On the scale of excitement, this was not Jurassic Park. Not even close. This was a very interesting plot if you're into science and nerdy laboratory scenes, but if you're looking for a page-turner, this probably isn't the book for you. The writing is very dry, and it was pure curiosity that kept me reading. Even at the end, I'm still not entirely sure what was going on. Crichton writes this as if you are already in the know, so you are left guessing the reason there is an entire town left dead from an instant blow. Was it contamination from a returning space probe? Highly-infectious bacteria? Or aliens? Who's to be sure? I'm marking it down a point because there were some very unpleasant animal testing scenes that were described in the book, and boo to animal testing.