The Terminal Man (Michael Crichton)

Title: The Terminal Man

Author: Michael Crichton

Released: 1972

Rating: 3.5/5

Basic Plot: Harry Benson goes to get an experimental procedure to stop him having seizures.
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Too Predictable
One of my main problems I had with this book wasn't that it was published back in 1972. It was the fact that this book was way too predictable. I'm not talking about one person knowing that the operation will be a failure and the operation being performed anyway. It might be cliche but that's really a way for the book to get going. I don't want to read a novel about a successful operation. Bad shit has to go down or else there is no point in reading. Conflict is a must in fiction. However, you can easily tell where Benson will run to after the operation and then where he is hiding near the end of the book. The level of knowing what is going to happen is just disappointing. Especially since Crichton can do so much better than that.

So Many Missed Opportunities
During the course of the novel there seemed to be clues that something bigger is going on. That Benson having the operation isn't just something that happened but had actually been planned for awhile. So I kept waiting for the bigger picture to finally be revealed and to be amazed. Sadly this didn't happen. I could forgive some of the predictability if there was something deeper going on. But, nope, it is only what it appeared to be on the surface and nothing else.

Mind Control: What Is It
Despite all its faults, this novel has a pretty good discussion about mind control. Now I think, from what other people have said, is that this book advocates not going forward in the mind control department. I, however, took one points of the book to be about our upbringing being a form of mind control. Society and our parents try to mold us into what is the status quo of the time. Our schooling is furthering that end goal as we have to interact with other people (never mind the curriculum). The juxtaposition of that kind of mind control with the operation performed on Benson are the best parts of the novel.

Final Thoughts
I think the reason I don't like this book that much is because I know Michael Crichton can write so much better. I am aware that this was written in a different time but I've read both The Andromeda Strain (1969) and A Case of Need (1968) and enjoyed both immensely. Never mind Westworld (1973) is a movie I have loved both times I have watched it (possibly even three times). So it isn't just that the times were different. If you are looking for your first Crichton book to read, don't read this one (or Pirate Latitudes).