This book was just ridiculous. Not up to his usual standards. Got 3/4 of the way through and just couldnt keep reading

I loved the idea of this book - what are the implications of the rapid-fire genetic discoveries that are currently happening? What will the future look like?

However, for about 2/3 of the sheer number of storylines made the book difficult to follow. It seemed like Crichton would think of something that could possibly be related to advances in genetics, and put it into the story. The book could have used a stronger editor.

Overall, though, I enjoyed it, and it made me think about the extremes that could happen in the near future

Genetic research is making headlines in one form or another almost every day. A cure for everything. But what happens when taken to extreme? Part fact, part fiction, part fantasy, this book will both engross and chill.

Very good. It's a little hard to get into because it keeps flopping back and forth like the tv series "Heroes" but wow once I got into it, I couldn't put it down. The comic relief was a talking bird. My kids made me read out loud each time I came to that section of the story.

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(amazon)
From Publishers Weekly
Bestseller Crichton (Jurassic Park) once again focuses on genetic engineering in his cerebral new thriller, though the science involved is a lot less far-fetched than creating dinosaurs from DNA. In an ambitious effort to show what's wrong with the U.S.'s current handling of gene patents and with the laws governing human tissues, the author interweaves many plot strands, one involving a California researcher, Henry Kendall, who has mixed human and chimp DNA while working at NIH. Kendall produces an intelligent hybrid whom he rescues from the government and tries to pass off as a fully human child. Some readers may be disappointed by the relative lack of action, the lame attempts to lighten the mood with humor (especially centering on an unusually bright parrot named Gerard), and the contrived convergence of the main characters toward the end. Still, few can match Crichton in crafting page-turners with intellectual substance, and his opinions this time are less likely to create a firestorm than his controversial take on global warming in 2004's State of Fear.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Good read.

Can't go wrong with Michael Crichton! Hi tech, bio-genetics thriller!! Went through the book really quick. Very hard to put down! I'd give it a 9 out of 10.

Interesting book by Crichton, not as good as Jurassic Park though. Has to do with the what the future of genetics holds and seems a bit far fetched at times, but who knows what the future holds.

I haven't read many good reviews of this book so I went into it with pretty low expectations, which I think helped. The biggest problem with this book is that it has no plot. Most chapters are only a few pages long and in most chapters new characters are introduced. There are a few recurring characters, but mostly we just get snippets. What we're looking at is what the world would be like if genetic engineering was successful and commonplace. What would happen if we could really put human genes into animals--could we create a cross between a human and a chimpanzee? Should we? What if we could modify the genes of wild animals so they would display logos for big companies--then those companies could "sponsor" animals and they'd be less likely to go extinct. If we could find the gene for drug addiction, could we fix it? Could we sue our parents for passing on to us defective genes? If your husband had a gene that predisposes him to infidelity, could he really be blamed for sleeping around? What if companies could patent genes? Would they then own the genes that we all carry in all of our cells? Would they have the right to retrieve those genes any time they want? This is just a book of what-ifs, no real plot, but I still found it to be somewhat entertaining. At the end I was annoyed by the author's note that repeats back the author's main points, in case you didn't get them in the story. If these sort of questions interest you, I'd recommend reading this, but if they don't, feel free to skip this.

Crichton is a master at combining cutting edge science with a fast-paced, character-driven story. Next depicts the possible real-life consequences that rapidly expanding genetics research might bring, and the difficulties that society and the legal system almost certainly will face in dealing with all the new possibilities. It raises questions and issues that should provoke all of us to become more informed patients and consumers.

Suspenseful and thought provoking as well as informative. A very good book.

Not Crichton's best, but not his worst. Fairly entertaining and not overly wordy as some of his work can be.

I love all of Michael Crichton's books.

Terrific, fast paced topical thriller. Crichton packs a lot of reasearch regarding global warming theories and disputes into one great fictional story!

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