The Terminal Man

Books | Project Ninety | Training

11 January 2022 - Hilton Head Island

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Once when I was sick in high school I stayed in bed all day and read The Andromeda Strain, so yesterday after I tested positive for Covid and got a hotel room I read another Michael Crichton novel, The Terminal Man. I'm glad there are still Michael Crichton novels left for me to read! This one did not disappoint, even though it's 50 years old. The story follows Harry Benson and his doctors as they go through an operation an its aftereffects. Benson had had a brain injury that led to bouts of violence and the doctors insert an electrical implant to counteract them. Unfortunately the computer inside it sets up a feedback loop that has the opposite effect and because of a nurse's mistake he doesn't get the tranqualizer that would have kept him in bed. Instead he goes on a murder rampage through LA. It should be sad, but the story is written from the doctors' perspective rather than Benson's so he might as well be a rampaging velociraptor.