Congo - Hardcover

MICHAEL CRICHTON

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0712676201 ISBN 13: 9780712676205

Publisher: CENTURY, 1995

Synopsis

Deep in the African rain forest, near the legendary ruins of the Lost City of Zinj, an expedition of eight American geologists are mysteriously and brutally killed in a matter of minutes.

Ten thousand miles away, Karen Ross, the Congo Project Supervisor, watches a gruesome video transmission of the aftermath: a camp destroyed, tents crushed and torn, equipment scattered in the mud alongside dead bodies—all motionless except for one moving image—a grainy, dark, man-shaped blur.

In San Francisco, primatologist Peter Elliot works with Amy, a gorilla with an extraordinary vocabulary of 620 “signs,” the most ever learned by a primate, and she likes to finger paint. But recently her behavior has been erratic and her drawings match, with stunning accuracy, the brittle pages of a Portuguese print dating back to 1642...a drawing of an ancient lost city. A new expedition—along with Amy—is sent into the Congo, where they enter a secret world, and the only way out may be through a horrifying death....

Congo was made into a film directed by Frank Marshall.

About this title

Review:

If you saw the 1995 film adaptation of this Crichton thriller, somebody owes you an apology. While you're waiting for that to happen, try reading the vastly more intelligent novel on which the movie was based. The broad lines of the plot remain the same: A research team deep in the jungle disappears after a mysterious and grisly gorilla attack. A subsequent team, including a sign-language-speaking simian named Amy, follows the original team's tracks only to be subjected to more mysterious and grisly gorilla attacks. If you can look past the breathless treatment of '80s technology, like voice-recognition software and 256K RAM modules (the book was written in 1980), you'll find the same smart use of science and edge-of-your-seat suspense shared by Crichton's other work. --Paul Hughes

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From Michael Crichton, bestselling author of Jurassic Park and The Lost World and creator of the television series ER, comes a fantastic tale deep in the heart of the Congo.

An eight-person field expedition dies mysteriously and brutally in a matter of minutes . . . a gruesome video transmission of that ill-fated teams reveals a grainy, moving image of a dark, blurred shape . . .

In San Francisco, primatologist Peter Elliot works with Amy, a gorilla with a 620 "sign" vocabulary and a fondness for finger painting.  her recent drawing matches, with stunning accuracy, the frayed, brittle pages of a Portuguese print painting dating back to 1642 - a drawing of an ancient lost city.  Immediately, a new expedition is sent into the Congo, descending into a secret world where the only way out may be through the grisliest death . . .

About this edition

• Publisher: CENTURY
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 0712676201
• ISBN 13: 9780712676205
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 584