Scratch One
![]() First edition cover | |
Author | John Lange |
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Language | English |
Publisher | Signet Books |
Publication date | September 1967 |
Publication place | United States |
Media type | Print (Paperback) |
Pages | 192 |
LC Class | PS3553.R48 |
Preceded by | Odds On |
Followed by | Easy Go |
Scratch One is Michael Crichton's second novel to be published, as well as the second novel to be under his pseudonym John Lange. It was released in 1967 under the pseudonym of John Lange. It is a short 192-page paperback novel. Hard Case Crime republished the novel under Crichton's name on October 29, 2013.[1]
Plot summary
Roger Carr has a lot going for him. He's a handsome, charming and privileged man who practices law—more as a means to support his playboy lifestyle than a career. Thanks to his father, who is a powerful politician, Carr has many connections. For this reason, his law associates tolerate him and keep him around.
Carr is sent to Nice, France on a job by one of his wealthy political connections to find and secure the purchase of a Villa. Little does he know that this cushy assignment is going to put him in the middle of an arms deal investigation involving the CIA and a gang called the Associates.
Both sides mistake him for someone else—an American assassin—and neither side can understand why Carr is ignoring them. The CIA take it as a sign of defiance, the Associates perceive him as a cool and collected professional, who knows exactly what he's doing and is difficult to predict.
Carr becomes slowly aware that something strange is going on. He's not sure...but he thinks someone may be trying to kill him. The worst part of it is, he has no clue as to why.
What happens next will send Carr on a thrilling roller-coaster ride involving fast cars, fast women and international terrorists.
Background
Crichton wrote the book while travelling through Europe on a travel fellowship. He visited the Cannes Film Festival and Monaco Grand Prix and then decided "any idiot should be able to write a potboiler set in Cannes and Monaco" and wrote it in eleven days. He later described the book as "no good".[2]
Reception
One critic from the Chicago Daily News wrote "the novelist... doesn't start his suspense slowly, building to a climax. Even before you're settled in your chair he grabs you by the throat and never lets you go... the writing is crisp, the violence surgically exact, the sex unobtrusive and the humour just right."[3] The New York Times called it "wonderful escape reading".[4]
References
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- t
- e
- The Andromeda Strain (1969)
- The Terminal Man (1972)
- The Great Train Robbery (1975)
- Eaters of the Dead (1976)
- Congo (1980)
- Sphere (1987)
- Jurassic Park (1990)
- Rising Sun (1992)
- Disclosure (1994)
- The Lost World (1995)
- Airframe (1996)
- Timeline (1999)
- Prey (2002)
- State of Fear (2004)
- Next (2006)
- Pirate Latitudes (2009) *
- Micro (2011) *
- Dragon Teeth (2017) *
- Eruption (2024) *
under pseudonyms
- Odds On (1966)
- Scratch One (1967)
- Easy Go (1968)
- A Case of Need (1968)
- Zero Cool (1969)
- The Venom Business (1969)
- Drug of Choice (1970)
- Dealing: or the Berkeley-to-Boston Forty-Brick Lost-Bag Blues (1970)
- Grave Descend (1970)
- Binary (1972)
- The Andromeda Evolution (2019)
- Five Patients (1970)
- Jasper Johns (1977)
- Electronic Life (1983)
- Travels (1988)
- Pursuit (1972)
- Westworld (1973)
- Coma (1978)
- The First Great Train Robbery (1978)
- Looker (1981)
- Runaway (1984)
- Physical Evidence (1989)
- Extreme Close-Up (1973)
- Westworld (1973)
- Jurassic Park (1993)
- Rising Sun (1993)
- Twister (1996)
- Beyond Westworld (1980)
- ER (1994–2009)
- Westworld (2016–2022)
- The Andromeda Strain (1971)
- Dealing: Or the Berkeley-to-Boston Forty-Brick Lost-Bag Blues (1972)
- The Carey Treatment (1972)
- Pursuit (1972)
- The Terminal Man (1974)
- The First Great Train Robbery (1978)
- Jurassic Park (1993)
- Rising Sun (1993)
- Disclosure (1994)
- Congo (1995)
- The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)
- Sphere (1998)
- The 13th Warrior (1999)
- Jurassic Park III (2001)
- Timeline (2003)
- The Andromeda Strain (2008)
- Jurassic World (2015)
- Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018)
- Jurassic World Dominion (2022)
- Untitled Jurassic World film (2025)
- Amazon (1984)
- Westworld 2000 (1996)
- Timeline (2000)
- Jurassic Park series
- Westworld (1973–2022)
- Jurassic Park (1993–present)
- *Released posthumously
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