Before The Andromeda Strain and Jurassic Park, etc., Michael Crichton wrote several novels using various pseudonyms. ZERO COOL is Michael Crichton's fifth published novel. It was released in 1969 under the pseudonym of John Lange, and later re-released in 2008 as part of the Hard Case Crime series. For this release, Crichton wrote short new framing chapters, in addition to doing an overall revision of the text.
The protagonist in the novel is Peter Ross, an American radiologist who goes to Spain for a vacation and to do a presentation. He meets a beautiful young woman on a Spanish beach and then finds himself in the midst of a struggle by several gangs who are seeking a precious Mexican artifact. Ross is forced to do an autopsy where the artifact is sewn into the corpse's chest cavity. Then he is enmeshed in trying to find the body when it is snatched.
Overall, this one was pretty ridiculous and could have been the plot from a pulp novel from the 30's what with ancient artifacts, rival gangs, including a mad dwarf, falconry, and hard-to-kill villains! It was somewhat fun to read but don't expect anything like the novels Crichton was famous for.
The protagonist in the novel is Peter Ross, an American radiologist who goes to Spain for a vacation and to do a presentation. He meets a beautiful young woman on a Spanish beach and then finds himself in the midst of a struggle by several gangs who are seeking a precious Mexican artifact. Ross is forced to do an autopsy where the artifact is sewn into the corpse's chest cavity. Then he is enmeshed in trying to find the body when it is snatched.
Overall, this one was pretty ridiculous and could have been the plot from a pulp novel from the 30's what with ancient artifacts, rival gangs, including a mad dwarf, falconry, and hard-to-kill villains! It was somewhat fun to read but don't expect anything like the novels Crichton was famous for.
