Eruption

Crichton's wife said that he was "far enough along that I was left with a cliffhanger that was completely unexpected" and so she wanted the book to be finished and knew she needed another author to finish it. She was a fan of James Patterson and knew that he had what the book needed--that "page turning, and attention to character" and she felt "why would I go anywhere but 'big.'" She needed two great minds collaborating together to get the book finished.

Patterson says he's been a big Crichton fan forever, that he'd read all of his novels.  He says that this book is the kind of book you don't always get...the kind where you want to keep reading, but you don't want it to end.

I got it for my kindle the day it was released.  It's 429 pages and I read it in a day and a half.  It is definitely a page-turner, though there are parts that are so esoteric, with scientific information about the volcano that I kind of skipped over them because I couldn't follow.  I am assuming those parts were written by Crichton, since Patterson says he doesn't have much technical knowledge.

There is a once in a lifetime volcanic eruption that is about to destroy the big island of Hawaii.  It's fascinating reading how they know the eruption is coming, how they know how big it's going to be, and how they can try to do things to save the town of Hilo.  

The first couple of chapters, the saving of a couple of people in a helicopter, will definitely want to make you continue reading.

But in addition to the danger of the eruption destroying the island, there is also a secret that the military has been keeping, that could destroy not only the island, but the whole world if it were to be released by the volcano.

Crichton is good at technical stuff, Patterson is good at human interactions and putting the two of them together made a book that I could not put down.  Recommended highly.