Two Complete Novels: Disclosure / Rising Sun

by Michael Crichton

Disclosure
In this novel that set off a firestorm of controversy, a brutal struggle in the cutthroat computer industry combines with a shattering psychological game of cat and mouse. An up-and-coming executive at DigiCom, Tom Sanders is a man whose corporate future is certain. But after a closed door meeting with his new boss--his former lover who has been promoted to the position he expected to have--Sanders is caught in a web of deceit where he is branded the villain. As Sanders scrambles to defend himself, he uncovers an electronic trail into the company's cynical and manipulative secrets.

Rising Sun
On the forty-fifth floor of the Nakamoto Tower in downtown L.A.--the American headquarters of the immense Japanese conglomerate--a grand opening celebration is in full swing. On the forty-sixth floor, in an empty conference room, the dead body of a beautiful woman is discovered. The investigation begins...and immediately becomes a headlong chase through a twisting maze of industrial intrigue. With a no-holds-barred conflict in which control of a vital American technology is the fiercely coveted prize, the saying "business is war" takes on a terrifying reality.

Now for the first time ever, two of Michael Crichton's most captivating and controversial novels are combined in one exciting volume. Her is America's top suspense writer at the top of his form.
--jacket

Genres: Fiction, Adventure

646 pages, Hardcover

First published October 2, 1996

About the author

John Michael Crichton was an American author, screenwriter, and filmmaker whose prolific career left an indelible mark on popular culture and speculative fiction. Raised on Long Island, he displayed a precocious talent for writing, publishing an article in The New York Times at sixteen. Initially enrolling at Harvard as an English major, he switched to biological anthropology after discovering a preference for scientific study over literature. He graduated summa cum laude and received a fellowship to lecture in anthropology at Cambridge. Later attending Harvard Medical School, he earned his MD but chose not to practice, dedicating himself to writing instead. His medical background profoundly influenced his novels, providing authentic scientific and technical underpinnings that became a hallmark of his work. Crichton began writing under pseudonyms, producing suspenseful thrillers as John Lange, including Odds On, Scratch One, and Easy Go, and as Jeffrey Hudson with A Case of Need, earning him an Edgar Award. His first major success under his own name, The Andromeda Strain, established his signature blend of scientific authenticity, tension, and exploration of technological hazards, leading to its film adaptation. Over his career, he wrote 25 novels, including The Terminal Man, The Great Train Robbery, Congo, Sphere, Jurassic Park, Rising Sun, Disclosure, The Lost World, Airframe, Timeline, Prey, State of Fear, and Next, several adapted into major films, with four additional works published posthumously. Crichton also made significant contributions to film and television. He wrote and directed Westworld, pioneering the use of 2D computer-generated imagery, and later directed Coma, The First Great Train Robbery, Looker, and Runaway. He created the influential medical drama ER, which he executive produced and developed with Steven Spielberg, achieving critical and commercial success. Many of his novels, most famously Jurassic Park and its sequel The Lost World, became cultural phenomena, combining imaginative adventure with grounded scientific speculation, often exploring humanity’s overreach in genetics, biotechnology, and complex systems. His literary style was notable for integrating meticulous scientific detail, suspense, and moral cautionary themes. His works frequently addressed the failure of complex systems—biological, technological, or organizational—demonstrating the unpredictable consequences of human hubris. Employing techniques such as first-person narratives, false documents, fictionalized scientific reports, and assembling expert teams to tackle crises, Crichton created immersive stories appealing to both popular and scholarly audiences. His exploration of genetics, paleontology, nanotechnology, and artificial intelligence revealed both fascination and caution about humanity’s technological ambitions, while his early non-fiction, such as Five Patients and Electronic Life, reflected his scientific insight and forward-thinking approach to computers and programming. Standing 6 feet 9 inches tall, Crichton experienced social isolation in adolescence and later pursued meditation and consultations with psychics, cultivating a lifelong interest in human consciousness and alternative experiences. A workaholic, he approached writing with disciplined ritualistic methodology, often retreating entirely to complete a novel in six or seven weeks. He was married five times, fathered two children, and maintained a wide-ranging collection of 20th-century American art. Crichton engaged in political and scientific discourse, particularly regarding global warming, where he was an outspoken skeptic and testified before the U.S. Senate. He contributed significantly to the discussion of intellectual property, technology, and environmental policy, coining concepts such as the Gell-Mann amnesia effect. Throughout his life, he received numerous awards, including Edgar Awards, a Peabody Award for ER, an Aca

Reviews

[Realini Ionescu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Disclosure, based on the novel by Michael Crichton


“History is a commentary on the various and continuing incapabilities of men. What is history? History is women following behind with the bucket.” - Alan Bennett, The History Boys

In the age of MeToo, after all the Disclosures of harassment of women, sexual abuse by powerful men like Harvey Weinstein – who has opened the infamous, nefarious series- who is facing retribution and Donald Trump that seems to somehow benefit from his boasting of grabbing pussies, Disclosure seems like some work from the Middle Ages, although it was only released in 1994.

This was an year when Michael Douglas – the fabulous star of Wall Street, for which he won one of his two Academy Awards, Wonder Boys and other motion pictures, some centered on sexual shenanigans such as Basic Instinct and Fatal Attraction – and his costar Demi Moore – excellent in yet another film with an erotic theme, Indecent Proposal – where riding high.
Michael Douglas plays the role of Tom Sanders, such an unusual, outré character that it is hard – maybe impossible – to find some other personage with a similar standing in an artwork.

It seems impossible for a man to avoid making Indecent Proposals to a spectacular woman in motion pictures, novels, never mind repeatedly refusing her, standing up and fighting to remain pure, innocent and faithful.
Real life has brought over time – especially recently, in the last year – stories of women that have suffered vicissitudes, torment, pain, abuse, harassment, violations, restrictions, discrimination and more from men.

In History Boys , a masterpiece by Alan Bennett, there is a phenomenal quote that sums up history seen from the perspective of a woman history teacher, whereas the books on the subject have been written by men, who have mostly lead in history and foreseeable future in countries like Saudi Arabia and so many others…

“History is a commentary on the various and continuing incapabilities of men. What is history? History is women following behind with the bucket.”
― Alan Bennett, The History Boys

Counterintuitively, in Disclosure it is the man who is abused by…a woman.
It happens so seldom that it looks like an oxymoron.

We could even try to think of the odds, perhaps this is one in a million shot…probably even more…one in one hundred million, in the circumstances depicted in this feature, with people like Tom Sanders and Meredith Johnson.
Notwithstanding the preposterous proposition, the filmmakers are aware of the strangeness of their plot line, for they have it in the dialogues…

When the hero, victim of abuse from a…woman, talks with Philip Blackburn, the latter is outraged by incidents reported by Meredith who accuses the victim of trying to molest and rape her.
When the protagonist shows the scratch marks on his chest as proof of the assault he has suffered, he is told that surely that happened while the evidently less powerful woman was trying to defend herself…

“Weak? She is fit as a fiddle…she can knock both of us to the ground in a few seconds” this is not a quote, but he said something similar

In conclusion, it seems strange to look at the adventures of the poor victim that suffers from sexual abuse, if that casualty is a man.
Although, in Fatal Attraction the improbability is taken to another extreme as the character played by Glenn Close comes close to killing the handsome hero portrayed by the eternal Michael Douglas…

[Ray]

Rising sun,
ReRead@2023..