State of Fear

Another wonderful novel by Crichton. It has all the ingredients right
- controversy, action, colourful characters, thought-provoking dialogues.

The story is talks about a current state of public where everyone knows that
the world is changing drastically due to global warming and other environmental
issues. And the people spreading these information are the environmental groups
and media.

The problem is that not all the information is accurate and true, and a particular
group NERF, had been distorting/cherry-picked information to fuel these emotions in order to get the funds that they need. And in order justify their stand, the group is prepared to
create a "state of fear" in the public, ready to carry plans of such dire consequences
that one would never thought possible.

Meanwhile, a group of guys (and gals) are going to stop all these plans by NERF.
What follows is a series of chases, where the main characters often encountered
life-threatening dangers, attacked by people they do not know.

The novel set me thinking about issues that I thought I knew.
Increase in emission of carbon dioxide, increase in global temperature, melting of glaziers.
Is it really happening? If so, by how much?

There is a lot of references to scientific journals in the book,
so I believe the author knew what he is talking about.
I still think it is important to protect the environment as ultimately the book is still fiction.
However it is likely I will view reports from the media in another perspective,
afterall these reports is just what people want you to see and as for how
much truth is there in each report, nobody knows.

I like the characters in the book. Each have their own personality and had stood out differently. Evan, particularly, reminds me of Chris from Timeline. From someone who is a little bit of a whiner, slowlys changes into one who can be counted on. I love such development in character. One thing that I thought the author missed out, I'm not sure intentionally anot, is what happened to the evil organisation in the end. I would rather they die.