One of my favorite Crichton novels, blending suspense, emotion, and wonder with a pervading miasma of dread hanging over everything. The Sphere, the mystery of it, is merely the catalyst around which Crichton has penned this excellent character study. It's about what people can do when they're taken to their limits. It's about how people handle stress and how they can rise to the occasion, or break beneath the strain. But that's not what the story is truly about. The answers for the story are found if you read carefully. Cricton goes a great job setting up the mystery and how it affects the characters. And that's before things start going weird. The unknown lurks around them, affecting them all as they struggle to understand just what they have discovered. It's told from the psychologist point of view and it delves into many aspects of emotional reactions and Jungian's theory of the shadow self. Can Norman keep the group functional when the discover the Sphere lurking in the heart of the craft? Crichton's Sphere is an interesting take on the first contact with aliens story. Staying in cramped quarters, surrounded by the crushing depths of the sea where a small mistake could get them all killed, the pressures are incredible.
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A team of scientists, recommended by Norman, and a group of navy personal are tasked with uncovering what is and, if anything is alive, how to communicate with it. A craft that has been down there for at least 300 years. A thousand feet beneath the ocean, something has been found. Now, he is about to put his hypothesis to the test. He said abject terror would be the result when humans were confronted with the unknown.
Once upon a time, a younger Norman, desperate for grant money, wrote a report for the government about how to handle first contact with alien intelligence. It turns out to be something far stranger. So when he's escorted by the US Navy out to the South Pacific he assumes a plane has crashed into the ocean. He is often called out by the FAA to help survivors of plane crashes and their families deal with the aftermath. Norman Johnson is a psychologist specialized in how stress affects group dynamics. I wonder what a good Screenplay and Director could do with it.Īn exciting thriller at the bottom of the sea! This is an excellent presentation of a Four-Star story. I never saw the film treatment of this story, but need to check it out. In this case, his tone fits the characters perfectly - an excellent choice. Anyone who has listened to Brick before knows he can come across as smarmy with his almost arrogant drawl. Scott Brick turns in a great performance in this one. Second, populating the scenario with a bunch of self-serving jerks and egomaniacs diminishes somewhat the tension Crichton is so obviously striving for - I found myself not caring what happens to them. healthy human beings don't behave that way). First, these robotically flawed characters make for unrealistic dialogue (I found myself wondering at times if Crichton's characters - purportedly world-class scientists - were even rational. The most noticeable flaw in the writing is how unlikable the characters are.
The setting is unique (2000 ft under the surface), the descriptions are vivid, and the twists and turns are engrossing. It shifts from a typical science fiction story with action elements into a psychological battle of wits and a metaphysical exploration that is fascinating. at personality conflicts - human and otherwise. Using this plot device, Crichton weaves a surprisingly involved tale looking. The plot follows a team of scientists rushed to the South Pacific to investigate an anomalous object found on the sea floor by a crew laying trans-Pacific cable. It has the signature combination of Science and Action his writing is known for - without the overly technical components of the story that this author frequently allows to overwhelm his narrative. This is one of Crichton's better thrillers.
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