The United States government is given a warning by the pre-eminent biophysicists in the country: current sterilization procedures applied to returning space probes may be inadequate to guarantee uncontaminated re-entry to the atmosphere.
Two years later, seventeen satellites are sent into the outer fringes of space to collect organisms and dust for study. One of them falls to earth, landing in a desolate area of Arizona.
Twelve miles from the landing site, in the town of Piedmont, a shocking discovery is made: the streets are littered with the dead bodies of the town's inhabitants, as if they dropped dead in their tracks.
The United States government is given a warning by the pre-eminent biophysicists in the country: current sterilization procedures applied to returning space probes may be inadequate to guarantee uncontaminated re-entry to the atmosphere.
Two years later, seventeen satellites are sent into the outer fringes of space to collect organisms and dust for study. One of them falls to earth, landing in a desolate area of Arizona.
Twelve miles from the landing site, in the town of Piedmont, a shocking discovery is made: the streets are littered with the dead bodies of the town's inhabitants, as if they dropped dead in their tracks.
"Andromeda" non è un libro per tutti, visti molti risvolti tecnici (a cui siamo diventati abituati con la pandemia), ma è un thriller con i fiocchi.
Ormai sono passati quasi vent'anni da quando ho letto gli altri libri di Crichton, ma questo non ha fatto altro che ricordarmi quanto l'autore sia bravo a far crescere la suspense da un capitolo all'altro.
Il finale l'ho trovato un pochino... diverso dal resto del testo, ma da pseudo-scrittore-in-erba l'ho trovata una soluzione piuttosto comoda.
Very much hard SF; Chrichton listed the various papers and journals he quoted from in the reference section. This was the first novel published under his own name, and according to the author was inspired by [b:The Ipcress File|171624|The Ipcress File (Secret File, #1)|Len Deighton|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1295903974l/171624.SY75.jpg|2155765]. I finished this while home sick from work.
The main characters are scientists, and make very human mistakes. It was refreshing to see them struggle to figure out the problem. What they think combined with the additional things we know make for very effective tension - the world may end in pandemic at any moment. Quite believable, especially in current circumstances.
Many novels from 50 years ago with a scientific focus can feel dated. This one doesn't (though the 1971 movie will probably feel so). The combination of jargon and suspense make for great tension, but the info dumps here are a bit …
Very much hard SF; Chrichton listed the various papers and journals he quoted from in the reference section. This was the first novel published under his own name, and according to the author was inspired by [b:The Ipcress File|171624|The Ipcress File (Secret File, #1)|Len Deighton|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1295903974l/171624.SY75.jpg|2155765]. I finished this while home sick from work.
The main characters are scientists, and make very human mistakes. It was refreshing to see them struggle to figure out the problem. What they think combined with the additional things we know make for very effective tension - the world may end in pandemic at any moment. Quite believable, especially in current circumstances.
Many novels from 50 years ago with a scientific focus can feel dated. This one doesn't (though the 1971 movie will probably feel so). The combination of jargon and suspense make for great tension, but the info dumps here are a bit overwhelming. The author refined this technique in later novels, with [b:Jurassic Park|40604658|Jurassic Park (Jurassic Park, #1)|Michael Crichton|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1529604411l/40604658.SY75.jpg|3376836] as an excellent example of success. The ending also felt quite sudden.
This 50th anniversary edition also has a plug for Daniel H Wilson's sequel, [b:The Andromeda Evolution|44148860|The Andromeda Evolution (Andromeda #2)|Daniel H. Wilson|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1551326815l/44148860.SY75.jpg|68660248]. I do enjoy him as an author, and will probably read this in the near future. I also want to re-watch the original film, and perhaps the 2008 miniseries as well.
