Michael Crichton, the mega-selling author and filmmaker best known for the novel “Jurassic Park,” died of lymphoma in 2008 . But a glance at his body of work suggests he has remained prolific even after his death, with a string of posthumously published novels (the last of which, “Dragon Teeth,” was released in 2017) and a sequel to his bio-thriller “The Andromeda Strain” arriving in 2019, written by Daniel H. Wilson but still bearing Crichton’s name, in big letters, on the front cover.
His afterlife has been busy. Now he’s collaborating — not with some young hotshot looking to make a name in publishing, but with an author whose books have sold hundreds of millions of copies and whose name might be a bigger brand than his. James Patterson, who has worked on books with everyone from Bill Clinton to Dolly Parton, has teamed up with Crichton as coauthor of “Eruption,” a volcano thriller set on the Big Island of Hawaii.
The novel boasts traits familiar to any Crichton fan, including ample technical research, breakneck pacing and humans pushing the world toward extinction through scientific hubris. With two of publishing’s most popular (and wealthy) authors on the marquee, “Eruption” is this summer’s literary version of a blockbuster action movie. “I needed the money,” Patterson quipped in a recent video interview, before pivoting to what really brought him to “Eruption.
” “I was a big Michael Crichton fan. I think I’ve read everything that.
