I like Crichton, he`s a damned good read; but, Coral growing at a thousand feet below sea level - do me a favour! There`s no light down there mate. Okay, it`s a plot-hole, but when you read all that comes after, you will forgive him too. You see, the Americans have found a spacecraft submerged in the pacific ocean, 1000ft down. The trouble is, it`s not one of theirs, it isn`t one of anybody`s. It`s 300-years-old (they know this by the amount of coral that has grown over it. Coral grows at an inch a year... 300 or so inches of coral... geddit?), and it`s most likely alien in origin. Norman Johnson, a psychologist, had written a report for the government years ago detailing what was needed if man ever met an alien civilisation. Little did he know that his report was now the bible for alien contact - and he was on his way to meet the alien himself - or is he? Norman, the psychologist, along with a mathematician, a biologist and an astrophysicist i.e. - all the members of the contact team he himself had devised, are taken to the giant craft and must learn the secrets of the vast glittering orb - a perfect sphere of liquid metal - that lies within. The Hoffman/Stone/L.Jackson movie was a fair stab at the nerve-jangling psychological effects of contact with an alien artifact -but the book delves deeper in the psyche of its characters, their fears and irrationalities are magnified by the claustrophobic surroundings and the slowly emerging evil they unleash from the alien sphere. Is it alien? From where, and when, did it come? Just how hostile can the being which calls itself `Jerry` become? How many people have to die in the most terrifying manner before they realise exactly what they are up against? The characters are strong, the animosity between them adds to the tension and Crichton`s ingenuity and style carry you along for a chilling ride.
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