If you ever want to feel a sense of wonder, try standing near an erupting volcano. The late author Michael Crichton was fascinated by volcanoes for most of his life. And even today, 16 years after his death, among the countless books and articles in his Santa Monica office you will find piles of research on volcanoes.
For his widow, Sherri Alexander Crichton, it’s almost as if he’s still there. “I feel his energy all the time,” she said.
And in the mountain of papers he had left behind, she found parts of an unfinished novel centered on a massive volcanic eruption. It struck Sherri as something he would have wanted to share – a posthumous blockbuster from someone who, in his relatively short life, gave so much to the world, including genetically recreated dinosaurs.
CBS News
In the literary world, Michael Crichton was a colossus – the only writer to have a number one book, film and TV show in the same year. He was also a Harvard-trained physician, a prolific genius who created scientific thrillers that took millions on thrilling journeys, from big city emergency rooms in “ER” to tornado-ravaged hearts in “Twister”, passing through places that only exist in our dreams (and nightmares), like “Jurassic Park”.
Family photo
Sherri Crichton remembers him as an incredibly fun, but sometimes distant, person. “I remember when I first started dating Michael, one of my dear friends said to me, ‘Sherri, it’s going to be like this: I’m going to feel like he doesn’t want anything to do with me. to do with you when he writes. like he likes you more because he’s going to be in the book and you’re going to have to be okay with that and I was like, “Of course, of course, everything will be fine.” GOOD. “
“But when it hit, like those first few times when he was really separating, he was present, but in reality he was still in his creation, no matter what,” she said.
She admits it was a difficult time: “And it took a lot of confidence for me to be able to say, ‘It’s going to be OK. Let’s give it another month. Let’s see what it’s going to be like.'”
They married in 2005, but three years later, Michael Crichton died of cancer at age 66, leaving Sherri alone and six months pregnant with their son, John Michael.
As she picked up the pieces of her life, she discovered and read parts of the book about the volcano he was working on, a page-turning book about a massive eruption in Hawaii worse than any other in the world. history.
It ended abruptly. “But I kept thinking, ‘There must be more,’” Sherri said.
And so, after more than a decade, she decided it was time to finish it. But then there was the question of who. “I got big. I was like, ‘What about James Patterson?'”
James Patterson is one of the most successful authors in history, who has sold an estimated 400 million books and collaborated with the likes of President Bill Clinton And Dolly Parton. The truth is that Patterson has a backlog of projects that keep him working every day. But when Sherri Crichton called, he answered. And Michael Crichton’s story – about the exploding volcano and how it threatened to unleash a stockpile of toxic waste so powerful it could destroy life on planet Earth – was too good to pass up pass.
But finishing the book was a daunting challenge for Patterson and Sherri Crichton.
She said she was worried at first: “I was just nervous because it’s a new relationship,” Sherri said.
Patterson added: “And she lives in Hollywood, and people lie out there!”
“I have to say that I am fiercely protective of Michael’s materials,” she said.
WEB EXTRA: James Patterson on the ‘gift’ of a new Michael Crichton thriller (YouTube Video)
And how did Patterson find Michael Crichton’s voice – or did he have to? He said: “I had read everything Michael Crichton wrote. So I think I had a sense of voice. This book is maybe a little more paced than some of his books, just a little little. But I felt like it. I challenge people to come out and say: That’s where Michael stopped and that’s where James began. And I’m really proud of it. I’m really happy with it.”
The final result – “Eruption,” by Michael Crichton and James Patterson – will be released tomorrow.
Small, Brown & Co.
Patterson said: “There’s a quote – I don’t know where it came from, and it’s not me, but I love it, and it has to do with me taking on this project, and I think it actually has more value to 20-year-olds than it does to me – and the quote is: “My time here is short;
“And I felt that with Eruption and Michael Crichton, I thought I could do it beautifully,” Patterson said.
He’s not wrong ; The finished book is already rumored to have studios claiming the film rights.
And it’s also true to the spirit of the man who started it. Sherri said: “He was amazing. He was vulnerable and kind.”
And now her work will live on, as part of a team effort that is both highly anticipated and – at least for Sherri Crichton – worth the wait.
“I was single until I met Michael,” she said. “And people would say, ‘Why are you so picky?’ And I’m like, “It’s just not right yet.” So I waited.
“And it was the same with Jim. …I waited for this manuscript until I felt the time was right, that I had all the pieces of the puzzle. But then it had to be well fitted. And I think I did it okay!”
READ AN EXTRACT: “Eruption” by Michael Crichton and James Patterson
For more information:
Story produced by John D’Amelio. Editor: Mike Levine.
Tracy Smith
