Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton

Since I obviously don’t read enough, I joined a third bookgroup, Inner Worlds! This is a sci-fi/fantasy bookgroup and I’m terribly excited and a little nervous. Will I be smart enough to keep up? These are math/science/computer people, plus one librarian I happen to know! So, I joined the group because one of my friends is a member and I saw on Facebook that they would be talking about the latest book in one of my favorite series, A Feast for Crows from the A Song of Ice and Fire saga. I had a good time and decided to stick around and see what else I could read. This month’s book was Michael Crichton’s Andromeda Strain, a book I’ve heard about plenty during my library career but always assumed was over my head. SO WRONG! I’ve read similar storylines, most memorably Tess Gerritsen’s Gravity, and have loved them all. This was no exception.

So, there are little low orbit satellites around the earth that are sent up to take samples of the atmosphere then brought back down for study. A team heads out to pick up the most recently returned satellite, which fell a bit off target. The town is silent, dark, and otherworldly still. As the van gets farther in to town, the bodies start appearing. Just as they start to believe the whole town is dead, a lone figure staggers into view. Not long after this, both members of the team are dead and a series of medical and scientific experts are assembled to find answers.

I read this book in one day and am now heartily suggesting it to everyone who comes to the desk looking for a good book. There was only a scant handful of times when the fact that this book was published in 1969 became apparent, mainly when they talked about the new and superefficient new thingamabob, the computer, that now made all these scientific tests so fast and efficient. That, and no references whatsoever to cell phones, emails, PDAs, etc. Good fiction stands the test of time, and this is great fiction!