This is my second John Lange novel, and it was much better than the first one I read. Since I discovered that Michael Crichton, one of my favorite authors, used the pseudonym Lange to write several novels early in his career I've been dying to read them all.This has the makings of a great Crichton novel but he wasn't quite there yet. His writing isn't polished, his characters aren't fleshed out, and the book is incredibly short. However there were glimpses of the writer he would become, and I still thought it was a fun read.I hope I can track down more of these! I think a lot of them are being republished now, which is good since most of them are out of print and hard to find. John Lange was Michael Crichton's pen name for this book. Binary is a nifty little what I would loosely call a thriller/suspense, others may have a more appropriate term.The plot is good - genius crazy person hatches a plot involving some lethal bio-warfare, explosives and radioactives - and genius good guy strives to unravel the puzzle before the president, a political national convention and 1 million San Diegoans are killed.It is not Crichton's best work IMHO, but given the publication year in relation to his writing career, it is not surprising. However, the underpinnings of what Crichton's writing style eventually evolves in to are there. I only rated it three stars but it was not a bad read.
What do You think about Codice Beta (1972)?
A fun, light read. Not near the depth of his later novels but enjoyable nonetheless.
—Knotachinagirl
