Eruption

4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars | 26,172 ratings

Price: 19.1

Last update: 01-04-2025


About this item

The biggest thriller of the year: A history-making eruption is about to destroy the Big Island of Hawaii. But a secret held for decades by the US military is far more terrifying than any volcano.

“The book is a classic summer beach read...Eruption will revive the art of speed-reading...told with a singular voice that is a compelling amalgam of the two writers.”—USA Today

“Eruption is an epic thriller…fast-paced and deeply considered…a cinematic story rooted in science and infused with plenty of heart, tackling big themes like love and loss.”–Time

The master of the techno-blockbuster joins forces with the master of the modern thriller to create the most anticipated mega bestseller in years.

Michael Crichton, creator of Jurassic Park, ER, Twister, and Westworld, had a passion project he’d been pursuing for years, ahead of his untimely passing in 2008. Knowing how special it was, his wife, Sherri Crichton, held back his notes and the partial manuscript until she found the right author to complete it: James Patterson, the world’s most popular storyteller.

“Red-hot storytelling... The action scenes will make readers’ eyes pop as the tension continues to build."–Kirkus, starred review

“Explosive…the summer’s ultimate literary mashup.”—Washington Post

"Takes readers on a thrilling journey."—BBC

"Beachbag-ready."—Boston Globe

“A seismic publishing event…all the elements of a summer blockbuster…it’s a thrill and the pages practically turn themselves.”—Associated Press

“Eruption is this summer’s literary version of a blockbuster action movie.”–Los Angeles Times

"Breakneck and plausible."—Publishers Weekly


Top reviews from the United States

  • TJ Mobile Audio
    5.0 out of 5 stars Fast-Paced, Entertaining, Okay Science Themes
    Reviewed in the United States on July 21, 2024
    I don't usually have much time for reading due to family & career commitments, but I heard about this book on the radio and thought I would enjoy a good summer read. I wasn't wrong!

    I remember reading Jurassic Park many years ago, and I found the science parts to be dense. The plot was interesting, but the story telling took a lot of time. I haven't re-read it in my adult years, but in my teenage years Crichton's sciencey nerddom really seemed to slow the pace of an otherwise thrilling plot. This is not to say I didn't appreciate his scientific insights or research, but it wasn't the star of the show to me.

    Eruption flips the script on that style. The science is plentiful, but it lurks just below the surface and is believable enough for the pedestrian reader to easily suspend disbelief, but the science elements are never belabored to the point of detracting from the plot.

    Of course, this is not a pure Crichton novel, so the difference in style may reflect Patterson's storytelling style. Nonetheless, the plot elements, the brainy research, even some of the tropes are pure Crichton. I am normally skeptical of a posthumous work being published, but Patterson really dug into this one and did his best to do justice to his predecessor and posthumous collaborator. The only places where the melding of styles felt a bit awkward to me were parts that had been obviously updated since Crichton's death in 2008 - references to social media influencer-types, billionaires with space exploration companies, the 2018 eruption of Kīlauea, and so forth. These were clearly necessary efforts by Patterson to modernize the plot, but they too often leaned into simplistic tropes. I suppose they were only distracting to me because I knew Crichton passed away in 2008, and wouldn't have had a hand in crafting those parts of the story.

    In interviews, both James Patterson and Sherri Crichton were coy about what portion of the book was due credit to Patterson vs. Crichton. I would guess at 60/40, with the larger share being Patterson, but whatever that percentage, it was an enjoyable read.

    The only reason I would ding this book at all was a pair of comments my wife made a few chapters into her reading. She has a PhD in biology and environmental sciences and I trust her insights on these things. A very minor spoiler alert is required before I share these two comments, though I'm keeping the details general and not spelling out how these two details influence the overall plot. Her first comment was that the mechanism of transmission of an herbicide via a virus, which features prominently in the plot, makes no sense from a biological perspective. Her second comment was that while the military or government could screw up a lot of things, there is no way they would store hazardous material near an active volcano.

    That said, if you can suspend disbelief on those two points, you will have a very enjoyable read. I finished the entire book in less than a week, which is unheard of given my usual schedule.
  • B. Laszlo
    4.0 out of 5 stars Chricton's passion project realized as a perfect summer read
    Reviewed in the United States on July 25, 2024
    Michael Chricton was one of my favorite authors and was grieved to learn of his passing years ago. So while skeptical, I was pleasantly surprised when I learned of this project.

    I hadn't read any of Patterson's stuff but given he was working from Chricton's notes and outlines, I figured it was worth a read.

    I'm overjoyed to have had one more chance to experience an original Chricton thriller, complete with the requisite science and his typical archetype characters. The voice is clearly an amalgamation, but effective and faithful to the spirit of Chricton's style.

    The body count was surprisingly high, but once more Chricton shows us the hubris of humankind may well doom us. Some characters seem to exist to be little more than fodder. Relationships are sketched in, barely enough to stir empathy. But the main characters drive the story through its episodes... And it does read as very much tailor-made for a mini series or a movie. It's the definition of a page turner with over 100 chapters, few topping more than a couple of pages.

    Bottom line, an easy read, the science isn't too heavy, it touches all the bases of a summer thriller.
  • ronnie blue eyes
    5.0 out of 5 stars One Hot Beautiful Mess
    Reviewed in the United States on December 4, 2024
    Loved this book! Fast paced, technical but never boring, exciting and scary. A real page turner - Couldn't put it down. Believable story, great characters, timely situation. Would make a terrific movie.
  • Ferd Blivid
    3.0 out of 5 stars An entertaining page-turner: but suspend your disbelief and imagine it's set in an alternate reality
    Reviewed in the United States on July 24, 2024
    When I heard that a “lost manuscript” by Michael Crichton about volcano eruption had been finished into a novel by James Patterson, it was a no-brainer for summer reading. I’m a sucker for a geo-apocalypse story.

    No question, this novel is a page-turner. It’s exciting, and always made me wonder what would come next: it held my attention. The chapters are extremely short- a few pages at a time- making for easier reading. It will certainly make an awesome action-thriller movie. I hear that Spielberg has already signed up for it. The characters are developed well enough without having to make the book too long and, after all, the main character could be argued to be the volcano itself, Mauna Loa. I think I know of, or have met, all the volcanologists portrayed in the book. And by and large, they get Hawaii- the Big Island and its people- satisfactory enough.

    That said… reading this book required a suspension of disbelief that grew to the point of just becoming annoying. I think I know why: the book is set in the near future, but it appears that Crichton finished his writing about 20 years ago, and no one (Patterson? Hello?) managed to update it to be tech-realistic for the mid-2020s. As a result, there are too many plot twists and casual occurrences which felt like glitch-in-the-matrix moments or “WTF?” moments. If it were stated that this book was set in a very slightly alternative universe, I’d have been cool with that.

    As for the depiction of the volcano and the natural world – the atmosphere and ecosystems surrounding it, the science advisor didn’t do their job, in a very basic way. (I’m a professor of earth science and a professional geologist, who is not a volcanologist by specialty, but has dabbled in it, by the way.) There are some real howlers which wouldn’t pass muster with an introductory earth science student. Even if one is willing to suspend disbelief about the known history and eruptive behavior of Mauna Loa to accept the premise that the novel describes events around its biggest and most anomalous eruption ever, ever… and even if you accept the premise that the U.S. military would have done some head-scratchingly incongruous things on the Big Island during the Cold War (that’s the closest I’ll come to a spoiler), well, there are too many glaring misstatements of basic science. I could easily take numerous pages out of the novel and ask students to circle the errors therein on their final exam, the next time I teach freshman-level geoscience. It just became tediously annoying. Hopefully, they can be left out of the movie.

    For a more entertaining, more gripping, more satisfying, and more exciting Crichton update, read The Andromeda Evolution, Daniel H. Wilson’s 2019 update to Crichton's The Andromeda Strain.
  • Kindle Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars Volcano
    Reviewed in the United States on December 24, 2024
    A breathe taking book. Truly an exciting, heart pounding, and scary tale of scarifice, courage, and heraise. But the story also contains deception, lies, and greed. It is a great read.
  • JA Bell
    4.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining
    Reviewed in the United States on December 7, 2024
    Great story from Crichton that Patterson built on. I found it engaging and satisfying. If you are fans of either, I would recommend.

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