Sphere
(Libby/OverDrive eBook, Kindle)

Working from an undersea habitat 1,000 feet deep in the South Pacific, a U.S. team of civilian and military experts investigates an enormous spaceship that appears to have crashed some 300 years earlier is it from an alien culture? A different universe? The future? (My 15 87 Upfront)

YA As in Crichton's Andromeda Strain (Knopf, 1969), the focus of this science adventure tale is humankind's encounter with an alien life form. Within a space ship lying on the sea bottom is a mysterious sphere that promises each of the main characters some personal reward: military might, professional prestige, power, understanding. Trapped underwater with the sphere, the humans confront eerie and increasingly dangerous threats after communication with the alien object has been achieved. The story is exciting and loaded with scientific and psychological speculations that add interest at no cost to the action, including an intriguing sequence in which human and computer attempt to decode the alien communication. As the story races to an end, suspicions of evil-doing fall as many ways as in a detective novel. Young adults should find this book both accessible and satisfying. Mike Parson, Houston Public Library (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Crichton has rolled the present, past, and future into one highly technical and confusing science fiction adventure. The present features, among others, a pompous astrophysicist, a female zoologist, a black mathematician, and a 53-year-old psychologist, who are summoned by the Navy to examine a plane crash in the South Pacific. The past is manifested in the stranded object resting on the sea bottom where it has been for some 300 years. When the four scientists, who carry their emotional minority baggage of sex, color, and age along with them, descend to the deep in their submersible, they discover the wreck to be no less than a spaceship from the future that fell through a black hole, defying time and space. Strange things begin to happen as one by one the cast of characters diminishes. Disappointing. Literary Guild dual main selection. Marion Hanscom, SUNY at Binghamton Lib. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

A cotton-candy science thriller, Crichton's first novel in seven years matches neither the hardcore suspense nor the wit of his The Andromeda Strain, The Great Train Robbery, or Congo. But this spirited tale of a science team sent to explore a spaceship found on the Pacific floor does engross via its rich seeding of techno/oceanic lore and a happy plot that bounces merrily along from one surprise to the next. Reflecting his own march into middle-age, Crichton here offers his oldest hero yet, 53-year-old psychologist Norman Johnson, expert in the embryonic field of alien contact. Johnson is whisked off by the Navy to the South Seas along with five other scientists, most notably young black math-whiz Harold Adams and pretty zoologist Beth Halpern. After a shocking debriefing--they're told about the alien ship lying 1000 feet below the waves--the five descend by minisub to a deep-sea habitat. From there, the band explores the spaceship--which they deduce is an earth ship that traveled here from the future via a black hole--and find the sphere: a 30-foot wide hollow silver ball, clearly an alien artifact. All this is intriguing stuff, but without much tension; so Crichton dusts off an old ploy; he isolates his characters by whipping up a typhoon that cuts off surface aid, and then transforms the sphere into a Pandora's box of horrors. Adams finds his way into the sphere; after he emerges, it starts communicating via the habitat's computer, claiming to be hosted by an alien named ""Jerry."" Cute? Not when ""Jerry"" takes credit for the deadly jellyfish and giant squid that attack the habitat, killing all but Adams, Beth, and Norman. Norman and Beth soon figure out that ""Jerry"" is really Adams, who's been empowered by the sphere to make nightmares come true; but when they knock him out, the attacks continue, setting up Crichton's final conjuror's cache of tricks and twists, and a pleasingly upbeat ending. This sphere's as lightweight as a balloon floating up and away; but the ascent is swift, smooth, and loads of fun. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Crichton has rolled the present, past, and future into one highly technical and confusing science fiction adventure. The present features, among others, a pompous astrophysicist, a female zoologist, a black mathematician, and a 53-year-old psychologist, who are summoned by the Navy to examine a plane crash in the South Pacific. The past is manifested in the stranded object resting on the sea bottom where it has been for some 300 years. When the four scientists, who carry their emotional minority baggage of sex, color, and age along with them, descend to the deep in their submersible, they discover the wreck to be no less than a spaceship from the future that fell through a black hole, defying time and space. Strange things begin to happen as one by one the cast of characters diminishes. Disappointing. Literary Guild dual main selection. Marion Hanscom, SUNY at Binghamton Lib. Copyright 1987 Cahners Business Information.

YA As in Crichton's Andromeda Strain (Knopf, 1969), the focus of this science adventure tale is humankind's encounter with an alien life form. Within a space ship lying on the sea bottom is a mysterious sphere that promises each of the main characters some personal reward: military might, professional prestige, power, understanding. Trapped underwater with the sphere, the humans confront eerie and increasingly dangerous threats after communication with the alien object has been achieved. The story is exciting and loaded with scientific and psychological speculations that add interest at no cost to the action, including an intriguing sequence in which human and computer attempt to decode the alien communication. As the story races to an end, suspicions of evil-doing fall as many ways as in a detective novel. Young adults should find this book both accessible and satisfying. Mike Parson, Houston Public Library Copyright 1987 Cahners Business Information.