Eine Handvoll Studenten, ausgesetzt im Regenwald, auf der Flucht vor technisch veränderten Organismen: ein hintergründiges und hochaktuelles Actionszenario.Honolulu, Hawaii. Drei Männer liegen tot auf dem Fußboden eines verschlossenen Büros – keine Anzeichen eines Kampfes, keine Einbruchsspuren, keine Tatwaffe. Nur die extrem feinen, rasiermesserscharfen Schnitte, die die Leichen überziehen, liefern einen ebenso grausigen wie rätselhaften Hinweis auf die Todesursache. In Cambridge, Massachusetts, wird eine Handvoll Studenten, die sich durch besondere Fähigkeiten hervortun, von einem Unternehmen für den Einsatz an der Front der Mikrobiologie rekrutiert. Die streng geheime, höchst profitable Arbeit von Nanigen Micro Technologies führt die Forschungstalente nach Hawaii. Doch hier, weit entfernt von der Sicherheit ihrer Labors, plötzlich sich selbst überlassen im Dschungel, sehen sich die Studenten nicht nur einer erbarmungslosen Natur, sondern auch einer radikalen neuen Technik gegenüber, die die Gruppe schnell beherrschen lernen muss, will sie nicht für immer in den undurchdringlichen Wäldern Oahus verschwinden ...Mit jedem seiner Weltbestseller hat Michael Crichton bewiesen, dass er ein außerordentliches Talent hatte. Seine Thriller loten das Grenzgebiet zwischen Fakt und Fiktion aus, beschreiben Szenarien einer Welt von morgen, die uns der wissenschaftliche und technische Fortschritt von heute bescheren könnte. Mit dem Roman Micro aus seinem Nachlass, vollendet von Richard Preston – seinerseits Thrillerautor von Weltrang –, erscheint jetzt ein weiterer konsequent auf Hochspannung ausgelegter Blockbuster von Michael Crichton.Titel der Originalausgabe: Micro.Copyright © der Originalausgabe 2011

In Jurassic Park, he created a terrifying new world. Now, in Micro, Michael Crichton reveals a universe too small to see and too dangerous to ignore.In a locked Honolulu office building, three men are found dead with no sign of struggle except for the ultrafine, razor-sharp cuts covering their bodies. The only clue left behind is a tiny bladed robot, nearly invisible to the human eye.In the lush forests of Oahu, groundbreaking technology has ushered in a revolutionary era of biological prospecting. Trillions of microorganisms, tens of thousands of bacteria species, are being discovered; they are feeding a search for priceless drugs and applications on a scale beyond anything previously imagined.In Cambridge, Massachusetts, seven graduate students at the forefront of their fields are recruited by a pioneering microbiology start-up. Nanigen MicroTechnologies dispatches the group to a mysterious lab in Hawaii, where they are promised access to tools that will open a whole new scientific frontier.But once in the Oahu rain forest, the scientists are thrust into a hostile wilderness that reveals profound and surprising dangers at every turn. Armed only with their knowledge of the natural world, they find themselves prey to a technology of radical and unbridled power. To survive, they must harness the inherent forces of nature itself.An instant classic, Micro pits nature against technology in vintage Crichton fashion. Completed by visionary science writer Richard Preston, this boundary-pushing thriller melds scientific fact with pulse-pounding fiction to create yet another masterpiece of sophisticated, cutting-edge entertainment.

Bizarre illnesses and plagues that kill people in the most unspeakable ways. Obsessive and inspired efforts by scientists to solve mysteries and save lives. From The Hot Zone to The Demon in the Freezer and beyond, Richard Preston’s bestselling works have mesmerized readers everywhere by showing them strange worlds of nature they never dreamed of.Panic in Level 4 is a grand tour through the eerie and unforgettable universe of Richard Preston, filled with incredible characters and mysteries that refuse to leave one’s mind. Here are dramatic true stories from this acclaimed and award-winning author, including:• The phenomenon of “self-cannibals,” who suffer from a rare genetic condition caused by one wrong letter in their DNA that forces them to compulsively chew their own flesh–and why everyone may have a touch of this disease.• The search for the unknown host of Ebola virus, an organism hidden somewhere in African rain forests, where the disease finds its way into the human species, causing outbreaks of unparalleled horror.• The brilliant Russian brothers—“one mathematician divided between two bodies”—who built a supercomputer in their apartment from mail-order parts in an attempt to find hidden order in the number pi (π).In fascinating, intimate, and exhilarating detail, Richard Preston portrays the frightening forces and constructive discoveries that are currently roiling and reordering our world, once again proving himself a master of the nonfiction narrative and, as noted in The Washington Post, “a science writer with an uncommon gift for turning complex biology into riveting page-turners.”

A highly infectious, deadly virus from the central African rain forest suddenly appears in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. There is no cure. In a few days 90 percent of its victims are dead. A secret military SWAT team of soldiers and scientists is mobilized to stop the outbreak of this exotic “hot” virus. The Hot Zone tells this dramatic story, giving a hair-raising account of the appearance of rare and lethal viruses and their “crashes” into the human race. Shocking, frightening, and impossible to ignore, The Hot Zone proves that truth really is scarier than fiction.* * *This book describes events between 1967 and 1993. The incubation period of the viruses in this book is less than twenty-four days. No one who suffered from any of the viruses or who was in contact with anyone suffering from them can catch or spread the viruses outside of the incubation period. None of the living people referred to in this book suffer from a contagious disease. The viruses cannot survive independently for more than ten days unless the viruses are preserved and frozen with special procedures and laboratory equipment. Thus none of the locations in Reston or the Washington, D.C. area described in this book is infective or dangerous.