Easy Go

One of Crichton us best. Great character and plot development in true Crichton style. Lots of action and plot twists. I loved the ending. Its hard to imagine he had time and energy to produce his masterpieces while also attending Harvard medical school. I'm so sorry he's gone, but happy he left us his creativity. Well done, and RIP, Michael. Well done!

This was a really good read. It definitely has the Crichton touch, and hints of the writing that made him famous. The story was compelling and I very much looked forward to picking it up again whenever I had to lay it down. The only downside IMO is the ending... rather abrupt and not very satisfying. Still, I'm glad I read it and recommend it to Crichton fans.

This is an adventure novel at its purest, and on that level it works. It's not the painstakingly researched and plotted stories we're used to from Michael Crichton which is probably why he never released it under his own name in his lifetime.

(SPOILERS) There's plenty of action, and who doesn't like the idea of amateurs looking for an Egyptian pharoah's unopened, untouched tomb? They have to figure out some cryptic ancient puzzles, outwit the authorities, and put in some hard labor. They don't find it immediately and Crichton does a good job of making you sure they're going to give up, that perhaps the tomb doesn't exist at all. When they finally find it I was ready to cheer. They aren't free and clear, however, the tomb itself has some surprises for them and the authorities aren't as clueless as they think.

There were some problems with this book. Loose strings that never get tied up, a pretty lame romance, stereotypical characters. Still, it's so hard to find a good adventure novel these days that I'd have forgiven that and just enjoyed the ride, and those Egyptian nights of adventure amidst eons of buried human history, except for the one huge problem this book has.

We are given zero explanation, no back-story motivation for why the main character is so determined to plunder this tomb. Nothing gets in his way, he's willing to give up his time, his energy, the love of his life, even his very life--whatever it takes to rob a tomb. This got more and more irritating as the story progressed. When he's first approached to take on the job he laughs really hard. I thought that meant he saw some terrific irony in it that would tie into something big in his background. But his laughter is never explained and there is no backstory that tells us why he's so obsessed. He just...is. The lack of motivation undermined the whole story for me, so I'm not able to star it as highly as I would have liked.

It's still crackling good adventure, though, if you can overlook this glaring deficiency.

I wanted desperately to give this book 4 or 5 stars. I agonized giving it a 3--it is a Michael Crichton book, after all! It was written in his formative years, a sure sign of the greatness to come. The plot was interesting. Pierce was a great character, especially when I thought this was going to be a book about Barnaby the archaeologist , since it was Barnaby we met in the beginning. But Pierce was the star, the idea man. Much of the dialogue was good. The banter from Conway and Nikos was often funny and engaging.

The Lisa/Pierce story became more filler than anything else. Crichton's attempt at romance was more than lackluster.

Someone commented that the ending seemed as if it had been written by a completely different person. In my mind, it was written in a rush. After all the build-up--I was left wondering what the heck had just happened. It was one of the most unsatisfying endings I've ever read, which is so sad. This was not a Michael Crichton ending. It was just an 'I'm bored. Let's end this now and get it over" ending. I wanted to so much more.

Michael Crichton was a fabulous writer. Jurassic Park is one of the best books I've ever read. It's sad he left us way too soon when, I'm sure, he had so many more wonderful stories to tell. I have to wonder if years after he wrote "Easy Go" he wished he could go back and edit out its faults and make it shine.