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Having already seen the movie (twice), it's highly unlikely that I would have picked up this book had somebody not given it to me as a Christmas gift. However, in the end, I'm glad I did get the chance to read it, for it is very different from the movie.
The basics of the plot, of course, are the same. An eccentric rich fellow has come upon a method of re-creating dinosaurs, and intends to launch a theme park to present them to the public. He invites a small group of people, including a couple of paleontologists, a mathematician who's into chaos theory, and some lawyers, to the island home of the park for a tour around. Things go wrong, the dinosaurs get out, and large numbers of people are eaten. This, then, is the basis of the book, as it was for the movie.
The book, for obvious reasons, goes into far more detail than the movie, and this gives the reader a far better background for the events in the novel. For example, much more is made of the application of chaos theory to the park; the mathematician, Malcolm, comes across as a Cassandra-like figure, constantly predicting doom and being heeded by nobody. Furthermore, there are a number of small incidents in the book which were left out of the movie; these serve to increase the ominous atmosphere of the novel.
Crichton writes well, there can be no doubt about that. Using an authoritative tone, and on occasion going into minute detail, he effectively builds suspense, and manipulates the tone of the book well. Some of his characters are just a tad two-dimensional, but this is of little import - The story and its underlying cautionary message are what matters (Besides which, most of the two-dimensional characters get eaten by dinosaurs). I would recommend Jurassic Park to anyone looking for a pleasant, entertaining read.
Oh yeah - the only bit of the movie which I preferred to the book was the ending...
Reviewed by Patrick Conway on January 27, 1996. Image from Tosoft Dinosaur Clipart.
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