Techno-Thrillers discussion

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Sphere
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Aug 2025 BOTM: Sphere by Michael Crichton
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Reread it, rated it, reviewed it, and re-ranked it on several relevant lists.
How would you rank it?
• The Best of Michael Crichton
• Technothrillers: Best of the 1980s
How would you rank it?
• The Best of Michael Crichton
• Technothrillers: Best of the 1980s

How would you rank it?
• The Best of Michael Crichton
• Technothrillers: Best of the 1980s"
Ditto, Steve.
How would I rank it? I'm guessing my Crichton rankings would be idiosyncratic, but I'd probably put Sphere at number 4, behind Rising Sun, Airframe and JP.
How would you rank it?
The Best of Michael Crichton
• This list ranks Sphere at #7.
• I have at #9 on that list.
Technothrillers: Best of the 1980s
• This list has Sphere at #3.
• I have it at #9 on that list.
The Best of Michael Crichton
• This list ranks Sphere at #7.
• I have at #9 on that list.
Technothrillers: Best of the 1980s
• This list has Sphere at #3.
• I have it at #9 on that list.

Is this "one linear plot line" (at least through the first 40%) how he always writes?
I kinda like it, even if it's not what I'd want to read all the time—you know where you stand.
Sphere by Michael Crichton (1987)
Publisher’s Summary
A psychological thriller about a group of scientists who investigate a spaceship discovered on the ocean floor. In the middle of the South Pacific, a thousand feet below the surface, a huge vessel is unearthed. Rushed to the scene is a team of American scientists who descend together into the depths to investigate the astonishing discovery. What they find defies their imaginations and mocks their attempts at logical explanation. It is a spaceship, but apparently it is undamaged by its fall from the sky. And, most startling, it appears to be at least three hundred years old, containing a terrifying and destructive force that must be controlled at all costs.