Eruption by Michael Crichton and James Patterson

I have to admit that I was a little apprehensive going into this story knowing how long it has been that Crichton passed away. But I needn’t have worried. The story is reminiscent of his other thrillers, which are based on solid scientific research. From the author’s wife’s afterword, we find out that this project was years in the making and most of it had been completed at the time of his passing. She waited until the right writer showed up to help finish it, and Patterson was that someone.

The story takes place in Hawaii, which has its history of volcanic activity. We follow Dr John MacGregor and his team of volcanologists as they try to predict how Mauna Loa, the world’s largest active volcano, will erupt. And erupt it will. To raise the stakes, we find that an underground bunker with enough poison to kill off every living thing on the planet is at risk of being released by the lava flow, and the military is there to control Mother Nature. Good luck with that.

I have always been a huge fan of Crichton, but not so much Patterson. I wish he had lived long enough to finish this story himself. It’s still a good read, but he put so much more into his work that the end result gave us. Not to say this story is not good. It is very exciting, with all the suspense and danger anyone would want, but you can tell the difference in the writing.