Sphere

 Sphere by Michael Crichton (1987, 385 pages)

I picked this book up because I had just finished Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea  by Jules Verne and heard Sphere pulls heavily from it. In this sci-fi mystery, a group of scientists is pulled together to investigate an airplane crash in the middle of the ocean. The list comes by the recommendation of psychologist Dr. Norman Johnson when the U.S. Navy asked him for a report on human responses to potential alien contact.

The story becomes claustrophobic as the scientists and Navy personnel live solely in a cramped underwater habitat. They have to don diving suits to access the underwater crash-- which they identify as American-made, but nothing they recognize. It becomes a little thriller-y when the human psyche is pushed to the limits of underwater living. Mysterious creatures show and events start happening after the discovery of a large polished sphere on board the crash site. A lot less dense than Jules Verne books, and a lot more mystery, but it does incorporate a few Vernian ideas.

I tend to love Michael Crichton books, and this one was interesting but left a lot to be desired. In my opinion, this book is for those who enjoy the fiction part more than the science part of science fiction. It has the mystery thriller part of Crichton's Andromeda Strain but fewer explanations and more focus on human interaction.