Congo

Don't let the movie fool you! This is a fabulous book full of adventure and love. Amy, the giant gorilla, is adorable. And the trip that the characters take into the Lost City of Zinj is awesome! You'll feel like you were really there. You fight the battles, you make the choices, you defend yourself, and then... well, I can't tell you everything that happens. But it's definetely worth a read, or two!

Good storyline but too fragmented by little research papers Crichton interjected as background material that distracted from the narrative. I give the book a C+ for readability and a B- for action. It was too cumbersome to read through the minutia.

Darn floor. Big bite. So the apes can talk. But who among us would ever pick up Crichton's books to use them for research? This book provides exactly what one would expect: an entertaining, fast-paced story that is based on what is perhaps an outlandish theory. But isn't that what Crichton does best? If you like his other novels, you'll probably like this one.

While Amy doesn't wear a backpack that converts her sign language into words in this book...wait...this novel doesn't treat people like they are idiots. It is truly a great read. Do yourself a favor and skim the 70s science explanations and instead marvel at this oustanding story.

First time I heard about the book kongo I thought its just another stupid book from michael chrichton but i was mistaken.In fact the book reminds on good old days we have to explore the world without any science or explore somthing new something that will pull down your pants and you would wish your mami was here. So the book as itself is very good but it has that litlle mistake.The red dot of the story is lost somewhere in the middle of the book.And the story is to shalow.But anway you can read it if you want to be tortured.

Some people are pretty uptight when it comes to a science fiction thriller.

I loved this book. It kept me hooked throughout each of my transit rides into the city each day, and did not have one boring moment throughout. My only letdown was that the ending felt a little rushed, and that I would have loved a more suspenseful confrontation with the evil beings right at the end.

This was another great novel by Michael Crichton. This book starts out quick with the killing of the eight group members, then it slows down to introduce the characters including a gorilla that understands sign language. The gorilla will help them out in the end... They will find some other stuff that they didn't expect to come across including diamonds and the terror that took the lives of the first group of members.

Once the story gets going though, you can't stop reading it, you'll never want to put it down. There is a lots of twist and turns that will suprise you. If you enjoy a good science fiction then you will enjoy both the technology and the story. If you don't enjoy science fiction, if you can see past the hubble in the beginning with the systems, you will still enjoy this story. It's a good book for everyone.

I think this book was great, Micheal Crichton is a great author and he puts so much exitment in his books. I am really glad I read the Congo. The talking gorrila Amy was a big part of the story and she makes the story all the more better, and so does the Congo itself. I recomend This book for anyone who likes action and who especially likes gorrilas!

Now I have read nearly all of Michael Crichton's sci-fi novels, and CONGO...is definitely the best out of all of them. I have read Jurassic Park, Terminal Man, Congo, Sphere, Eaters of the Dead, Rising Sun, The Lost World, Airframe, and Timeline. None of these books can even compare to Congo. It is one of my favorite novels of all time. The movie doesn't do it justice, then again since when did a movie ever did a book justice.
Congo is about a quest for rare diamonds and then you throw in silverback gorillas, a few competitors , a couple of plane crashes, a bunch of angry hippos, cannibals, explosives, warfare, ancient ruins, a primatologist, a guide, a bunch of guys who speak swahili and one hell of a crazy leader who would jeopardize everyone's life so long as she would get to the diamonds first!!!
If you're going to read one novel this lifetime...read PSYCHO. If you're going to read two novel this lifetime...read CONGO!!!

I thought that the book Congo by Micheal Crichton was reaally good.It was adout that this boss sends a group of people into the
region of the Congo.He sends a person named Karen Ross to find one of the people who went to the Congo and got lost.Also to find a diamond what the other had to bring back.Also a person named Peter Elliot goes with his Gorrilla named Amy who knows sign language and with some other people.When they get there they find a lost city where these gorrillas live.Karen Ross thinks that the gorrillas might have killed one of the people who worked with her.The people then go back to lost city were they find a room filled with diamonds.Then the gorrillas show up and now they have to find a way.
I thought that Congo was a very interesting book.There were no boring parts in the book.I would recommand this book to teens up to adult.

Michael Crichton mixes fact with fiction to produce another great book. In this book an eight-person exploration team is brutally murdered. A second team is sent to investigate, including a primatologist and Amy, a gorilla who understands sign language. They discover the diamonds they are looking for, and slowly discover the reason the other team died so violently.
A definite page-turner, and highly recommended.

If you think that when you read this book you will know something about Congo you are wrong, this book explains electronics, volcanoes, weather, etc, about Congo you will read about 20 pages, the descriptions of all the procedures are really boring and if you are not on that field you will not understand, maybe it was a real story, may be not, I really think not.

The plot line was written well, along with the charater discriptions and overall flow to the story. UNFORTUNATELY there seems to be a misunderstanding within the cover about if the author is part of the story or not. One paragraph he will be talking in the 1st person then the next paragraph its in the 3rd person. I was confused but definately a good book to read.

Congo, on par with Sphere and Jurassic Park, simply grips you. Like all of Crichton's books, the beginning is slow. However, I do believe that Crichton, unlike in his other novels, gives his characters sufficient motivation to keep the reader interested in them as well as his plot. The end, like half of Crichton's other novels, mingles the denoument in with a slightly anticlimactic climax. Otherwise, this book kicks and contains some of Crichton's more exciting writing, though it may not be quite so suspenseful.

When I read words from Michael Crichton, I can visualize them all. I imagine visually the entire story. His stories are technical and flowing. This book is highly recommended. I won't bother to tell you about the book because you should read without knowing to make it more exciting. This book is for techincal thinkers who can visualize.

This is actually my favorite fiction title, and to be fair, I read it before computers really took off so the technical details interested me quite a bit and didn't seem contrasting to current technology. Anyway, I loved this book, with it's intriguing plotline that really keeps you guessing until the very end. Heck, if you figured out the whole story without finishing the book, bravo to you because you must be really damned sharp.
It might be a little difficult to understand some of the passages especially when Crichton decides to truncate all the words in the satallite transmissions for the sake of what would now be "bandwidth", but with a little thinking it can be accomplished.
Overall it's still one sweet book and definitely worth a read. I found this much more riveting than Jurassic Park or The Lost World.

Excellent blend of science and fiction. This is not like some of Crichton*s later works which bore the reader with cold and tedious scientific minutia. Congo has a touching and realistic relationship between a scientist and his female gorilla. I wish Mr. Crichton would write his next work with equal warmth.

I thought this book was quite good except for the random rambligns-on of computer and satellite technology and other pointless matters. I thought the characters were for the most part interesting, although I didn't like the ending where Karen Ross goes somewhat insane. Other than that I thought they were pretty well written. I especially like Kahega, Munro, and definetly Amy. I think the book could have done better without the epilogue, which I found dimeaning to the characters and the end of the story although I like the part about Munro being accused of something by some agent and then the agent showing up dead, but thats mostly because I like Munro.

I think this book was great, Micheal Crichton is a great author and he puts so much exitment in his books. I am really glad I read the Congo. The talking gorrila Amy was a big part of the story and she makes the story all the more better, and so does the Congo itself. I recomend This book for anyone who likes action and who especially likes gorrilas!

Now I have read nearly all of Michael Crichton's sci-fi novels, and CONGO...is definitely the best out of all of them. I have read Jurassic Park, Terminal Man, Congo, Sphere, Eaters of the Dead, Rising Sun, The Lost World, Airframe, and Timeline. None of these books can even compare to Congo. It is one of my favorite novels of all time. The movie doesn't do it justice, then again since when did a movie ever did a book justice.
Congo is about a quest for rare diamonds and then you throw in silverback gorillas, a few competitors , a couple of plane crashes, a bunch of angry hippos, cannibals, explosives, warfare, ancient ruins, a primatologist, a guide, a bunch of guys who speak swahili and one hell of a crazy leader who would jeopardize everyone's life so long as she would get to the diamonds first!!!
If you're going to read one novel this lifetime...read PSYCHO. If you're going to read two novel this lifetime...read CONGO!!!

I thought that the book Congo by Micheal Crichton was reaally good.It was adout that this boss sends a group of people into the
region of the Congo.He sends a person named Karen Ross to find one of the people who went to the Congo and got lost.Also to find a diamond what the other had to bring back.Also a person named Peter Elliot goes with his Gorrilla named Amy who knows sign language and with some other people.When they get there they find a lost city where these gorrillas live.Karen Ross thinks that the gorrillas might have killed one of the people who worked with her.The people then go back to lost city were they find a room filled with diamonds.Then the gorrillas show up and now they have to find a way.
I thought that Congo was a very interesting book.There were no boring parts in the book.I would recommand this book to teens up to adult.

Michael Crichton mixes fact with fiction to produce another great book. In this book an eight-person exploration team is brutally murdered. A second team is sent to investigate, including a primatologist and Amy, a gorilla who understands sign language. They discover the diamonds they are looking for, and slowly discover the reason the other team died so violently.
A definite page-turner, and highly recommended.

After an expedition team, and its camp, is wiped out, perhaps by strange apes, in the dark jungle of the Congo, another team is quickly assembled to finish the mission -- finding the blue diamonds in a long lost city. A gorilla researcher and his gorilla "Amy" are tapped to join the mission. Michael Crichton is a very good story teller and this book is very well researched. To enjoy "Congo" however requires some suspension of critical analysis of the plot and the intellectual capability of Amy. This book is cotton candy with exactly no nutritional value. For a summer beach read, this book hits the mark. Crichton's misty jungle is full of hazards that would turn back all but the most single minded explorers. I was hooked within the first few chapters and I finished the book in short order. I recommend it highly.

If you think that when you read this book you will know something about Congo you are wrong, this book explains electronics, volcanoes, weather, etc, about Congo you will read about 20 pages, the descriptions of all the procedures are really boring and if you are not on that field you will not understand, maybe it was a real story, may be not, I really think not.

The plot line was written well, along with the charater discriptions and overall flow to the story. UNFORTUNATELY there seems to be a misunderstanding within the cover about if the author is part of the story or not. One paragraph he will be talking in the 1st person then the next paragraph its in the 3rd person. I was confused but definately a good book to read.

Congo, on par with Sphere and Jurassic Park, simply grips you. Like all of Crichton's books, the beginning is slow. However, I do believe that Crichton, unlike in his other novels, gives his characters sufficient motivation to keep the reader interested in them as well as his plot. The end, like half of Crichton's other novels, mingles the denoument in with a slightly anticlimactic climax. Otherwise, this book kicks and contains some of Crichton's more exciting writing, though it may not be quite so suspenseful.

When I read words from Michael Crichton, I can visualize them all. I imagine visually the entire story. His stories are technical and flowing. This book is highly recommended. I won't bother to tell you about the book because you should read without knowing to make it more exciting. This book is for techincal thinkers who can visualize.

This is actually my favorite fiction title, and to be fair, I read it before computers really took off so the technical details interested me quite a bit and didn't seem contrasting to current technology. Anyway, I loved this book, with it's intriguing plotline that really keeps you guessing until the very end. Heck, if you figured out the whole story without finishing the book, bravo to you because you must be really damned sharp.
It might be a little difficult to understand some of the passages especially when Crichton decides to truncate all the words in the satallite transmissions for the sake of what would now be "bandwidth", but with a little thinking it can be accomplished.
Overall it's still one sweet book and definitely worth a read. I found this much more riveting than Jurassic Park or The Lost World.

Excellent blend of science and fiction. This is not like some of Crichton*s later works which bore the reader with cold and tedious scientific minutia. Congo has a touching and realistic relationship between a scientist and his female gorilla. I wish Mr. Crichton would write his next work with equal warmth.

I thought this book was quite good except for the random rambligns-on of computer and satellite technology and other pointless matters. I thought the characters were for the most part interesting, although I didn't like the ending where Karen Ross goes somewhat insane. Other than that I thought they were pretty well written. I especially like Kahega, Munro, and definetly Amy. I think the book could have done better without the epilogue, which I found dimeaning to the characters and the end of the story although I like the part about Munro being accused of something by some agent and then the agent showing up dead, but thats mostly because I like Munro.

I seem to be in the minority in not liking this book at all, I was highly impressed by the likes of Jurassic Park and The Lost World, but this book seems to have all the same pitfalls of those with non of the pluses. The technological detail was highly boring (as with JP), I do love imaginative technology in sci-fi, like 2001 for instance, but that is seemlessly coupled with a thrilling story, this is like a textbook in places. As with all Michael Chriton books I have read, the characterisation is weak to non-existant, and unfortunately the storyline isn't elaborated enough to make it interesting. The huge potential of these apes, a relic of a brutal past civilisation is squandered in favour of a cheap horror thrill. I would not recommend this book

After reading Jurassic Park & loving it, I decided to read another Crichtion book. Congo starts off slow, but later on picks up and becomes quite interesting. My problem with the book is Crichtion uses too much scientific mumbo jumbo, that might start to bore some people. It sure did me.

It appears youngsters love this book. I bought the paperback for a flight thinking it was a recent Crichton release I somehow missed. Within a few pages it became clear from the out-of-date technology that it was written years before - and the copyright date confirms it. Within a very few more pages it became clear why it had not been previously released, and should have stayed that way. But just like the ape in the story, money talks. A triumph of profit over art.

Congo is a great book that i loved reading all the way to the end. The explanation reds "deep in the heart of the darkest region of the Congo, near the legendary ruins of the lost city of zinj, an eight person expedition dies mysteriously and brutally in a matter of minutes." That is only the beginning of the description. Its an exciting book with a lot of action and tons of exciting scenes where i couldn't put the book down. Overall, its a an exciting read with a lot of fun for everyone suspense.

The search for a special kind of diamond in the Congo uncovers a lost civilization overlorded by murderous Great White Apes with nearly humanlike intelligence. Crichton's mishmash of high adventure, industrial intrigue, and terrifying threat is entertaining, but in the end disposable - the events seeming to have little effect on the characters. Not highly recommended.

I enjoyed this one alot. Chrichton always has a way of catching and keeping my interests. Having nearly the whole first half of the book on a close race/time schedual, really had me reading fast. And it was packed with primate facts containing everything from studies on chimps to morals on animal testing. Being a reader of adventure stories, I think he could have spent a bit more time having the team explore the ruins of the lost city, and some of the technical equipment was a bit outdated, but you have to remember when it was written. Over all, I thought it was just lots of fun, staying true to Chrichton's style of mixing fact and fiction, with very imaginated plots.

This book rocked!!! I can't say how much I loved it!!! It just beat out Jurassic Park as Crichton's best. It was also a million times better than the movie. Nail biting suspense and great action. I thought The Terminal Man [was bad]!!! and same with The Lost World ( no offense). Best book ever.
Travis Robinson
...

First off, If your looking for brainless blood thirsty gorillas rent the 1995 film version, if your looking action, technical details, with mostly cardboard characters keep reading.

Review:
I have to say I have mixed feelings about this novel. Some parts were fantastically exciting while many other parts went into dull technical descriptions of early 80s communications technology. With painstakingly intricate detail Crichton elaborated on how basic text messages were sent back in the day. This can be a double edge sword, I think people who enjoy reading technical details about the past may find this stimulating but for me these parts of the novel read like a dated computer science text book.

Crichton also packed the novel full of exciting information on gorillas and other primates. I knew primates were intelligent, but I suppose I was ignorant on how intelligent they are. Then again Crichton blended fact with fiction so well I wasn't sure if he was presenting truthful facts or pulling them straight out of his a-- eh, Harvard educated mind. Either way it grabbed my attention and held it.

(**Minor Spoilers below**)

There was a great build up to get to the mysterious gorillas foreshadowed in the beginning of the novel but I felt a bit cheated with the Gray Gorillas in the novel's climax. I didn't feel like there was enough carnage or information about them. It seemed like every night in The Lost City of Zinj the gorillas repetitively and expectedly attacked the camp. It got old fast and felt contrived.

(major SPOILERS below)

This might sound terrible but I really wanted Karen Ross to die. I felt she deserved to die. She had been cold and callous the whole novel and I felt no emotional attachment to her. When Crichton isn't busy describing her as a frigid b*tch he officially tells us about a computer report that describes her as intellectually arrogant, domineering, insensitive, among other atrocities of human character. I thought Crichton was preparing to kill her off in the novel's finale when she naively arms a mine with explosives beneath a stirring volcano. She insists this won't activate the volcano, and the other characters warn her not to but then Amy the talking Gorilla conveniently scapegoats the situation by blowing up the volcano herself (with Ross egging her on). This is when I expect her to get skull crushed or sprayed with lava, but no she manages to wipe out the entire species of Gray Gorilla, destroy the Lost City of Zinj (along with the diamonds) and then lives happily ever after by changing jobs and getting married. WTF.

I liked Elliot Ross but I felt bad for him by the end of the novel. It was mentioned in the beginning of the novel his professional reputation was on the line because he was falsely accused of abusing Amy. Later when he discovered the Gray Gorilla, or Gorilla Elliotensis, I thought he was going to redeem himself through his new discovery but no Karen Ross blows them all to smithereens. Furthermore its revealed that his life project, The Make Amy Learn Sign Language Program, or whatever it was called is disbanded and Amy is freed to the jungle. In the fine print on the page its revealed that Amy has a new born, but when Elliot gets closer she zip lines into the woods with her baby. Yeah, nice to see you too Amy. I guess some would argue thats gorilla behavior, but Elliot basically raised Amy as his child and I felt he deserved a better ending.

There was also tons of disposable characters that tagged along basically waiting to be killed. In my copy of the novel on pg.257 Mulewe and Akari are found dead in the morning. After reading this I promptly thought, WHO? Oh yeah.. those foreign guys...

This book had a lot of compelling action. It was sometimes interupted by alot of unrelated topics that were just there to show that michael knew what he was talking about. It was still a good book that held my interest untill the end. I would reccomend this book to anyone who enjoys the thrill of a jungle adventure.

I am giving this book three stars because, while it is entertaining, and far better than a lot of books by other authors, for Michael Crichton, it just isn't up to snuff. If I were going to rate it just based on his other work, with no comparison to other authors, I would give it only one star-- maybe even only half a star. However, compared with alot of the drek that gets published these days and even makes the best seller lists, this book is still a heck of a lot better than most.

Typical Crichton suspense book. Well written and interesting until the end. It seems like he just got tired of writing and decided to wrap up everything as quickly as possible. Starts somewhat slowly and ends disappointingly; however, it's pretty interesting in between.

The reason that this is a terrible book is that the first part is excellent but the end is lame. I was very much into the characters and the plot, but in the end the entire climax was analogous to "And then the hero woke up."
Please don't waste you time on this book.

Crichton does a wonderful job of telling how an expedition dissapears suddenly and swiftly in the unknown of the congo. Another expedition led by Karen Ross goes out to find out what happened and to finish the former expeditions mission: to find type IIb blue diamonds in the heart of Africa.
Amy the signing gorilla is a funny and needed character in this novel.
The team encounters difficulty along the way: The Zaire Army, hippos, cannibals, and something too good to give away.
A must read for all Crichton fans and/or realistic fiction.

I'm an avid Crichton reader, but I have to admit Congo is not THE best book Crichton wrote. It is a good book, and it was written during Crichton's "Time of Greatness" so to speak; Congo, Sphere, and Jurassic Park were all written one after the other in the span of a few years (all good books, his best).

Michael Crichton is one of my favorite authors and Congo just didn't get me involved like many of his other novels. The focus seemed to be more technology oriented (interesting though) than focusing on the characters or the suspense aspects of many of his other novels. One of my favorites is "The Great Train Robbery."

If you really like Michael Crichton books,
this book is OK. If you're trying to find
a good book, don't read this. Congo has
lots of techno stuff which is quite
boring and doesn't make any sense. If
you like books like these, it's good.

If you were dissapointed in the movie version of this book I don't blame you. But don't let it take you away from the novel. I read the book way before the movie and it is right alongside Jurassic Park in read ability and worth buying to read several times

This is a stunningly gripping story that will keep your interest from the first chapter. Do not be wary due to the flop that was the movie adaption. The suspense and attention to detail makes this novel a must read.

I found this book a very good book. The Congo was fairly easy to read except for the computer transmissions. I did not like to read the coputer transmissions because half the time I did not under stand what it said. It was a very suspenceful book. I thought that the book was a lot better than the movie. The book goes into a lot more detail. The first half of the book was rather boring though because it was just explaining everything in detail. Like the facts that lead to what is going to happen. The second half was suspenceful, it keeps you on you toes. This made me want to read more.

I like monkeys just as much as the next guy but I was disappointed with the number of pages it took to get to the good part. Usually Crichton writes a great first chapter then he goes into explanation then the last 50 pages are awesome. In ''Congo" only the middle was almost no explanation it was just boring.

On the positive side monkeys are cool.

On the negative side it was kind of boring.

This book i was not impressed with. I love Michael Crichton's work but i got to say this one stunk. It talked to much about stuff that no one cares about. And the movie is worest! If u are going to buy this I warn u be aware It is not a pretty site.

I loved the whole book exept for the last 20 pages. it seems likecrichton was getting borred so he rapped it up in a really pathedicmanner. . also he should not have added the epalog (sp?), cuz itruined the whole felling that you got while reading the book. He screwed it and I am so suprised that the editers let the ending fly. the epalog really. . . gives too many facts and distroyes the idea that the book is fiction.

This book started off very slow. Then it sped up a bit. Then it slowed down again. Then it sped up some more. There were also many parts of this book that I never understood. It is pretty good, but Chrichton could have done better

This book is awesome! If you Like planet of the apes, then this is a great book for you. This takes you deep inside the jungle and makes you feel like your in there and are fighting for your life. These apes are not to be messed with, especialy when they get smarter and smarter. Great book, if you want an adventure.

This book is duller than dishwater. I was so excited to read this and to my disappointment it was such a dull, slow read. So many pages of experiments that took place 20-30 years prior to the story. the whole build up lead to a great big fizzling finale. I had such high hopes, but hey you can't win them all

Like "Jurassic Park", this book starts out promisingly but runs out of steam within just a few chapters.

My reasons for such an accusation:

1. Crichton overloads the reader with scientific facts. And while these can be quite interesting, they often obstruct the action and progress of the storyline (Dan Brown, for instance, is a writer who can properly balance compelling action with factual sensitivity). As a result, the book comes off as slow and stumbling.

2. The plot isn't all that interesting to begin with. (Vengeful gorillas? Talking gorillas? Misanthropic gorillas? Come on.)

3. The book's ending is utterly terrible.

4. Cricton's writing is weak, and the characters are inconsistent and unconvincing.

Sorry, Michael, but this book just didn't do it for me.

This truly was one of Michael Crichtons best novels. Alhtough superbly written, it did lack some of the technical intricacies of the usual Michael Crichton novel. As far as the book being family friendly, it didn't do too bad either, getting a T-rating from [...] I think the movie got a similar rating.

I loved the whole book exept for the last 20 pages. it seems likecrichton was getting borred so he rapped it up in a really pathedicmanner. . also he should not have added the epalog (sp?), cuz itruined the whole felling that you got while reading the book. He screwed it and I am so suprised that the editers let the ending fly. the epalog really. . . gives too many facts and distroyes the idea that the book is fiction.

This book started off very slow. Then it sped up a bit. Then it slowed down again. Then it sped up some more. There were also many parts of this book that I never understood. It is pretty good, but Chrichton could have done better

This book is awesome! If you Like planet of the apes, then this is a great book for you. This takes you deep inside the jungle and makes you feel like your in there and are fighting for your life. These apes are not to be messed with, especialy when they get smarter and smarter. Great book, if you want an adventure.

This book is duller than dishwater. I was so excited to read this and to my disappointment it was such a dull, slow read. So many pages of experiments that took place 20-30 years prior to the story. the whole build up lead to a great big fizzling finale. I had such high hopes, but hey you can't win them all

Like "Jurassic Park", this book starts out promisingly but runs out of steam within just a few chapters.

My reasons for such an accusation:

1. Crichton overloads the reader with scientific facts. And while these can be quite interesting, they often obstruct the action and progress of the storyline (Dan Brown, for instance, is a writer who can properly balance compelling action with factual sensitivity). As a result, the book comes off as slow and stumbling.

2. The plot isn't all that interesting to begin with. (Vengeful gorillas? Talking gorillas? Misanthropic gorillas? Come on.)

3. The book's ending is utterly terrible.

4. Cricton's writing is weak, and the characters are inconsistent and unconvincing.

Sorry, Michael, but this book just didn't do it for me.

This truly was one of Michael Crichtons best novels. Alhtough superbly written, it did lack some of the technical intricacies of the usual Michael Crichton novel. As far as the book being family friendly, it didn't do too bad either, getting a T-rating from [...] I think the movie got a similar rating.

I have been a frequent reader of Michael Crichton and I love his unique style and prose. This has to be one of his best works ever~I loved it! If you have a love for suspension and little-known historical facts, pick up this book and let the pages turn!

I have read many books but none have stood out in my mind as well as Congo has. Michael Crichton has out done himself this book is great. Elliot, Ross, and Amy travel to the Congo in search of industrial grade blue diamonds. They run into a new species of gorilla and from there the story gets much more interesting. Overall it's a great book.

The first review of this book asks why they didn't find the jewels. I don't know if they're aware that this book is based on a true story. The book wasn't my cup if tea, but it was still classical Crichton. Try Sphere, it's better.

Michael shows again he is the best.It is a story of an expedition to the lost city of zinj.We all know it from H.Rider Haggard's book 'King Solomon's Mines'.In this book main character is played by Dr.Karen Ross and Dr.Peter Elliot.of course amy,the talking ape.this book is all about gorrillas.Anyway it is worth the money

Congo Thought this started out a little slow for Crichtons writing but got pretty good and enjoyed reading this book. Adventure and wondering what would happen next kept it a good read.

From the first few pages to the (next to the) last pages, this book is one of few books which genuinely held my interest the entire time. I love the way that the book is divided into chapters by the days that they spent there. Amy (the gorilla) made it even more of a wonderful book, throwing in occasional humorous remarks. Highly recommended!

I couldn't even get half way through it. Bland characters, unrealistic plot. With too much dated, unnecessary and boring information. The gorilla, Amy, was not even realistic. He made her out to be more intelligent and more capable at signing than happens in reality. I am supposed to believe that the first time Amy was shown a watermelon she signed "water fruit" combining the two signs all on her own? Really?

What is this, written for third graders?

Also, the reality is modern weapons could easily wipe out any apes alive, killer or not. Ludicrous plot. I have concluded this author is a bit overhyped and overrated.

I found the story line had an interesting prospect, the fast and furious world of computer technology, meets the Jungle! Unfortunatly as I read more of the book the more bored I got. One of the few Michael Crichton books that I wouldn't recomend

The book is a classic crichton-fast, full of suspense and scaring.neverthless the book fails to cleary account for the origin of the killer apes. its his second best after jurassic park.read it you wont regret.

this was the first michael crichton book i had ever read, and i really enjoyed it. the language crichton used made the story believable and exciting. there is a bit of lull in the middle section, but the story is worth it. i also recommend reading Sphere

It was quite a nice experiance to read Crichton's Congo. I really like the way he described everything, and his characters are lively created.I love his mathematical prodigy, Karen Ross. I would recomend this book to any one who just loves adventure.

I thought Congo was a decent book- perhaps a bit too much technobabble and not enough of the gorillas, but it didn't detract from the story much. I wouldn't buy it but definitely check it out from the library.

Congo was a good book with a lot of suspense. I liked it alot, even though some of it is a little far fetched. I am a huge Chrichton fan, and I've read better of his books, but this still rates up there, above many authors books.