Scratch One: An Early Thriller
By Michael Crichton and John Lange
4/5
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this ebook
An arms dealer in Copenhagen dies after sipping a poisoned martini. An American diplomat in Lisbon is shot in the back of the head. A Frenchman survives being pushed in front of a train, only to be murdered in his hospital bed. Though seemingly unconnected, these events are part of an international conspiracy that could spell death for Roger Carr.
Carr is a lawyer, but he has no love for Lady Justice. A dilettante playboy sent to France on a cushy assignment, he lands himself right in the middle of an international arms deal. Both sides of the conflict have mistaken him for an agent, and the secret service interventions of a dozen countries will do anything to secure him—dead or alive.
This ebook features an illustrated biography of Michael Crichton including rare images from the author’s estate.
Michael Crichton
Michael Crichton (1942-2008) was the author of the ground-breaking novels The Great Train Robbery, Jurassic Park, Disclosure, Prey, State of Fear and Next, among many others. Crichton’s books have sold more than 200 million copies worldwide, have been translated into thirty-eight languages, and provided the basis for thirteen feature films. Also known as a filmmaker and creator of ER, he remains the only writer to have a number one book, movie, and TV show in the same year.
Read more from Michael Crichton
Dragon Teeth: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Prey Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5State of Fear Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Micro: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Andromeda Evolution Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Next Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5
Related to Scratch One
Related ebooks
War of the Raven: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Medusa's Child Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Last Hostage Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Overload Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lockout Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Crash and Burn: A Sigma Force Short Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pandora's Clock Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Serpent: A Novel from the NUMA files Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Detective Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Altar of Eden: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Crucible: A Sigma Force Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Deep as the Marrow Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Kill Switch: A Tucker Wayne Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Bone Labyrinth: A Sigma Force Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Evening News Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Blue Gold: A novel from the NUMA Files Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dark Site: A Sam Dryden Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ninth Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Detective Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Orbit: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ghost Country Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Michael Crichton: Series Reading Order - with Summaries & Checklist Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Rome Prophecy: A Thriller Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Penal Colony Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bloodline: A Sigma Force Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Scorpion Strike Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Immortalist: A Sci-Fi Thriller Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Black 13: The Most Explosive Thriller You'll Read All Year, from the Sunday times Bestseller Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSkyhook Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Gabon Virus: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Crime Thriller For You
Hallowe'en Party: Inspiration for the 20th Century Studios Major Motion Picture A Haunting in Venice Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Razorblade Tears: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Good Daughter: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Still Life: A Chief Inspector Gamache Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone: A Murdery Mystery Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pieces of Her: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Appeal: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Finn Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Girl Who Was Taken: A Gripping Psychological Thriller Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cain's jawbone Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5One of Us Is Dead Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5These Silent Woods: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Notes on an Execution: An Edgar Award Winner Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Silent Wife: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lucky Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5False Witness: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Lost Man Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Blacktop Wasteland: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The 120 Days of Sodom (Rediscovered Books): With linked Table of Contents Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Trust Me When I Lie: A True Crime-Inspired Thriller Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Butcher Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Woman in the Library: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Summit Lake Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Club: A Reese's Book Club Pick Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Word Is Murder: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The ABC Murders: A Hercule Poirot Mystery: The Official Authorized Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Book of Ruth Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Last Widow: A Will Trent Thriller Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Justine: Good Conduct Well Chastised Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5
Reviews for Scratch One
15 ratings6 reviews
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5During his John Lange period, Crichton had a penchant for writing about the Monte Carlo, the French Riviera, and the Costa Brava. This book is no exception as the action begins outside a casino in Monte Carlo before moving on to Cairo, Lisbon, and Copenhagen. In each of these cities, mysterious assasinations took place.
In the beginning of the book, there are a lot of things going on with disparate people in a variety of cities. It is hard to keep them straight. A terrorist group composed of Algerian and other Mideast elements wants to stop shipments from getting to Israel, which is building a nuclear reactor. The CIA wants to counteract what the terrorists are doing. So they send an assassin to Europe. Meanwhile, the Associates, led by Dr Georges Liseau, hire Ernst Brauer to counterattack the American assassin.
Into all this steps Roger Carr, who is heading to France for a real estate deal but somehow gets mixed up in international intrigue. It's several decades before the internet and fax machines and digital phones and in this semi-primitive time, mistakes about identity can be made and both the Associates and the CIA think Carr is Morgan who never made it to France. Carr gets strange phone calls at his hotel room, notes left under his drink at a cabaret theater, a strange taxi driver who leaves indecipherable clues, and a woman who approached him at the cabaret shows in his hotel room and suddenly vanishes sans her underthings. And, that's the weird stuff before the naked woman with a gun, the stranger on the palisade with a gun, and the Tommy-gun erupting on the street. There's also the matter of the knife-wielding guy who shows up in Carr's hotel room.
Meanwhile, Carr just scratches his head, confused.
Chrichton writing as Lange has done better work. It's readable, but not as slick and finished as it could be. - Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5I liked the location for this story. Also, it did have a bit of the "spy" vibe to it. The main character, Roger is likable. Although, maybe not the brightest bulb in the pack. It was amazing that he did not get killed. In regards to a spy thriller, this book did have the old fashion feel to a spy movie back in the late sixties to early seventies. Not a lot of sex or violence. The story did move along fairly fast. There were a bunch of characters that like another one of Mr. Lange's books, I had trouble keeping all of the characters straight. Again, due to Roger's lack of intelligence; at times the story did seem implausible. Yet, it was nice to see how Mr. Lange got his start as a writer.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5One of the better early Crichton thrillers (written under his John Lange pseudonym) that Hard Case has reissued. It has the same problems I'm always complaining about (for example, he drops oddly specific details that aren't really necessary). The sexism and misogyny is a bit more muted in this one. And the resolution feels more like a real ending.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Slow to develop and to many characters early on, but it roars to a finish in the final 60 pages.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Very good loved all the twists and turns of it
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I won't go into too much detail here. I'd read State of Fear first, from Michael Crichton aka John Lange, really loved it and went looking for more, and came across these, his early first works.
I did think "Odds On: A Novel" - the first of the early stuff (Scratch One, as per Wikipedia, is second) was slightly better, in some respects, but not necessarily all.
Odds On is more "adult" (some say soft porn), more seemingly cohesive mystery crime novel than Scratch One, but the latter is, in my opinion, more romantic, more densely (eventually) involved.
Also, the glint of real cruelty and evil is more starkly present here. This is especially so as, my first impression, was Scratch One was going to be a Pink Panther-ish easy crime romp. That beguiling beginning (which almost got too over-drawn) provides the psychological context of the protagonist, and then sets off against the real danger and hard core cruelty of the villain.
That's an oversimplification of a plot line, as I looked at the page numbers passing, that grew increasingly complex and dense.
There's a meandering-ness to the story I've come to see reflects the hot sun and easy pace of the locale, Nice and surrounding towns.
Eventually, the chase-danger-thriller scenes nearer the end are, in my opinion, better than "Odds On..."
I look forward to reading these older works in sequence.
I feel I'm watching a fine creative mind at work.