The Venom Business Paperback – November 19, 2013

The story starts with catching snakes and ends when several (human) snakes are caught. In the telling of the snake’s tale there is action, romance, greed, and a modicum of British humor. As with most action novels, there are some episodes that seem unlikely to have happened, but for the most part, the plot is creditable.

Creighton's book was Too convoluted. Interesting at times, but too many weird subplots going on.Not his best work done.

I love Michael Crichton's science-based thrillers, both the books and the movies. It is the science and the imagination that carry them, the writing is professional but uninspired, the characters merely passable, the character development erratic or missing and the pacing is uneven. When Crichton worked as a screenwriter and a director those faults disappear, I suspect thanks to collaborators.The Venom Business is an overlong and mediocre attempt at a noir thriller, with fragments of a science thriller clumsily pasted in. Those fragments are the best part: the detailed accounts of the neuropsychology and pharmacology of violence (developed more fully in  Terminal Man ), the brilliant subjective description of a heart attack, the material about the business of reptile hunting. They underlie the only interesting part of the plot, an innovative version of the inheritance murder canard.An interesting failure is the attempt to tell the story in waves that radiate out from the main character both forward and backward in time, presenting  Rashomon -like retellings of the same events from different perspectives. However Crichton lacks the skill to make this work properly, the result is a simple plot made convoluted by disordered telling. Too many characters and events serve no purpose other than to make a 120-page plot fill 390 pages.A few different noir thrillers seem to be trying to break out of this mess. One is a brutal mercenary adventurer pulled from the Mexican jungle to Swinging London of the late 1960s. Another is a subtle psychological portrait of an introspective outsider attaching himself to a wealthy but weak college friend, like  The Talented Mr. Ripley . Then there is a financial thriller with overlapping groups fighting for control of licit and illicit corporate entities. Finally, there is a Southern Gothic (but set in London) attempt at steamy sexual decadence and intimate violence that takes Crichton far out of his element. And those are only the main ones.I enjoyed the book quite a bit, and I suspect other tolerant Michael Crichton fans will feel the same. Most other readers are likely to think a good editor could have distilled an okay thriller from the book (or several okay thrillers) but in its current form it's got too many parts and not enough whole.

I have always loved Michael Crichton and now to discover all these books written in his pen name it is such a treat. I will still miss him.

Even in his early works, which he didn’t write under his own name, Crichton was better than most contemporary writers. While he wrote this book as pulp fiction to pay for medical school, it shouldn’t be dismissed as rudimentary. His knowledge of medicine, pharmacology, pop culture, and intrigue shine. Set in London in the sixties, the story has Dickensian qualities, when viewed through the lens of British relationships. Greed, lust, betrayal run rampant through the story of an artifacts smuggler and his college friend.The prose is recognizable as Crichton’s, descriptive yet taut, with sly social commentary and science explained for laymen. In his novels written under his real name, Crichton wrote cautionary tales about potential situations which could end in disaster. There isn’t much of that here, just a relatively straightforward saga of Bond like character outwitting those who seek to harm him. And a lot of pretty girls having sex frequently.

Some excellent information and interesting characters but very difficult to get through. I stuck with it hoping it would get better but it didn’t.

This is a story like a Murder on the Orient Express except in reverse as all the characters plan to take advantage of each other and several kill their allies. Thanks

I was curious so I read this book. There were some high points but it was far too long and in many cases very tedious to read.

Not one of this authors best releases.Quite predictable and not the usual edge of the seat writing.

I have read Michael Crichton's Jurassic park, prey, Congo, etc. This one is okay. I understand this as his initial work. But it amazes me to see how he grew to be such a talented writer..

I enjoyed reading this thriller book, and I highly recommend it.

The story became weird, disconnected and overly long-winded at points. The plot was poorly presented. It needed more work before publishing.

Given as a gift, the recipient very happy.