Arah-Lynda's Reviews > State of Fear

3.5 stars

I can’t believe that I am sitting here thinking about this review while Hurricane Sandy’s imminence is being trumpeted just outside my door.

Makes you think…..

The story itself is about global warming. It’s a cautionary tale really. On the one hand you have some radical environmentalists/ scientists who are not above manipulating the environment in order to support their fund raising goals. I mean people will dig deeper into their pockets if they have been personally impacted by global warming, right.

Attempting at every turn to stay ahead of these ecological terrorists is a filthy rich, environmental philanthropist, his lawyer and Kenner, a professor of geo-environmental engineering at MIT and secret agent for an unnamed national security organization.

And the chase is on; as we follow these groups around the world from the glaciers of Iceland and volcanoes of Antarctica, through the streets of Paris to a remote Pacific island crawling with cannibals.

As I read this story I really thought that it was Crichton’s voice I heard whenever Kenner was speaking, which he does a lot, while sharing his own views on global warming. It can get a little preachy, but for me the story was solid enough to get past that.

There is a chilling taste like people scene that quite effectively raised the hackles on the back of my neck.

A cogent theme throughout is the role of politics and fund raising in shaping scientific research.

Extremely well researched and hey I enjoyed it.