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    Prey: A Novel
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    Prey: A Novel
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    Prey: A Novel
    Audiobook12 hours

    Prey: A Novel

    Written by Michael Crichton

    Narrated by Robert Sean Leonard

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    About this audiobook

    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.

    A HarperAudio production.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateNov 11, 2003
    ISBN9780060735623
    Author

    Michael Crichton

    Michael Crichton (1942-2008) was the author of the ground-breaking novels The Great Train Robbery, Jurassic Park, Disclosure, Prey, State of Fear and Next, among many others. Crichton’s books have sold more than 200 million copies worldwide, have been translated into thirty-eight languages, and provided the basis for thirteen feature films. Also known as a filmmaker and creator of ER, he remains the only writer to have a number one book, movie, and TV show in the same year.

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    Reviews for Prey

    4/5

    186 ratings75 reviews

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    • 1/5
      Cliched tale of technology gone awry. Two-dimensional characterisation doesn’t help.
    • 4/5
      slow start but built up a decent story , characters were were good, ending siding blow me away but a good solid read
    • 2/5
      It’s was a bit bland, the characters were not very well drawn out. Best part about this book was the performance the reader gave, his voice was pleasing to listen to in my opinion and he did a good job conveying stress.
    • 5/5
      Great info as we are really going through the nano morgellions era
    • 5/5
      This is a great non-stop roller coaster read. You won't be sorry.
    • 1/5
      Although the book is ostensibly about nanotechnology gone wrong, and includes a decent amount of info on nanotech (including a reading list at the back of the book), it really progresses more like a horror novel... As always with Crichton's books, the writing is very straightforward but eminently readable.... but too much of Crichton's extremly ill-informed and annoying personal opinions come through in the book.
    • 4/5
      This is a very fast paced book. The concepts of evolution, nanotecnology and AI are very well laid out and mixed with a good story and good writting.
    • 4/5
      Michael Crichton never fails to give you enough information to understand his topic. Unfortunately, it's sometimes overwhelming. The storyline is gripping in its concept - nano technology is already here and hard to control. That's the thing about Crichton - he can make things real enough to scare the pants off you.
    • 2/5
      This is by far my least favorite Michael Chrichton book. I typically enjoy his cautionary views of pushing the limits of science, but this one just fell flat for me.
    • 3/5
      In diesem Wissenschafts-Thriller geht es um Schwärme aus Nanorobotern, die außer Kontrolle geraten sind, ein Eigenleben entwickelt haben und nach Beute jagen. Die Geschichte braucht einige Zeit, um in Gang zu kommen, der Anfang liest sich etwas schleppend. Nach etwa hundert Seiten kommt dann Spannung auf in einem typischen Crichton Szenario: In einem abgelegenen Forschungslabor in der Wüste, versuchen einige wenige Menschen, der Bedrohung entgegen zu treten, wobei die Gefahr sowohl von außen als auch von innen kommt. Der wissenschaftliche Hintergrund ist im Ansatz interessant, die Geschichte aber letztlich nicht sehr glaubwürdig. Insgesamt ist es nach langsamen Anlauf ein stellenweise spannender und kurzweiliger Roman, der aber nicht die Qualitäten von z.B. "Sphere - Gedanken des Bösen" vom gleichen Autor hat.
    • 5/5
      Prey - Michael Crichton *****My second book by the author, the first being the very mediocre Pirates Latitude. However I have always found his subject matters interesting so decided to try another of his novels. I am very glad that I did. Prey focuses on the concept of evolution of manmade technology (in this case nanobots) and the possible effects of experiment gone awry. The majority of the novel takes place over only a few days and it is a credit to Crichtons talents that he still makes the breakneck speed of the plot totally plausible.The main concept of the novel is that a swarm of Nanobots have been released from a research facility deep in the Nevada desert. Not wanting to inform the authorities for fear of the company having funding stopped and the widespread panic, they enlist the help of former employee, computer programmer Jack Forman. However, when he arrives at the plant, things are far from as they seem. Accompanying this are numerous subplots that break up any monotony the reader may feel (although I doubt they will). The ending was slightly weaker than I would have liked and the more eagle eyed reader would have seen it coming with around 100 pages or so to go.The main aspect of the book that impressed me was the mountains of research that Crichton must have waded through. Parts of the novel felt as if they could have been written as a textbook with more than enough for a reader new to the subject to gain a grasp of the mechanics and thinking behind nanotechnology.I would recommend this to anyone familiar to Crichton or as an introduction. In my opinion it is probably lesser known due to the fact it has to stand against his other mammoth works such as Jurassic Park.
    • 4/5
      Great book good story would make a good film this version has a lot of skips that are annoying
    • 3/5
      Chrichton keeps a flow of suspense in his writings that in one page may heighten your need to know more and, at the next page, you just want to get to the end to see how it finishes (which I have never done, that is, read the ending of a book before I finished it). He also involves you in the somewhat technical details of the science his book revolves around without at the least being tedious. The way he gives you the information just accelerates the suspense. "Prey" is no different. While a company attempts to design a tiny robotic camera for the defense department using nano-technology, it goes terribly wrong and micro-robots escape the confines of the laboratory and begin evolving with an intelligence all their own with deadly consequences.I should mention that a few times - not many - Chrichton resorts to profane language, which is totally unnecessary. I am surprised as I haven't noticed it in previous books I've read by him (although it has been awhile since I picked up a Chrichton book to read). If you can forgive him for that, I'm sure you will enjoy the read.
    • 4/5
      A tad bit predictable, but very good nonetheless. Very typical "Crichton".
    • 5/5
      Thrilling! The story was different than normal sci-fi. It felt real. 
    • 3/5
      I thought it was so cool to be able to say "Oh I'm just doing some recommended reading for my CS class" when reading this sort of book. Yes, it's recommended reading for a class on Evolutionary Computation. The book itself wasn't amazing.. the writing was a little weird in places, almost as if he had the beginning and the end written and he was struggling to fill in the middle. But definitely an entertaining read for me, given my recent entry into the field of phage evolution. Is the science sound? Well.. he's got a nice reading list at the end of the book. That's about where the science ends. The rest I felt was just cool, science-y name dropping. Worth a read though :)
    • 3/5
      I read Crichton’s novel for two reasons: 1) because I usually learn something from him about a new subject that interest me, like nanotechnology; and 2) because they’re usually very suspenseful, exciting, quick reads. In this case, I did learn something new – but not as much as I would have liked – about nanotechnology and molecular engineering, the scientific areas that the technological horror story explores.But the truth is that, this time, the plot was more than a little silly, the characters were bare sketches of typical Crichton people – none of whom I cared a lick about – and the suspense was almost entirely missing. Yes, it was a quick read, but a thoroughly unsatisfying one. Perhaps Crichton isn’t trying anymore, or perhaps I’ve outgrown him; I suspect it’s a combination of both. But while Jurassic Park may be counted as a guilty pleasure, this novel gives no pleasure at all.
    • 5/5
      Another Mic Crichton's fantastic novel...He is a master story teller,,,
    • 3/5
      * spoiler alert ** I liked this book, it was scary with how tiny the little computer bugs were. They could get almost anywhere and then they acted like a group and could destroy anything they wanted. The end with the magnets and the wife, broke my heart. The story with the family kept my interest. It was sad the way that things change, but I'm glad at the end things were discussed between the husband and wife. The idea of the nano's is great, but control of them will be something I hope we get before we set them loose. This may be make believe, but the future is coming. Exciting and frightening at the same time
    • 5/5
      This book is among the best thriller books I have ever read. It is scary and at the same time full of suspense. You simply cannot put it down. The ability to create a bridge between fiction and non-fiction is something few authors could do and in this case Michael Crichton is a master.
    • 4/5
      Jack Forman has big problems. The out-of-work computer programmer turned stay-at-home dad suspects that his wife is having an affair. Little does he know that this is the least of his problems. His wife Julia has been working long hours with a new technology – nanotechnology – creating tiny robots the size of an atom. But something has gone horribly awry. The nanobots have escaped, and based on a computer program that Jack wrote, they have also begun to reproduce, evolve, swarm, and hunt. Humans are their prey. Crichton’s most suspenseful novel yet , Prey, will leave you in a constant state of anticipation, eagerly turning the page to see what happens next.
    • 4/5
      Prey is a techno-thriller where Michael Crichton takes us deep into the world of nanotechnology. In this science space, millions of nanoparticles act as a swarm to achieve a common goal. However, what happens when the swarm evolves faster than the humans that design it? Crichton has authored a suspenseful story in which nanomachines are used to develop innovative medical diagnostic images by essentially creating a nano-eye that can traverse the blood stream, but all is not as it seems as the true reason for the technology comes to light.Michael Crichton spends a great deal of time on the scientific details of nanotechnology and distributed computer processing, which are essential in understanding the plot. Each nanoparticle is given a very simple program to run and a very small brain (CPU/Memory) to achieve its objective. As more and more particles are introduced into the system each particle communicates with nearby particles, in essence increasing the brain power of the machine. Crichton takes this a step further by allowing the swarm to learn and evolve at a rate much higher than expected. The result: Prey. A fun and suspenseful read.
    • 2/5
      Prey starts off like a typical Crichton book. High concept, with one-dimensional and unbelievable characters, way too much space devoted to describing technical details. Sadly, the pacing dies down in the middle and the last hundred and fifty pages are spent slogging towards the end.
    • 3/5
      This started out excellent, I raced through the first couple of hundred pages, and pretty much decided I'd go on to read all his books if they were this good.Unfortunately this book is a bit like one of those suitcases in spy films which have a false bottom. After a sort of mini conclusion four hundred pages in, it then limps along for angnother hundred pages and blows itself out like an overambitious firework.All in all, this read like a Stephen King plot (very much like 'Cell' in fact), but whereas King would have spent ages building up personality, Crichton spends an equivalent amount of time describing the technology in excruciating detail. I think I prefer King's style - he can (and does) get away with simply saying OK there's this killer virus out there, or whatever it happens to be, and then describing the consequences. I have no problem believing that it exists. Michael Crichton seems to think we have to hear chapter and verse about the underlying technology, and I don't know about anyone else, most of it went right over my head.
    • 4/5
      Michael Crichton would occasionally write books forewarning the general populace of new technology gone bad. For example, with Jurassic Park, it was dinosaur cloning.With Prey, the technology to fear is nanotechnology. Granted, it's mixed a bit with swarm technology, evolutionary algorithms, and genetic modification. But the root is nanotechnology: tiny little robots that can replicate themselves, and do stuff on a tiny level.The story is told through the point of view of the protagonist, an out-of-work computer programmer. He's eager to get a job before he reaches his "shelf-life."His wife, he's noticed, has been aloof with respect to the family. He fears the worse: she's having an affair. After she gets into an automobile accident, he gets a job offer from her company. He jumps right on it, part to have a job, and part to uncover the root of her mysterious behavior.So, at the lab, in the middle of the desert, he learns that a rogue swarm built for the DOD has escaped and is replicating in the desert. The odd thing is, though, nobody seems to want to take care of it.The book is a thriller, so there are plenty of twists, turns, explosions, and deaths at the hands of these fearful micro-automata. And in the end we learn a valuable lesson: stop messing with nature!The book itself was quite entertaining. Crichton was one of those authors with "universal appeal" that actually appeals to me. If you've liked other Crichton books about technology, you'll most likely enjoy this one as well.
    • 5/5
      This is the first book I read by Michael Crichton and it remains one of my favorite reads. Fast paced technological thriller that keeps you on edge until the very end. Despite the fact that it's been shown that the situation in this book is not actually realistic, Crichton builds a solid theoretical situation that feels completely plausible and draws you in.
    • 4/5
      One of Crichtons best I think. The suspense was great and the depth of the field covered is enormous but he explains it all very well as usual. Great read.
    • 4/5
      This book was awesome, very hard to put down, kept me guessing until near the end, the action was always at a good speed. And like with most of his novels, there is a lot of interesting information in there as well. My only complaint was that towards the end, i didnt really care for the direction the story took, felt kind of rushed and went a little too far imo.
    • 3/5
      Definitely one of Crichton's weaker entries. A lot of this novel, especially the ending unfortunately, was predictable. The usual punch in the face that Crichton provides when it comes to issues of science and ethics is also missing. Beyond the obvious Nanotechnology=bad, there's no deeper argument. Readable, but not a must read.
    • 5/5
      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's most 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.