Crichton's first novel, from 1968, shows promise but is a tangle of too many characters, late surprise revelations that really don't have anything to do with the main plot thread, and an up-in-the-air ending with the protagonist, after 400+ pages of dogged investigation, seeming to just walk away from the final reveal.
Essentially, it's the story of a doctor who is falsely accused of performing an illegal abortion that results in the death of a young woman from a prominent family. The protagonist, a friend of the accused, sets out to determine what really happened, and uncovers a coiling nest of prominent people with dirty secrets. It's not a bad story, but it's certainly the first novel I've ever read with footnotes. Somebody apparently thought it would be a good idea to footnote virtually every medical term used in the text â a disruptive and largely unnecessary step.
It's a compelling read until the last quarter of the book, when the cast of characters reaches critical mass and the reader really has trouble remembering who was what and how they all tie together.
Essentially, it's the story of a doctor who is falsely accused of performing an illegal abortion that results in the death of a young woman from a prominent family. The protagonist, a friend of the accused, sets out to determine what really happened, and uncovers a coiling nest of prominent people with dirty secrets. It's not a bad story, but it's certainly the first novel I've ever read with footnotes. Somebody apparently thought it would be a good idea to footnote virtually every medical term used in the text â a disruptive and largely unnecessary step.
It's a compelling read until the last quarter of the book, when the cast of characters reaches critical mass and the reader really has trouble remembering who was what and how they all tie together.
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