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Résumé
Résumé
In the Nevada desert, an experiment has gone horribly wrong. A cloud of nanoparticles -- micro-robots -- has escaped from the laboratory. This cloud is self-sustaining and self-reproducing. It is intelligent and learns from experience. For all practical purposes, it is alive. It has been programmed as a predator. It is evolving swiftly, becoming more deadly with each passing hour. Every attempt to destroy it has failed. And we are the prey.
As fresh as today's headlines, Michael Crichton'smost compelling novel yet tells the story of a mechanical plague and the desperate efforts of a handful of scientists to stop it. Drawing on up-to-the-minute scientific fact, Prey takes us into the emerging realms of nanotechnology and artificial distributed intelligence -- in a story of breathtaking suspense. Prey is a novel you can't put down. Because time is running out.
Critiques (6)
Critique du Publishers Weekly
The concept of nanotechnology can be traced back to a 1959 speech given by physicist Richard Feynman, in which he offered to pay $1,000 to "the first guy who makes an operating electric motor... which is only 1/64-inch cube." Today the quest is to make machines that would be about 1,000 times smaller than the diameter of a human hair. Enter Jack Forman, a recently unemployed writer of predator/prey software, whose nearly absentee wife, Julia, is a bigwig at a tech firm called Xymos. When a car accident hospitalizes Julia, Xymos hires Jack to deal with problems at their desert nanotechnology plant. The techies at this plant have developed nanomachines, smaller than dust specks, which are programmed with Jack's predator/prey software. Not only is a swarm of those nanomachines loose and multiplying, but they appear to be carnivorous. The desert swarms are the least of Jack's worries, however, as the crew inside the plant are not entirely what they seem. Like Jurassic Park, this "it could happen" morality tale is gripping from the start, and Wilson's first-person reading as Jack sets the pace. His confident, flinty voice and his no-nonsense delivery makes this a solid presentation of a high-speed techno-thriller. Crichton gives the audio an air of sobering authenticity by reading its cautionary foreword himself. Simultaneous release with the HarperCollins hardcover (Forecasts, Oct. 28, 2002). (Nov.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Critique de Booklist
Crichton is the master of the sci-tech thriller, and nowhere is that more evident than in his latest page-turner, a scary, wild ride that is, without a doubt, his best in years. Jack Forman has been a stay-at-home dad since losing his job at an up-and-coming Silicon Valley technology company. Fired for discovering the company's illegal activities, Jack is taking care of his three children while his successful wife, Julia, is working at a similar company, Xymos Technology. Xymos has developed sophisticated nanoparticles for medical use, and Julia has been working long hours on the project. Jack suspects she is having an affair, but it turns out to be much more sinister than that. When Julia is injured in a car accident, Jack is called to the secretive Xymos lab in Nevada to help out with the project. It turns out the lab is in trouble; a swarm of nanoparticles escaped into the wild and has been evolving based on a program Jack designed called PREDPREY, which incorporated predator/prey interactions. The swarm is not only acting like a predator but also reproducing and killing desert animals. It is hunting the people in the Xymos compound, and it quickly becomes apparent that it can kill humans as well. As Jack uncovers the magnitude of the swarm's power, he realizes that the threat extends far beyond the isolated lab in the desert. As always, Crichton does an admirable job of explaining complex scientific ideas and integrating them with his gripping story. Like Jurassic Park(1990), Preyis a cautionary tale of the dangerous roads that carelessly used technology can take us down. This unpredictable, wild ride is not to be missed. KristineHuntley.
Critique de School Library Journal
Adult/High School-An absorbing cautionary tale of science fact and fiction. Jack Forman has been laid off from his Silicon Valley job as a senior software programmer and has become a househusband, while his wife continues her career with a biotech firm involved in defense contracting. Jack is called in as a consultant to debug one of their products, and finds himself confronting a full-blown emergency, about which his wife and others in the organization have been suspiciously deceptive. Crichton's sure hand sustains a tension-filled narrative as harrowing events unfold. Jack discovers that the "problem product" is a lethal, self-replicating swarm of bioengineered particles released into the desert that imperils the environment as well as the scientists who created it. He is pitted against an exponentially growing and increasingly sophisticated organism encoded with predator/prey behaviors, capable of mimicry as well as learning. Final scenes are dramatic, brutal, and jarring, with the outcome tantalizingly unresolved. Significant chunks of scientific information are packaged within the story line, and some segments are blended less smoothly than others. This scarcely matters, however, as most readers will speed past the rough spots and accept improbable leaps of imagination whenever necessary in hot pursuit of the gripping, fast-paced action. Overall, a compelling read for students intrigued by cutting-edge technologies, and rife with opportunities for discussion of ethics in scientific research.-Lynn Nutwell, Fairfax City Regional Library, VA(c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
Critique du Guardian
Somehow, when reading a thriller these days, one has the impression that one is experiencing a film rather than picking up a book. This is particularly true when reading Michael Crichton, who seems to have been involved in about 15 of the most popular films of all time. So it is no insult to him, or none intended, when I say that no one is going to mistake Prey for literature. How can the hero be shown around the top-secret factory, having sprinkler systems and open-caged lifts pointed out to him, without us understanding it as a guarantee that such systems will prove crucial come the final showdown? Which, I may say, the average reader will be in a hurry to get to. The novel may be 360-odd pages long, but it shouldn't take more than three hours to finish. This is a function not only of Crichton's utterly frictionless, deliberately unremarkable prose, but of your desire to see How They're Going To Get Out Of This One. It is a great idea; it will make a great film. Our hero, Jack, was a Silicon Valley computer programmer, working on those awfully clever programs which try to teach computers to fix themselves - the kind of artificial intelligence which operates from very basic principles rather than complex ones. (You'll find the science presented just as bafflingly, if more plausibly, in the book itself.) However, he was sacked from his job for discovering corruption high up; and now he is unemployable, so he looks after the three kids while his wife does high-profile PR for a company working in nanotechnology. She starts coming home late. She's looking different. Better groomed, sleeker. She has a shower the moment she comes in rather than in the morning, like she used to. What's going on? An affair, obviously. But then the baby develops a painful rash and no one can figure out what the hell is wrong. Just as suddenly, the rash vanishes. Meanwhile, the eight-year-old's MP3 player stops working; Jack finds the memory chip has been turned to dust. He discovers what looks like a surge suppressor in the kids' bedroom. Only it's not. His wife starts acting really weird. This is all paced extremely well. Jack comes to realise that he is dealing with something extremely dangerous, and with the hints we are offered, we find ourselves being given the heeby-jeebies pretty comprehensively. Scaring us via the kids is always a good way to do this. The middle child mentions that, while Jack was at the hospital with the baby, the house was visited by "vacuum men", as well as a ghost. "All silver and shimmery, except he didn't have a face." It is part not so much of our expectations as our demands of such a story that the father routinely dismisses this as a movie-induced nightmare rather than the significant testimony we immediately understand it to be. (In a sense, the whole novel is a movie- induced nightmare, so everyone's happy - including men who make a big deal about doing childcare, for even they get to save the world.) Crichton dresses up his stories in contemporary clothes, and the nature of the threat is as much a wardrobe decision as anything else. It is, in fact, the key decision, and his alighting on nanotechnology is inspired. This is techie stuff new enough for the word not to be recognised by my WP package. It also sounds extremely hairy - imagine billions of flying molecule-sized particles programmed to work together, learn, and evolve at great speed. Crichton has. I am doubtful as to whether the form this emergent intelligence takes would so precisely mimic the actions of something out of Terminator II , but the principle is scary enough. Almost as scary as Crichton's photograph on the book jacket. He's meant to be 60, for crying out loud. There's something really sinister going on there. Someone should check him out. Nicholas Lezard is writing a book about fun. To order Prey for pounds 15.99 plus p&p call Guardian book service on 0870 066 7979. Caption: article-crichton.1 [Michael Crichton] dresses up his stories in contemporary clothes, and the nature of the threat is as much a wardrobe decision as anything else. It is, in fact, the key decision, and his alighting on nanotechnology is inspired. This is techie stuff new enough for the word not to be recognised by my WP package. It also sounds extremely hairy - imagine billions of flying molecule-sized particles programmed to work together, learn, and evolve at great speed. Crichton has. I am doubtful as to whether the form this emergent intelligence takes would so precisely mimic the actions of something out of Terminator II , but the principle is scary enough. Almost as scary as Crichton's photograph on the book jacket. He's meant to be 60, for crying out loud. There's something really sinister going on there. Someone should check him out. - Nicholas Lezard.
Critique de Kirkus
Nanotechnology goes homicidal in the latest of this author's ever-more self-derivative thrillers. All is not well in Silicon Valley. In an intriguing opener, we get a scary little flash forward where 40-year-old Jack is sitting at home listening to his three desperately sick children, hoping they don't die. Flash back a few days before that and Jack is running to Crate & Barrel, playing the role of house-husband ever since he got laid off as program division head at MediaTronics. Wife Julie is now the primary breadwinner, doing hush-hush Pentagon work with nanotechnology at the Xymos Corporation. Julie has seemed distracted recently, Jack is increasingly sure that she's having an affair, and his sister is telling him to get a good divorce lawyer on deck. Then the baby, nine-month-old Amanda, comes down sick with a bizarre and terrifying illness that inexplicably disappears as suddenly as it arrived. Things aren't going too well at Xymos, meantime, so Jack is called in to consult at their research facility out in the middle of the Nevada desert. The project that Julie was working on involved creating swarms of nanotech entities that the military could then use as weapons, surveillance systems, or whatever they wanted. Except the Pentagon was about the pull the plug because Xymos can't get the bugs worked out. Pretty soon Jack and a few survivors are running about the lab jerry-rigging defenses against some highly evolved and deadly nanotech swarms gone rogue, which Julie just might have let escape on purpose. All the usual Crichton elements are here: pedantic display of research about an emerging technology (Jurassic Park), the emasculated husband (Disclosure), isolated research facility in lockdown (Andromeda Strain), and a motley crew of people trying to survive in a hostile environment (just about all of them). Normally, this would not be a problem, as even Crichton (Timeline, 1999, etc.) on autopilot still makes for a quick and entertaining, if ultimately unsatisfying, read. But this time the product is so by-the-numbers that even die-hard fans may find themselves bored. Disappointing effort from an author who simply refuses to change an old, tired template. First printing of 2,000,000; film rights to 20th Century Fox; Book-of-the-Month Club/Literary Guild/Doubleday Book Club main selection; Quality Paperback Book Club alternate selection; author tour
Critique du Library Journal
Crichton's latest thriller combines the biotechnology of Jurassic Park with nanotechnology, creating a new menace for the human race. Julia Foreman and her team at Xymos Technologies have developed microscopic artificial organisms designed to function together as a group. However, they used a computer program, developed by Julia's at-home husband and programmer Jack, which employs a hunter and prey behavior model to allow the organisms to achieve stated goals through experimenting with different behaviors. However, the organisms escape the Nevada-based factory and begin to reproduce, evolve, and learn, and they are learning to hunt other life forms. This story is fast paced, with interesting characters and enough twists and turns to hold the listener's attention. Narrator George Wilson effectively tells this exciting tale in both productions; except for the price, the recordings are the same. Recommended for all audio collections.-Stephen L. Hupp, West Virginia Univ., Parkersburg (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
