Bag Blues|147780|Dealing, or The Berkeley-To-Boston Forty-Brick Lost-Bag Blues|Michael Douglas|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1350488267l/147780._SX50_.jpg|142616]). This would be his third and final nickname.
In 1972, with [b:The Terminal Man|7679|The Terminal Man|Michael Crichton|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1461056182l/7679._SY75_.jpg|2651704] under his own name, he realised that his career was now a writer, not a doctor, so he put the pseudonym in the bottom drawer.
The eight books he wrote as John Lange remained out of stock since the late 1970s until the publishing house Hard Case Crime began publishing out of stock and hard-to-find books in the noir, thriller, detective, and generally pulp fiction categories.
Among them are books published for the first time such as [b:Joyland|13596166|Joyland|Stephen King|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1348154483l/13596166._SY75_.jpg|19185026] and [b:The Colorado Kid|10574|The Colorado Kid|Stephen King|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1422099676l/10574._SY75_.jpg|856005] by Stephen King.
While Crichton was still alive, two of his books, [b:Grave Descend|652837|Grave Descend|John Lange|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1348433385l/652837._SY75_.jpg|638947] and [b:Zero Cool|2767617|Zero Cool|John Lange|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1390275543l/2767617._SY75_.jpg|2793340], were edited by him.
In November 2008, unfortunately, Crichton passed away, so in 2013 the remaining 6 books were released.
Because I don't want to tire you out anymore and give you acute Crichtoniasis, I'll talk briefly about this one.
Easy Go 1968: read May 2019
A group of five archaeologists and.. thieves decide to rob an ancient Egyptian tomb that only they know exists, without the authorities noticing.
More in Greek at βιβλιοαλχημείες
starsloveus's review
3.0
3.5 stars -- I mean, it's not a great work of literature or at all comparable to his later work but I really enjoyed it
whatmeworry's review against another edition
3.0
This was kind of fun, and rattled along at a good pace, but I ended up not really knowing what the hell was going on. Possibly worth 2 stars rather than 3 but Egypt, heist, etc
devinsf's review
4.0
Solid midcentury popcorn fare. One of six pulps churned out by Michael Chrichton under a pen name to earn some extra scratch while in college, recently re-issued by the rebooted Hard Case imprint. It's relatively PG for the genre (soft-boiled?), and draws much of its appeal from the setting and globetrotting setup: It's an Ocean's 11-esq heist plot — gather the misfit team, form a plan, get the loot — but instead of a casino, the team is robbing an ingeniously-hidden Egyptian tomb. (Typical flaws for the period RE: female and minority characters, but it's not too-too bad as these things go.)
indrabar's review
4.0
A fun little romp, fast and easy. Loved it, but it's nothing to ponder over in the wee hours of the morning.
stephang18's review
One of ten reissued books that Michael Crichton under a pen name while in college. You can see flashes of what he would become but it's pretty standard.
otterno11's review
2.0
Retro Review
This was a musty mass paperback I picked up in the free pile at my local library book sale maybe 18 years ago (yikes) on a whim, and quickly read through as a distraction my first semester in college.
It was dumb, but fun, I guess, and even while memory of the details of the story have faded over time, the broadly stereotypical characters and pulpy Egyptian setting has stuck with me. Two stars for that, anyway, though I don’t think I’ll ever be revisiting it as I’m sure it’s retrograde gender and cultural ideas will have only gotten more noticeable since then. It wasn’t too surprising when I looked up the book years later out of curiosity, long after having gotten rid of it, and found that it was an early Michael Crichton product written under a pseudonym.
This was a musty mass paperback I picked up in the free pile at my local library book sale maybe 18 years ago (yikes) on a whim, and quickly read through as a distraction my first semester in college.
It was dumb, but fun, I guess, and even while memory of the details of the story have faded over time, the broadly stereotypical characters and pulpy Egyptian setting has stuck with me. Two stars for that, anyway, though I don’t think I’ll ever be revisiting it as I’m sure it’s retrograde gender and cultural ideas will have only gotten more noticeable since then. It wasn’t too surprising when I looked up the book years later out of curiosity, long after having gotten rid of it, and found that it was an early Michael Crichton product written under a pseudonym.
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