The return of the monsters
Robert Cooper
THE LOST WORLD by Michael Crichton Century Books, £15.99, pp. 393 Here's yet another chunk of dino- mania to get our teeth into. The Lost World is the successor to Michael Crichton's record- breaking Jurassic Park. Maybe The Lost World 2 would have been a more accu- rate title, although any acknowledgment of Arthur Conan Doyle's original Lost World is significantly absent. When that was pub- lished in 1912 readers were riveted by Pro- fessor Challenger and his entourage penetrating the uncharted Amazon jungle to be greeted by dinosaurs and shaggy, red- haired cavemen. Eighty years on Crichton's heroes are hardly worlds apart.
In Jurassic Park matters got out of hand on Isla Nublar, off Costa Rica. The maniac geneticist John Hammond created a theme-park littered with dinosaurs he had brought to life after they had been extinct for 65 million years. It all went horribly wrong. The dinosaurs were destroyed and Hammond declared defunct.
The Lost World picks up the story six years later. Ian Malcolm, a Jurassic Park survivor, is approached by the pushy and ambitious biologist Richard Levine. Levine has discovered that large, identified car- casses have been washed up on Costa Rican beaches: depressing news for their tourist trade. Levine wants to find out what's going on. In the flick of a veloci- raptor's tail we're jungle-bound for Isla Sorna, not far from the ill-fated theme- park. Here we find what Hammond was up to: he'd built a dinosaur production plant, secretly known as Site B. By the gleam of slavering teeth around every corner, busi- ness appears to have been brisk. Michael Crichton certainly has the Midas touch. Whilst training as a doctor at Har- vard Medical School he wrote thrillers as an extra source of income. One of his early bestsellers was The Andromeda Strain, which was also a successful film. Writing popular fiction with an eye on Hollywood is the game to be in, especially if you bump into Steven Spielberg, who directed Jurassic Park. Crichton is also a dab hand behind the camera; he has directed seven movies, including Westworld. He put his medical knowledge to good use to create the fast- moving TV hospital series, ER. The Lost World is his 14th novel and like its forerunner looks certain to become another hit on the big screen. Jurassic Park is the biggest box-office triumph in cinema history, and the book has sold more than 100 million copies. Who would have believed that a few dinosaurs would cause such a ballyhoo? Speed of plot is an integral element in Crichton's formula; he capitalises on our limited concentration span. The Lost World moves at a spanking pace, with short chap- ters, some no more than a page. He spends little time developing his characters; their actions are far more important than their thoughts. Levine is 'thin, dark and rich'. Malcolm likes dressing in black and is a `confirmed bachelor'. There is absolutely no soppy romance, although there are hints that field biologist Sarah Harding (`com- pact and muscular') has a soft spot for Mal- colm. And to ensure maximum appeal for younger readers two stowaway children conveniently appear. One of them, 11-year- old Arby, seems to be the only person capable of working the elaborate computer system. Why are adults always portrayed as techno-muttonheads?
So, while the good guys are rugged and handsome, the bogeymen use foul language and inevitably end up wedged between dino-jaws. It's all very predictable, but it works. What makes The Lost World so entertaining is that we know exactly what will happen next. Predictability embroi- dered with extravagant technology has us gripped. As, no doubt, the ghost of Conan Doyle would tell us, you don't have to be that original.
The Lost World is recommended as first- rate, escapist entertainment. You won't discover any hidden secrets of the universe and there is, thank God, no earthly risk of these intensely unlovable beasts returning to scare the living daylights from us. So, there's no chance of testing the popular jurassic precept that if approached by a six- ton Tyrannosaurus Rex the best survival route is to stand stock still. That theory explodes here.
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