The Lost World - Michael Crichton
Like Arthur Conan Doyle's novel of the same name, Crichton's novel concerns an expedition to an isolated Central American location where dinosaurs roam - though in this case, the dinosaurs were recreated by genetic engineering, rather than surviving from antiquity.
Plot Summary
Four years after the disaster on Jurassic Park, eccentric mathematician Ian Malcolm (it is revealed early on that he was so close to death at the end of first book that he was mistakenly pronouced dead several times) and spoiled, rich paleontologist genius Richard Levine are researching InGen's mysterious Site B, and its exact location, after learning of its existence. Site B, an island named Isla Sorna, was the secret "production factory" for Jurassic Park, where dinosaur stock were hatched and grown, before shipment to Isla Nublar. Levine mysteriously disappears, and Malcolm fears he might have discovered the location of Site B, and in his impatience already set out for it without letting Malcolm know. Custom field vehicle creator Doc Thorne and his employee Eddie Carr, who provided much of Levine's equipment, deduce the location of Site B, with the assistance of Malcolm and two schoolchildren who assisted Levine, computer whiz R.B. "Arby" Benton and his friend Kelly Curtis. They organize a rescue operation and take with them two highly customized RVs, modified for scientific purposes, as well as a solar powered Ford Explorer, a motorcycle, and an observation platform called a 'high hide'. Stowed away with them as they leave are Arby and Kelly, who plan to rescue Levine as well.
At the same time, Lewis Dodgson, a geneticist at Biosyn – InGen's arch rival – and his two colleagues Howard King and George Baselton head to Isla Sorna, hoping to steal dinosaur eggs for their own company (it should be noted that Dodgson conspired with the character Dennis Nedry to steal dinosaur embryos from InGen in the first book). Sarah Harding, a wildlife observer who had a previous relationship with Malcolm, accompanies them on the trip to the island. Dodgson throws Sarah overboard from their ship, thinking she will drown, and continues with his plan. Lewis Dodgson, Howard King, and George Baselton proceed to steal dino eggs. Once they come upon the T-rex nest King and Baselton are hesitant. Dodgson forces them to go on with the plan. Dodgson uses a black box which emmittes a high pitch sound to fend off the two adult T-rexes. When trying to steal some eggs King steps on a baby T-rex's leg and breaks it. Baselton is too scared to enter the Rex nest take an egg, so Dodgson attempts to grab an egg while holding the black box. As he twists, the black box is separated from its power supply and stops emitting sound. Baselton then tries to stay still thinking the T-rexes won't notice him. The T-rexes do notice him and attack and eat him. Dodgson and King makes a run for the SUV, but one Tyrannosaur pushes it off the hill before he can drive away. Dodgson falls out of the vehicle but survives. King is later killed by Velociraptors as he attempts to make his way across the island to the boat.
Coming across the baby Tyrannosaur, Eddie brings it back to the base camp, where Malcolm and Sarah fix its broken leg. The absence of the infant is noted by its parents, who track their offspring down by smell, leading them directly to the trailers. The T-Rex then pushes one of the trailers off the cliff (perceiving the trailer as a threat to their young), with Malcolm and Sarah inside. Both are rescued by Thorne, but Malcom's leg is injured, and he ends up spending most of the remainder of the story immobile and high on morphine (as he did in the previous novel). Meanwhile the group at the "high hide" are attacked by Velociraptors. Eddie is killed, but Arby manages to lock himself in a nearby cage. Arby is quickly abducted by the raptors, who bring him to their lair. Thorne and Levine rescue Arby, and the survivors take shelter in an abandoned gas station set up by InGen for the island's workers when the island was still in use. There they encounter two Carnotaurus, but they manage to scare them away with flashlights.
Once daylight comes, Sarah attempts to get the Explorer back. After escaping a group of aggressive Pachycephalosaurus by hiding underneath the vehicle, she encounters Dodgson, who is also hunting for the SUV. Sarah pushes Dodgson out from under the vehicle, as revenge for his earlier attempt to murder her. He is then taken by one of Tyrannosaurs to their nesting site, where his leg is broken and he is left for the babies to eat. After Sarah fails to reach the helicopter in time, Kelly locates an abandoned building with a functional boat inside. After making a quick getaway from a group of Velociraptors, the survivors are able to reach the boat and escape the island. While on the boat, Malcolm and Harding tell Levine, who was bitten by one of the animals, that some of the carnivores, including the Velociraptors and the Procompsognathus, are infected with prions due to InGen's decision to feed them contaminated sheep, and any animal bitten by them will be infected also. This means that all the dinosaurs on the island are fated to die due to spread of the prions. However, it is possible that some dinosaurs survived. Levine panics about the possibility of being infected with prions, but Malcolm states it shouldn't be harmful to humans. With that said, Thorne finally declares that is time for all of them to go home.
As with the first book, the main conflicts the characters must face is fending off attacks from Tyrannosaurus, Velociraptor, Cearadactylus, Dilophosaurus, and Procompsognathus. Throughout this second novel, Malcolm and Levine talk about various evolutionary and extinction theories, as well as the nature of modern science and the homogenizing and destructive nature of humanity. A particularly strong theme is the ethological and sociobiological concept of learned social behavior in animals (for example, Crichton's velociraptors, deprived of being reared among natural raptors with developed social pack behavior, instead show a tendency towards violent, antisocial behavior even amongst themselves). The book also discusses the role of prions in brain diseases, which has been at the root of concerns over Mad Cow Disease
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