The Andromeda Strain, by Michael Crichton

Yep, still no picture because I read this book in one day, and am therefore still in Prague with the still not so good internet connection. However, if the fact that I read this book in a day (less than 24 hours actually) isn't enough to tell you how amazing it was, let me tell you, it was absolutely amazing! I have never read Michael Crichton before, but of course I have heard about him and seen his endless array of books at multiple book stores. I am so glad that this book was on this list - I NEVER would have thought to read it otherwise.

It starts with government officials looking for a satellite that they had sent out to space. It has landed in the small town of Piedmont, Arizona. Unfortunately, they are sure that the locals have already located the satellite and it is in one of the many homes in the city. And so, as they enter the main street, they encounter an amazingly odd thing. The street is full of people who are dead, just dead. There is no blood or anything. These two officials die almost immediately after entering the city.

The reason the satellite was sent out to space in the first place is because the government is afraid of the possibility that aliens could attack us with biological warfare. They could send a virus into the earth that we as humans are completely unexposed to and it would wipe us out near immediately. The satellite was supposed to collect extra-terrestrial viruses so we could study them and prevent this. (Un?)Fortunately, this satellite was successful. The citizens of Piedmont took it to the doctor when they found it, and he opened it, allowing the virus to spread throughout the city, killing the entire town almost instantly.

Well, the entire town but two people, an old man who suffers from multiple ailments and a young infant you has a clean bill of health. When the government began sending satellites into space for this purpose, they collected a group of 5 scientists who, if they found a virus, would be locked away in a completely sterile facility in order to study the virus. They would try to prevent any illness, if possible, or cure illness, if it had already infected anyone. Unfortunately, the citizens of Piedmont were incurable. If the virus didn't kill them, it got into their brain and caused them to go crazy and kill themselves.

Now these five scientists, members of Project Wildfire, are in this sterile environment. The virus is to be contained in boxes, the scientists using those cool glovey-thingies to study it, along with a wide array of instruments and computers. Along with them, the old man and the infant who survived the virus. They have no idea how this spreads, or how long it would take to spread beyond the city limits of Piedmont. If there is a malfunction, they could instantly die. If the disease spreads, others will instantly die. Will Project Wildfire save the nation, the world? Read it - really, read it - and find out!

There are many things I like that Mr. Crichton does in this book, besides the amazing plot. He has obviously done immense amounts of research. He has illustrations and facts and numbers that I don't understand for the life of me, but definitely make you feel like you are right there, locked underground, trying to solve this case for yourself.

This book easily earns FIVE OUT OF FIVE STARS! Remember, this is purely personal opinion. I'm sure some super smart scientist could read this and find a number of problems and malfunctions, but for someone like me it was exciting, realistic, and suspenseful. I highly suggest everyone reads this!

Reading Next:: The Adventures of Augie March, by Saul Bellow

And Then There Were None, by Agatha Christie

I have read this book twice already. Once was in my 7th grade PACE class, where we spent an entire semester focussing solely on this book. Basically, I feel like I knew it inside and out by the end of the books. I read it again in my Honors Humanities class my freshman year in college. To be honest, I was surprised how little I remembered. Of course, I remembered the plot and everything, but this book has such a diverse amount of characters that I couldn't remember who died when. Of course -mentioning death isn't a spoiler for this book, it is Agatha Christie after all! This book was interesting and a definite page turner, but also has many characters that are introduced all at once. Because of this, I suggest you dogear when you're introduced to everyone so you can easily flip back and review who they are, just in case.

This book was originally called Ten Little Indians (the title was changed because it is a 'racial slur'). The whole book revolves around a poem/song called Ten Little Indian (Boys) - you will also want to dogear the page with the poem on it. I love this because it makes you feel that you have a sense of knowledge of what will happen, and yet each murder is still a shock. Well. I don't want to give away too much of the book, especially with this being a murder mystery. However, this book did leave me wondering at the end. I still wasn't totally sure what happened, who had planned it, etc. This sense of mystery is what some people love at the end... but I am not one of those people. I prefer finalization and closure.

All in all I give this book 4 OUT OF 5 STARS! Enjoyable, easy to keep up on, but the hanging ending and the occasional confusion makes it rank lower in my book

Still reading:: The Old Men at the Zoo by Angus Wilson