I’m halfway through Crichton’s 2006 genetics saga Next. Slogged all the way to chapter 35 of 94. I hate to say it, but I’m bored out of my skull. I ran into the same issue with his last book, State of Fear. The question is this- Should a fellow spend perfectly good heartbeats in finishing the book, or move on to a better read? Ahh, I’m moving on.
Next reads like a made-for-TV drama. Thin character development and short chapters are ideal for the 12-minutes-of-ads-per-half-hour-of-programming world of television. Between chapters I fully expect to see a testimonial about erectile dysfunction or a teaser for a NASCAR race pageant. The chapters are so short and the narrative jumps around so much that it becomes difficult to keep track of what each character is doing. It is attention deficit narrative- ADN.
Crichton has become a TV writer and to expect anything different seems unrealistic. I’m sure it’s a good living. Hmmm, I wonder if he is on strike…?
I keep hoping for another Andromeda Strain and we keep getting ER.
Lamentations on Chemistry 
Good luck. I found only two threads in the novel interesting – the gene patent story & the talking parrot with human genes – both spread all through the story.
Read it as a badly organized story collection rather than a novel – with each story spread all over – and may be it will begin making sense.
Mikey’s been losing it for years. Obviously global warming has effected his thought stream. He pioneered a formulaic way of writing science dramas (only exceeded by Stephan King in its shear redundancy of form- although ‘the four seasons’ is a breed apart). Seen Mikey interviewed and he takes his opinions way too seriously. He fails to understand he is a fiction writer, not a scientist.
My wife read this for a class a year or so ago. She had to buy it new.
Maybe MC has been too long out of the lab/ER and has forgotten logic. It isn’t really applicable to his job, after all.
I have a copy that someone is welcome to have. It’s flaming orange. Should be visible inside the dumpster.