Congo is a 1980 science fiction novel by Michael Crichton. The novel centres on an expedition searching for diamonds and inspecting the mysterious deaths of the previous expedition in the dense rain forest of Congo. Crichton calls Congo a Lost World novel in the tradition founded by Henry Rider Haggard's King Solomon's Mines, featuring the mines of that work's title.
A Little Of The Plot:
The novel starts with an abrupt end to an expedition sent by Earth Resource Technology Services Inc. in the dense rain forests of Congo when the team is attacked and killed by an unknown foe and all contact with them is lost. The expedition, searching for deposits of valuable diamonds in the world, discovered the legendary lost city of Zinj. A video image taken by a camera there, and transmitted by satellite to the base station in Houston, shows a peculiar race of gorillas to be responsible for the murders. Those gorillas are different from normal gorillas in their appearance and odd life styles. They are grey and rather small, and they seem to communicate via wheezing sounds.
Another expedition, led by Karen Ross, is launched to find out the truth and to find the city of Zinj, and the deposits of the new type of diamond that would change the shape of technology and the world as we know it: these diamonds are blue-coloured due to boron doping, which also gives them unique semiconductor-like capabilities. This time the searchers bring along the famous White African mercenary Munro, as well as a female gorilla named Amy, who has been trained to communicate with humans using sign language, and her trainer Peter Elliot. Time is of the greatest essence, as a rival consortium of Japan, Germany, and Holland has also set off into the jungle after the diamonds, turning the entire expedition into a race to the city of Zinj. Unfortunately for Ross and her team, the American expedition encounters many delays along the way, including plane crashes, native civil wars, and jungle predators.
Now do not get me wrong here, I am not saying this this is not worth the read, far from it. I found this to be a very good read indeed. Having said that, I never found myself sitting on the edge of my seat. Sometimes, due to his knowledge, he can ramble a little. Too much detail of electronic Wizardry and every now and then would repeat himself, this last little annoyance I put down to the editors. One thing that does upset me is know too much of the ending midway though. Come on people keep us guessing until the very end please.
Congo
A good read but not his best. I do believe that the film was better (12 March 2010).
