State of Fear by:Michael Crichton

The novel State of Fear by Michael Crichton is far from just another normal science fiction themed book. Instead he uses thriller, a key ingredient for capturing the readers mind and enhancing the plot line. The debatable topic of global warming is Michael Crichton’s main theme throughout this novel, tying in science with a recent speculation that is causing controversy within this country. This novel is indeed a fictional novel, except it is involved with many non-fiction ideas and situations.

Peter Evans, a junior associate working in a Los Angeles law firm dealing with environmentalist clients, is the main character within this novel. His dedication to the law firm is not questionable, he is eager to accept any cases related to environmental issues. Peter Evan has George Morton for his main client. George Morton, being a millionaire, donates large sums of cash to organizations dealing with environmental causes. George Morton’s donations are mainly to NERF, or the National Environment Resource Fund. Although NERF has been deeply rooted in environmental needs, Morton comes to assumptions that the NERF are misusing his generous donations.

The ELF, or the Environmental Liberation Front, is an “eco-terrorist group” who are attempting to create natural disasters to prove to the community of the dangers that global warming holds in store for the environment. This group of individuals holds high power since they form a threat to the people. They made it known that they will take down anything as well as anyone in their way of progress and victory in creating their “natural” disasters. The disasters that the ELF is planning to have are scheduled to occur during a conference sponsored by NERF. Hence, Morton stops his contract for giving donations to NERF, and Morton, Evans and Morton’s assistant Sarah try to take the members of the ELF down in their violent ways.

In the resolution of the novel, the ELF forms a finally natural disaster, a tsunami, which is supposed to hit the coastline of California. Luckily for the California residents the tsunami was sabotaged and never grew into a full length tsunami, therefore it never reached to the California coastline. In the process of the tsunami, the ELF members were all killed in the backwash caused by their own tsunami. Peter Evans later quits his job from the law firm and goes to work for Morton in an unnamed organization dealing with environmental activism along with new co-worker Sarah. Morton knows his time left alive is limited since he is dealing with collapsed lungs, but he hopes that his new friends Peter Evans and Sarah will be a dedicated member and take over this new unnamed organization one day after his mortality.

This novel is a techno-thriller themed book, but science wise it deals mainly with environmental science. This novel is fiction, therefore the science background and information within it is true but only to an extent. He uses information from 2004 and before to prove his science hypothesis within this novel. Except with science related novels, controversies are bound to be presented. In this novel in particular, many scientist whose research was being used thought Michael Crichton added it into the story poorly, misusing the actual results they received. This novel is a good choice to read if environmental science and thriller are key ingredients in capturing your attention, book wise.

With this novel being labeled as a fiction, the scenarios that take place are far fetched and unlikely to become real life worries. There are in fact some ideas that could become reality if things continue the way they are. Global warming wise, our community can become in jeopardy like how the ELF’s were trying to show. Only, the way the ELF went about warning the people of its actions are very unlikely of coming true. Unless you believe that eco-terrorist will form an organization and use science to create natural disasters to show the countries’ population that global warming is something to be frightful of, I do not believe we should be in danger of this story’s plot line coming true.

Although the plot of this novel is unlikely of coming true, if it were somehow to become reality, our society will be affected negatively. This story uses the over dramatic science-themed concepts to add drama and suspense to the readers. Therefore if it were to become real the mortality rates in our society will increase just as it did within the novel. Also, it would put our society in danger of terrorist threats and deathly actions, something we are currently not capable of handling since we have our plates full with several wars currently in progress. This is a problem that the book did not involve, making our society go through a larger dilemma if the plot were to become real.

In conclusion, the novel State of Fear by Michael Crichton relates to environmental science and scientist discoveries to add emphasis on his fictional novel. This novel deals with the overall topic of global warming and the effects it can have on ones’ country. The chances of it becoming true one day is slim to none, and if by chance it were to become reality our country would not be in good shape. This novel shows a look into our future and some possibilities as to where we will end up if we do not start to take care of our planet now. Not only does this novel thrive on a thriller theme, but the amount of science one can learn from reading it is extraordinary.