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    The Venom Business: An Early Thriller
    Unavailable
    The Venom Business: An Early Thriller
    Unavailable
    The Venom Business: An Early Thriller
    Ebook487 pages7 hours

    The Venom Business: An Early Thriller

    By Michael Crichton and John Lange

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    “A glossy and inventive thriller” from the pen of the #1 New York Times–bestselling author of Jurassic Park during his early years (Washington Daily News).
     Charles Raynaud feels at home in the jungle. A snake trapper, he makes a tidy profit selling poisonous creatures to the zoos of Europe, but it isn’t just the snake trade that pays his bills. Raynaud is the finest artifact smuggler the world has ever known, and his particular talents are about to be put to the test.

    Between jobs in Paris, Raynaud meets an old drinking buddy. One of London’s wealthiest, nastiest men, Richard Pierce has eyes on his late father’s fortune and wants Raynaud to act as his bodyguard until he acquires it. But after the first attempts on Pierce’s life, Raynaud begins to smell a rat. Has he been hired as a bodyguard, or a target?

    This ebook features an illustrated biography of Michael Crichton including rare images from the author’s estate.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOpen Road Media
    Release dateJul 23, 2013
    ISBN9781453299302
    Unavailable
    The Venom Business: An Early Thriller
    Author

    Michael Crichton

    Michael Crichton (1942-2008) was the author of the bestselling novels The Terminal Man, The Great Train Robbery, Jurassic Park, Sphere, Disclosure, Prey, State of Fear, Next and Dragon Teeth, among many others. His books have sold more than 200 million copies worldwide, have been translated into forty languages, and have provided the basis for fifteen feature films. He wrote and directed Westworld, The Great Train Robbery, Runaway, Looker, Coma and created the hit television series ER. Crichton remains the only writer to have a number one book, movie, and TV show in the same year. Daniel H. Wilson is a Cherokee citizen and author of the New York Times bestselling Robopocalypse and its sequel Robogenesis, as well as ten other books. He recently wrote the Earth 2: Society comic book series for DC Comics. Wilson earned a PhD in Robotics from Carnegie Mellon University, as well as master’s degrees in Artificial Intelligence and Robotics. He has published over a dozen scientific papers and holds four patents. Wilson lives in Portland, Oregon.

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    Reviews for The Venom Business

    4/5

    17 ratings5 reviews

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    • 5/5
      The authors bio at the end of the book captures it perfectly - "[My Books] are intended to serve the reader as they have served me - as entertainment and diversion of the purest sort."
    • 2/5
      John Lange was one of the early pen names of Michael Crichton, best known for The Andromeda Strain and Jurassic Park. While enrolled at Harvard Medical School, Crichton began publishing a number of novels. Venom Business is one of a number of Crichton's early novels that have recently been re-released. These early novels compare to many of the bookstand pulp/adventure/crime novels that could be found in the late sixties and early seventies and these books should be read in that context.

      This one, however, was disappointing. The beginning was promising with the meeting of Charles Reynaud and Jane Mitchell in the Yucatan where Reynaud is a famed exotic snake hunter. It is later revealed that he uses the transportation of the venous snakes as a cover for smuggling artifacts from Mexico and Central America. The book proceeds from there and is way too lengthy and slow as it details Reynaud being hired as a bodyguard and then the subject of a brutal plot. It was difficult to care about the characters and as a reader I was not invested in the story. All in all, not worth spending much time on, but an interesting start to a widely successful literary career.
    • 2/5
      This is one of my least favorite books from the early works of author, Michael Crichton writing as John Lange. There really wasn't much of a story. I agree with other readers that there was just a lot of talking and at times repeat information as well as sex. I am not a prude but when the sex has no purpose, then, it is not needed. Charles is ok. This is kind of sad as he has an interesting job and in fact, it seems like he is a bit of a rogue. However, I had trouble connecting to him as well as the rest of the characters. Plus, again as I stated, I thought the storyline itself was weak as well. This book does not "bite" you with excitement.
    • 3/5
      I'm not a fan of hard case crime, but I managed to enjoy this most of the time, enough to finish the book. Charles Raynaud was a very unusual character. I loved the descriptions of how quick he was at catching snakes. The venom business is cutthroat, like many other businesses. The settings were nice and the description was lush and clear. I'm not sure I will read any more of the Crichton books of this style.
    • 5/5
      Intrigue on every page, so many flawed characters, including the hero.