Michael Crichton

I read a book written by Michael Crichton when he was still a medical student, writing under the handle Jeffery Hudson called "A Case of Need" exceptionally well written, fast paced with no fillers at all.

An early book showing how good he was going to get. I don't know if he got better at narrative, but his storytelling was already formed at that early stage.

"A Case of Need" is a story about abortion. Weaving through the thriller, Michael Crichton talks honesty about the medical industry (because an industry it is), about the moral, ethical, political and health issues regarding abortion as well as educating the reader on medical terminology and the hierarchy and politics that exist within hospitals.

He knows his stuff and it shows from the story and how it's told.

I'm envious of the ability to tell a story so clearly, lucidly and engagingly. I'm envious of how much he knows about the subject and how easily he can tell it. It's a gift no doubt, that he has and not too many doctors do. In fact, not too many professional storytellers have that gift, the ability to hone in on the absolute minimum number of words to say what you have to say. Not only that, the ability to decide what's important and interesting and only give those details.

It's storytelling not just for the sake of having something to write about, but storytelling because you're dying to say something. You have something that you're passionate about, interested in and you really want others to hear it.

And Michael Crichton's interest in medicine shows. He cares about what he's talking about. He's interested in getting to the end of the story and he makes sure that his characters are believable.

I don't think that's something that you can be taught in school. In fact, the older I get, the more I'm disappointed with the formal systems we have of educating our youth. I think it breaks down somewhere near the teenage years.

In "A Case of Need" Michael Crichton has about three or four themes running through. There's the story of his friend, a doctor, who's been convicted of killing the daughter of a wealthy family (also a medical family) by performing an abortion. The friend never really features in the story, but through the story the depth of the friendship is explored, superficially. Then there's the issue around abortion. How they're done, why they're done, how risky they are, what a baby is, the moral issue of life and when it begins and so forth. There's the investigation, the relationship of police and doctors and finally the different disciplines in the medical field. Surgeons, pathologists, anestheologists, gynocologists plus the cast of different professions all running the hospital. We are interested in open heart surgery, and the operation of this complex machine we call our body.

I'm definitely going to read the rest of his Jeffery Hudson books as well as books he wrote as John Lange and one with his brother Douglas Crichton under the pseudonym Michael Douglas.