Zero Cool

by John Lange (Pseudonym), Michael Crichton

While vacationing in Spain, a young doctor finds himself embroiled in a deadly conflict between rival gangs

Peter Ross just wanted a vacation. After years toiling in the radiology department of a large American hospital, he dreams of lying on a Spanish beach with a beautiful girl. The beach proves just as lovely as he hoped. But the girl turns out to be trouble.

Angela Locke is on the run from a pair of gangs waging war over a missing artifact, and she sucks Ross straight into the crossfire. From sunny Spain to rain-swept Paris, Ross’s trip will take him into Europe’s darkest corners. An ordinary man on the run for his life, he must uncover a centuries-old secret, or risk becoming its next victim.

Zero Cool is Michael Crichton's fifth published novel. It was released in 1969 under the pseudonym of John Lange, and later re-released in 2008 as part of the Hard Case Crime series. For this release, Michael Crichton wrote short new framing chapters, in addition to doing an overall revision of the text.

Genres: Fiction, Mystery, Thriller, Crime, Adventure, Mystery Thriller, Pulp

221 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1969

About the author

John Lange™ is a pseudonym of author Michael Crichton. His pen name was selected as reference to his above-average height of 6' 9"(2.06 meters). Lange means "tall one" in German, Danish and Dutch.

Librarian's note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Dan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Peter Ross is an American radiologist in Spain for a conference when he's strong-armed into performing an autopsy on a dead gangster. Something is planted inside the corpse's chest cavity and three gangs are vying for it. Can Pete escape the gangs before he becomes another victim?

I have mixed feelings on this Hard Case by John Lange, aka Michael Critchon. On one hand, it has more twists and turns than any Hard Case in recent memory. The writing is crisp. I didn't really know what was going on until the end. Plus, it had people being gruesomely attacked by a trained falcon.

On the other hand, I didn't care about Peter Ross very much and at no time thought he was in any real danger. Not knowing what the maguffin was for most of the book put a damper on my enjoyment. Most of the bad guys were odd for the sake of being odd, like the professor or the diminutive count.

Not a bad read but not a particularly good one either. I'd give it a 2.5 if I could.

[Mark Hebwood · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't agonize over whether I was expressing myself; I didn't worry about art; I was writing under a pseudonym, at very high speed. And the usual concerns about the quality or originality of one's output were irrelevant since my explicit goal was to be entirely unoriginal - to write something so perfectly suited to the paperback market that my publishers would buy my work without hesitation. I was engaged in a high-pressure exercise where the goal was absolute unoriginality. [Michael Crichton, "A Case of Need: A new introduction", in Michael Crichton, A Case of Need, London 1997, pp vii-viii]

Well, mission accomplished. This is an innocuous little book with a plot that is a pastiche of early bond movies. Villains are pulp fiction cartoon characters; there is The Professor, and The Count, there are Italian Mafia-types, oversized "odd-job" lookalikes with voiceboxes, American cowboys in Rolls Royces. Supporting cast are stereotyped, female characters are all sexy, Spanish men are all small, fidgety and speak in high voices. My first paperbacks were standard variations on the 1960s cold-war spy story made popular by Ian Fleming. In my novels, the women were all beautiful; the men all drove Ferraris; and nearly everybody carried a gun. [same place, p viii]

Indeed so. The plot is driven by odd events. Villains march freely into the protagonist's hotel room and Dr. Ross, the hero of the story, engages with them in easy conversation, rather than call hotel security. For example. Dialogue is designed to be fast and bantering, exactly like Tony Curtis and Roger Moore talked in an episode of The Persuaders, but only serves to make plot events more bizarre. In fact, the whole book feels rushed, as if Michael did not bother to edit anything or rewrite. (...) I would sit down (...) and write furiously eighteen hours a day. I usually produced twenty-five pages of typescript each day. (...) I sent the finished manuscript to my publisher in New York - (...) it was essential that they buy it immediately, (...) because the next day I would be back in classes, and have no time to make any changes. [same place, p vii]

I am a huge fan of Michael Crichton. I think he was a true storyteller, knew how to craft a plot masterfully, control the ebb and flow of suspense, paint strong and believable characters, and create intelligent and complex stories. Ever since I read the introduction to "A Case of Need", I wanted to read one of these early novels, which Michael used to pay for his tuition fees at Harvard. "Zero Cool" is precisely how he characterised these early novels. It would be wrong even to describe them as "early attempts", they were just a means for Michael to pay his way through medical school.

I am not going to pick up another one of these, but "Zero Cool" surely offered an enjoyable and fascinating insight into the early days of a naturally talented writer.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Michael Crichton, posing as John Lange, novelizes a nonexistent Nicholas Cage movie.

[Tracy P. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Glad I stumbled onto this. . . The older books Michael Crichton has written (Zero Cool - 1969) are great! Totally different from what I am used to from Mr. Crichton and his older stuff is fun! Kind of cool comparing and contrasting his old stuff with the more recent. Looking forward to delving into more of his earliest (20-30 years ago) publications.

[Stephen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved, loved, loved this absurd, trashy, and fun story. It's like the Road House of books. So bad that it's totally fucking awesome. This one rates high on my guilty pleasure list.

Seriously, you can really see a lot of Crichton's brilliance in this book. If you hate this book, you hate fun.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Curio book - John Lange being a pen named used by Michael Crichton in the 60's. Like the other half dozen I've already read it is a good time passer, but this one had two glaring ...inconsistencies?
Toward the end of the novel the author tries to pull off a standard 'you think its one person but its really another!' switch, but it just feels botched. The second problem is the framing device used - the novel has an intro and outro as a fantastic story being told by a grandfather to a grandson - but the outro makes specific reference to DVD's?? There is no mention on the copyright page of any update to the text so....What the Hell? Was it added later and not copyrighted, was it an update from an older phrase like 8-track that was un-credited? If so, who made the change? And what else has been altered in the book??

[TraceyL · Rating 2 out of 5]

I consider these kinds of crime thrillers to be Popcorn Books. There not meant to be anything other than a mindless, quick and entertaining read. This one started off strong, with a radiologist being approached by a stranger warning him to not perform an autopsy, which is not something a radiologist would do anyway. But when a group of men show up demanding he perform an autopsy on a murdered man, he gets pulled into an underground crime world. By the time I got to the end I didn't really care about finding out whodunit or whether or not the MC made it out alive.

I will absolutely keep reading these Hard Case Crime books because I do love the idea of them and am sure I will find some that I love.

[Steven · Rating 2 out of 5]

Zero Cool, first published in 1969, is another of Michael Crichton's early John Lange novels. This was reprinted by Hard Case Crime initially under the John Lange pseudonym. Its cool x-ray looking cover is shown with this review. (The original Signet paperback from 1969 has a lame photo cover). Hard Case later editions have Michael Crichton's name in large letters on top with a "writing as John Lange" by line below in much smaller letters. Crichton apparently revised this novel for the Hard Case Crime edition. Not sure how much was done to the body of the book, but the framing "Video Interview" prologue and epilogue he added seem completely unnecessary. The other somewhat humorous thing to note from the copyright page is that Crichton trademarked Zero Cool. Perhaps planning a movie treatment? Or a branded whats-it? Who knows. The novel itself is just so-so. The plot is intricate and constantly twisting and there is action scene after action scene and it's all quite cinematic. Unfortunately, at least to my reading taste, more than half the book consists of ridiculous dialogue that barely advances the plot. Crichton—like Carter Brown—spends five pages attempting witty repartee to impart maybe three sentences of information that moves the story along. He repeats this technique over an over throughout the novel. Plenty of colorful villains in the James Bond mold, although a bit cartoonish. Plenty of exotic settings, but they are thinly rendered. The plot? A radiologist on vacation in Spain is suddenly sucked into a Maltese Falcon-esque struggle between a bunch of criminals all trying to find a whats-it. I won't spoil the read by divulging more because then the first two thirds of the book are less compelling. The plot driver, and what keeps the pages turning, is that the radiologist protagonist doesn't know what is going on, so we get to follow along as he is batted about like a ping-pong ball between rival gangs. What is going on? Who is who? Will he survive? If you can can put up with the dialogue, or speed read it as I did, the plot will drag you along to the, finally, fast-paced and climactic ending.

[Erin *Proud Book Hoarder* · Rating 3 out of 5]

Michael Crichton wrote this under pen name for #hardcasecrime line.

Part Adventure type thriller, part thriller. Includes exotic travel and artifacts with an innocent radiologist who is dragged along for the the ride the full way

The only thing I don't get is the Spaniard on the beach with his warnings. Who was he ultimately with?

An easy read with a simplified writing style on behalf of Crichton. His prose here doesn't match his sci fi and thrillers written under his own name.

Sometimes frustrating because of unfairness of situations, it was clever enough and different from other hard case crime books I've read. Has an average star rating on Goodreads, but I'm going with three and a half Stars. Clever enough and kept me going.

The main character is rather simple and not that interesting, but the exotic players pulling strings behind the scenes keep it colorful. And apparently the police there are as lazy as most countries when it comes to homicide investigation.

it doesn't pause long, there's always something going on, so the page count flies by. Not fully a mystery, but it's not possible to tell what's going to happen next until the secrets are revealed to the main character.

[Malum · Rating 2 out of 5]

Great ideas but so-so execution. All of the Bond-like villains and twists and turns would have payed off a lot better with protagonists that I actually cared about or at least found interesting.

[Kevin · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ridiculous in all the worst ways.

[Steve Holden · Rating 2 out of 5]

*1.5 Stars*

It can be difficult on a weekend where you've been reading a lot and you find the "to read" pile of books you currently possess to be not a pile at all, but just ones that have been picked up and been anchoring the pile for a long time! This had been the foundation of such a pile for me, and in spending a couple of hours with it, I now realize that had been a great decision.

I don't want to just bash this one, as it's meant for a certain kind of reader. The Hard Case Crime series isn't known for serious, well-rounded pieces of literature. There have been some great recent additions where amazing authors dabble at one for fun. This had been picked up as an interest to see how Michael Crichton once was a hard crime author. Lange is a pseudonym, and he apparently wrote 8 or so books for this series. That's what got me into this one . . .

The premise of this one, and the characters inside are so crazy and far-fetched, it does me no point to analyze and go through it. Have you ever spent some time trying to choose what to watch on Netflix for the evening, and end up getting caught up in scrolling through the descriptions of every title, only to not watch anything because you're so entertained just wondering how a movie about that could've possibly been thought of and made in the first place? Then realize it starred Nicolas Cage or Steven Seagal, and then thought, I remember them? Well, a blurb of this story would fit nicely in that category, and chances are, you'd laugh, shake your head at the idea and the former star in it, and then head to the next description.

Best thing going for this one as a book is that it takes very little time to read. I did finish, and it's an early work of Crichton under a pseudonym - now on to the next!

[Linoleum · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nonostante le tre stelle, questo è un bel giallo. Però, la sensazione di averlo già letto non mi ha mai abbandonato quasi fino alla scena finale nell’Alhambra. E proprio verso la fine ho capito che questo romanzo di Crichton è molto simile a Topkapi di Eric Ambler, altro bel giallo. Come ha confessato Crichton, quando ha scritto Zero assoluto, firmato con lo pseudonimo di John Lange, stava ancora cercando la sua strada e perdi più aveva bisogno di pagare i conti, e ciononostante il suo romanzo non delude nemmeno a più di quarant’anni di distanza.

[Greg · Rating 2 out of 5]

COUNTDOWN: Mid-20th Century North American Crime
BOOK 230 (of 250)
This is the fifth of the Crichon/Lange Hard Case books I've read. (According to the back cover blurb, there are 8 of these.) Yes, 'Zero Cool' (1969) is better than 'Odds On' (1966) and 'Easy Go' (1968) so it's interesting to note the author's improvements. This one was 'framed' by a grandfather telling his grandson about an adventure from the past, and the grandson says it's so unbelievable he promises never to tell anyone about it. In truth, it's no more unbelievable than a few of very similar Bond books. And the framing device feels added on for word count, as it isn't needed at all.
HOOK - 1 stars:>>>VIDEO INTERVIEW "Are you comfortable, Grandpa?<<<< is the framing device opening the book. Let's skip to "PART ONE (which has it's own separate page, then a blank page, then a 3-page PROLOGUE, then another blank page, then finally, "1. Tossa Del Mar."
Lots of blank space: this is a 2-hour read at most but all these blank pages are just irritating to me.
PACE - 2 stars: Once we finally get to the start of the story, it moves relatively fast. Problem is, there are more blank pages, a PART TWO, another PROLOGUE, a PART THREE, and another PROLOGUE...all just pointless and wasteful.
PLOT - 2: Peter Ross, a radiologist (?) is kidnapped to perform an autopsy (!) during which he has to remove a man's heart and insert a box containing some kind of BIG SECRET having to do with Cortez. Naturally, there are twists and turns and, of course the artifact is fake...well, the first one is, and then...you know this story. (Insert artifact/stone) must be smuggled to (insert country/person) and thwart (insert sets of villains).
CAST -2: A lovely lady steps out of numerous bubble baths...she's the Bond girl. Why would you kidnap a radiologist to do an autopsy? Anyway, Peter is the Bond guy. And I've always wondered why the ladies always take baths but the guys never do (and don't, apparently, change clothing) for days on end but still there is lots of sex. There is an evil Count who is short...but he has killer falcons to make up for it!
ATMOSPHERE - 3 stars. I've never been to Portugal. I enjoyed this trip: the Allhambra, the Moorish architecture, etc. I found this aspect the best part of the book.
SUMMARY - 2.0. I enjoyed the vicarious trip to Portugal. Killer falcons trained to mutilate people who have been smothered in a custom scent? Okay. But if I'd been Peter, I'd have gone to the nearest embassy and cleared out...end of story. Thus no story. And I have no idea how much this, or any of these Lange/Crichton books, are really Cricthon anyway. If you MUST read one of these 8 novels, go for 'Grave Descend.'

[John Grant · Rating 3 out of 5]

Years ago I considered optioning this obscure novel for a motion picture. Recently I learned the author was really Michael Crichton. I sure know how to pick 'em! But enough about me... It was a good read.

[Simon · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice riff on THE MALTESE FALCON. :-)

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

You really have to suspend your disbelief for this book. But if you can do so, it is pretty fun.

[Bradshaw Vetterly · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fast paced book that reminded me of a mix between Flemings 007 books and Hitchcocks Man Who Knew Too Much. A lot of twists and turns, and stylistically fits early Crichton.

[Kyriakos Sorokkou]

«I began writing as a medical student, and felt that I would continue as a doctor and ought to protect my patients from the fear that they might pop up in the pages of a thriller. The best protection would not be to disguise them, but to disguise me. Once I decided not to practice medicine, I dropped the pseudonyms expect for convenience. I wrote too much, so I decided to publish some books under false names, and in that way, could publish more books.»

And that's how Michael Crichton began his writing career. One of my favourite and most read authors. The creator of Jurassic Park, Westworld and ER, among many others.

From the summer of 2011 until November 2018, I read 19 of the 32 books he published. November 2018 was the 10th anniversary of his death. That's when I decided to do a project dedicated to Crichton. One book per month for the next 32 months.


The thrillers he wrote as a medical student between 1966 and 1972 under the pseudonym John Lange were eight, and with the exception of the last one he wrote in 1972 (the year he decided to publish under his own name something that lasted until his death,) were a large part of his bibliography that I had not read. So I ordered them all in one go.

Every time I need to review one of these I'll repeat this general introduction about his early writings rather than extensive reviews on each individual book.

Because beyond the interest of reading early works of your favourite author, reading what he wrote and seeing his writing slowly evolving, they are not masterpieces and you cannot dedicate more than five lines for their sake. It's like Schwarzenegger movies. You are having a good time and that's it. And I also didn't want to confuse you every second day with a new book by Crichton.

They were written quickly and, as he said, he wrote them to gain money to pay for utilities and groceries while he was a student.

They are not masterpieces as I mentioned above, but their writing was something like writing exercises, a writing with which in the medical thriller A Case of Need (that he wrote in 1968 under another pseudonym (Jeffery Hudson)) gained the Edgar Award in 1969.

A year in which he published for the first time under his own name one of his best novels, the science fiction thriller The Andromeda Strain, which was made into a film in 1971.
In 1970 he and his brother Douglas Crichton co-wrote another hippie thriller under a common pseudonym Michael Douglas (Dealing, or The Berkeley-To-Boston Forty-Brick Lost-Bag Blues). This would be his third and final nickname.
In 1972, with The Terminal Man under his own name, he realised that his career was now a writer, not a doctor, so he put the pseudonym in the bottom drawer.

The eight books he wrote as John Lange remained out of stock since the late 1970s until the publishing house Hard Case Crime began publishing out of stock and hard-to-find books in the noir, thriller, detective, and generally pulp fiction categories.

Among them are books published for the first time such as Joyland and The Colorado Kid by Stephen King.

While Crichton was still alive, two of his books, Grave Descend and Zero Cool, were edited by him.
In November 2008, unfortunately, Crichton passed away, so in 2013 the remaining 6 books were released.

Because I don't want to tire you out anymore and give you acute Crichtoniasis, I'll talk briefly about this one.

Zero Cool 1969: read May 2019
Radiologist Peter Ross meets the beautiful Angela Locke on a Spanish beach, something that will put him in trouble with the mafia.

More in Greek at βιβλιοαλχημείες

[Jenni DaVinCat · Rating 3 out of 5]

Though not as good as some of his other hard-case crime books, it was still an entertaining read.

A rather arrogant and sarcastic doctor goes on vacation to Spain to find himself thrust into a very problematic situation in which three separate groups are searching for something. He's basically the one innocent figure in the entire novel, just wanting to get away from medicine for a while. Instead, he's having to deal with mob-type people, intellectual bad guys and a crazy hawk-training little guy. Yeah, it's a little weird, but entertaining. By the end, the double-crosses start to become expected but when you hit that point the book is almost over anyways.

I have to wonder if Crichton went back and edited the epilogue because there's mentions of DVD, which definitely was not a thing when the book was written. I'm thinking that yes, he did.

Easy read that provided some entertainment without too much investment.

[Aravind · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was looking for a fast, easy read to start the year and Zero Cool fitted the bill perfectly. Written by my favourite author Michael Crichton, under the pseudonym John Lange, as a quick and dirty means of paying for his tuition, this is a totally unbelievable, over-the-top entertainer that can be devoured in a single sitting. An American radiologist, just out of college, goes on a vacation to Spain and gets embroiled - inexplicably, both for him as well as the reader - in some underworld operation needing him to do an autopsy which, whether he does it or not, is sure to get him killed. Beautiful women, eccentric villains, exotic locales and innovative methods of killing keep the reader engaged and entertained all along the twisty plot until the end. Crichton doesn't seem to have cared much for plausibility or logic while writing this pure pulpy thriller and it will be better for the readers not to look for those things. Readers going by Crichton's trademark, top-notch thrillers may not find this quite to their liking for obvious reasons, but I had a lot of fun reading this one!

[Shaun Stanley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Zero Cool is a suspense novel written by Michael Crichton’s alias John Lange.

Set in 1967, American radiologist Pete Ross is on vacation in Spain. While taking in the beach and young women, he is swept up in a conspiracy involving two rivals crime kingpins who will stop at nothing to get what they want.

This is a really great beach read as the book moves blistering fast. There is little room for character development or background story as the protagonist stumbles from one near disaster to another. It’s a fun little story that harkens back to 1960s-era adventure thrillers but doesn’t have much to provide lasting experience.

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've had a complicated relationship with Michael Crichton. I credit him with getting me into reading when I was a kid. His were the first ever "adult" books I read. "Jurassic Park", "Rising Sun", "Andromeda Strain," I couldn't get enough. I read everything. But then in the early 2000s he let his conservative ideology cloud his literary judgment and his books took a steep decline in quality. Unfortunately, he died before the reading public had a chance to see if he could change his ways.

That's why these old noir books written under the pseudonym of "John Lange" have been such a delight. This is clearly a talented young writer having fun with the tropes of the genre and not taking anything too seriously.

"Zero Cool" follows a doctor who goes to Spain for a vacation to have a bunch of sex. He does, but gets mixed up with a bunch of crazy gangsters and characters named "The Professor" and "The Baron." It's cheesy and crazy and fun. The secret to the mysterious killing in the book is as silly as it is fantastic. Definite recommend.

[Stephen Mettee · Rating 5 out of 5]

First, I must admit, I like the 2008 cover by artist Greg Manchess better than the one here on Goodreads. (Google it.)

A friend gave me this book for Christmas and I thought, pulp mystery, bad plot, shallow characters, mysogynist hero, I’ll never get two chapters in it.

How can I be so wrong so often? The plot was fresh. Twisted. Left me guessing. The writing is prosaic, so it is an easy read. I’m going to pick up other hard boiled crime novels by John Lange aka Michael Crichton.

[Edward Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent Story full of intrigue, humor, confusion, betrayal and enough plot twist to please a yoga instructor .

Book is well written. I love the way each section of the book is split off and prefaced with a prologue to hone your focus in to what is to come.

The initial "interview" and the epilogue are a great way to introduce and end the story as well as add a little more dimension to the telling.

This story is way cool.

[Federico Castagnola · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dei romanzi giovanili di Crichton il più debole. Cerca di proporre una trama originale, con personaggi sopra le righe, ma quello che ne esce è una sequenza di situazioni poco credibili e molto poco interessanti.

[James Shrimpton · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has zero chill. Completely bonkers, and Crichton knows it. It's great fun. Non-stop action, double crossing, bizarre murders, adventure and derring do.

Ridiculous story, but tremendously well told.

[itchy · Rating 5 out of 5]

i hate the fact that i just ran out (again--i seem to acquire his work in batches) of michael crichton's books

the back-talking doctor featured here is a gem (pun intended)

p50: he reached into his pocket and brought out a syringe and ampul.

[Wytzia Raspe · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining thriller set in Spain
It is like the screenplay of a B movie. Entertaining but shallow. And some plot holes. Nevertheless a pleasant way to stay busy.

[Christopher Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent book, fairly well plotted and characterized although a bit forced: every single person is in on it. Its halfway between a spoof and a conspiracy caper, never quite feeling as stressful or dramatic as it could because the main characters all seem to realize they are in a book. And then there's the killer bird.

It was entertaining but I can see why this book is pretty forgotten