A review by goodnight_moon
Congo by Michael Crichton

3.0

This one really didn't work for me. It's an amazing hook, but quickly becomes mostly logistics. I needed more moments of WHAT-THE-HELL-IS-HAPPENING to sustain the middle. I needed government involvement in the stakes - "there's a spaceship from the future at the bottom of the ocean" and "this virus will eradicate humanity in days" just hit so much harder than "my company has to beat the Germans to the diamonds". I needed fewer scientific and historical lectures; I like them, but the book is a bit long. There was never really a twist - the payoff turned out to be what the evidence was building to, it was entertaining but expected.

I like the style where the author pretends he's reporting on real events from declassified files and secondhand witnesses, but why were those moments when he invoked that idea outright spoilers? What did that add?

It had entertaining moments but dragged a lot. I considered two stars, but I'm giving one back because Amy the Gorilla loves martinis and cigarettes and tickle time.