This is the classic Crichton. In all of his best stories (Andromeda Strain, Jurassic Park, Sphere, Congo, etc.), he follows the same formula of a team of scientists from various fields coming together to explore some sci-fi premise that's rooted in a current (of the time) scientific breakthrough. The movie adaptation of this book was atrocious but the book is a fun adventure.

I wanted to be impressed/enthralled....truly had expected to be. Characters and plot fueled by greed, timelines, and fear. Had expected thriller entertainment, mixed with high tech of the times. The tech part delivered, the plot bogged down at times. Could not develop any emotional ties to the main characters....other than the charming Amy, girl gorilla extraordinaire. Had it not been for my concern of Amy's welfare, I might have given up on this book. OK, I lied...I did have an emotional tie to cold, calculating Karen Ross, a deeply negative tie. Was almost disappointed the attacking gorillas didn't chomp on her backside.

This was a thrilling adventure, and Crichton gave the story a deal of credibility by interjecting so much scientific and technological detail into it Remember, this is a story with a skydiving gorilla in it.. Additionally, the characters tasked with finding the lost city of Zinj -- expedition leader Karen Ross, mercenary Charles Munro, gorilla expert Peter Elliot, and of course, female gorilla Amy -- were very well developed considering how fast the story moved and the length of the novel.

However, while I really do like the directness of Crichton's prose, the novel was a bit too frenetic to build the tension that Crichton seemed to desire, and the deus ex machina ending The remaining team members escaping in a hot air balloon found inside the crashed plane. seemed rather convenient considering the difficulties the characters had travelling to that point. Overall, while not Crichton's finest work, which is a high bar indeed, this is easily worth a read.

I was at Costco the other day and saw the cover art for a book that looked a lot like Jurassic Park, then did a double take when I saw Michael Crichton’s name on it. Apparently Mr. Crichton is the Tupac of fiction, now with his 3rd book released since his death. I was nearly intrigued enough to buy the book and then thought to myself, “how many of his books have been out for decades that I haven’t even read yet?” Remembering I had Congo sitting on my shelf for years, I decided to finally read it, forgoing my reluctance based on the terrible movie. I can say that the book is definitely better than the movie, but still a far cry from Crichton’s best.

One thing that Crichton has never excelled at is in-depth characters and Congo does nothing to make an exception of that. Of all the primary characters in the novel, the one with the most depth isn’t even human. Amy, the hyper-intelligent gorilla who joins the expedition into the Congo, is the only character that really shows growth and something resembling a full character arc. Of the other characters, Karen Ross is the callous geologist who shows no empathy for her colleagues and whose mind is only on money and the mission of finding diamonds in the lost city of Zinj. There’s Peter Elliot, the intelligent yet naive primatologist, who instantly agreed to go on an incredibly dangerous mission simply because he was wanting to take Amy into the jungle anyway. And Munro, who admittedly is much more fun to read about than the previous two, is the confident guide who is there because he’s the best at what he does. For such a hardened, tough character, Munro is the definitely the most empathetic and the only one besides Peter who treats Amy as more than just an animal. He’s also just an all around bad-ass.

The story gets going immediately as an expedition into the Congo is wiped out by mysterious assailants on the hunt for diamonds. So naturally a second expedition is put together immediately. Time is of the essence, as the Americans race against the Euro-Japanese Consortium, a rival competitor on the search for the same diamonds and the same lost city of Zinj. The quick pace of the novel is frequently interrupted by info dumps regarding technology and how quickly it’s advancing. These interludes might have been more interesting if the technology in question wasn’t nearly 40 years old now (at one point they talk about a massive worldwide network of computers being an unlikely possibility for the future.) Although I suppose comparing the technology of that time, and the characters being so excited about achieving things which are so trivial today, is interesting enough in its own right. To me, this emphasis on technology sort of detracts from the mystery of hunting down a mythical city and lost civilization in the middle of the world’s largest jungle. Maybe that’s what Crichton was going for: What if Dr Livingston had had satellite tracking and laser-guided machine guns on his adventures in Africa?

All in all, it’s a fun book with Crichton’s trademark addicting “must turn another page” style. While it starts with great promise, it ended leaving me a tad underwhelmed. It’s not that the book didn’t fulfill the promises laid out in the beginning, it’s just that once the veil was lifted, the mystery outweighed the reality. The strange and mysterious inhabitants of the city weren’t so strange once we see them, just angry (okay, we all know they’re grey gorillas. We all saw the dumb movie.) And as for the city, the characters even comment on how unremarkable it is. This city and its inhabitants were all fictional, so if they are mundane, it’s only because the author made them so. While the book had a reasonably satisfying ending, I couldn’t help but wonder, “ultimately, what was the point?” The characters, other than the gorilla, didn’t really grow or seem to overcome their flaws for the experience. Also, the frequent passages of “later, they will recount that...” clearly tell us that the characters survive the experience, which just further saps the tension the drama. It’s a fun book, and I don’t regret reading it, but it doesn’t hold a candle to Sphere or Jurassic Park.

Aged like milk…

I actually really like the infamous movie adaptation of this book. It's the perfect example of a so-bad-its-good campy movie. The book was fine. I always love Chrichton's concepts but struggle with the execution. Meh.

3.5 stars

In June 1979, a party of geologists searching for industrial blue diamonds in Congo's dense jungles of the Virunga area is savagely attacked and wiped out by something. Back at headquarters in Houston, geologist, geek and sometime child prodigy Dr Karen Ross insists on setting off on another expedition, to get to the diamonds and discover what happened to her colleagues. This results in her approaching a primatologist named Dr Peter Elliott, who has spent several years teaching sign language to a gorilla named Amy. Amy's recent nightmares have prompted her to start painting distinctive ruins in jungles, and Peter is convinced the answer to Amy's distress lies in the Congo, from where she was brought as an infant.

So Ross, Elliott, and Amy go off to the rain forests of Congo, guided by a mercenary named Munro. Simultaneously, civil war breaks out; this part of Africa begins to seethe, and the cannibalistic Kigani go on the rampage. As if that wasn't enough, the volcano our protagonists are headed towards has begun to get restless... and there is that ominous presence, somewhere in the jungles around them, which ferociously guards the mythical lost City of Zinj, home to legendary riches.

I was underwhelmed by Congo. This is the sort of adventure that might've worked a hundred years ago, when Africa was still regarded as the Dark Continent, a forbidding, dangerous place: the setting for the Tarzan series, or King Solomon's Mines. In this day and age, the style and content—cramming the adventure with just about everything exotic and wild about Africa—makes the story just a little too fantastic. It's almost as if Crichton sat down and listed everything he'd ever seen or heard about regarding Africa, past and present, and then bunged it in here. The ruins of a fabled city of enormous wealth (an African El Dorado, so to say)? Check. Vicious creatures that smash people's heads and vanish into the night? Check. Hippos attacking boats on rivers? Check. Volcanoes? Check. Cannibals? Pygmies? Civil war? Erupting volcanoes? Check, check, check.

Along the way there are some interesting insights into everything from military technology to the behaviour of apes, but these occasionally end up coming in the way of the story itself, the story being put on hold while we're told how World War III will be fought and in how much time, etc, etc. For me, another major irritant was the fact that every now and then the narrative changed slightly to go into past perfect: "—was to later say that...", which of course gives away the fact that X survived this hair-raising ordeal.

Not terrible, but certainly not one of Crichton's better books.

It was quite a jarring change to read this coming off several books full of personality and style. Crichton's writing is so completely dry and unemotional, with his characters having no discernible traits. Things happen here from the mundane to the thrilling, but they're all delivered in the same uncaring style. This is a fun story told poorly, often interrupted by detached lessons on history and science which I had to start skim reading due how awkwardly integrated they were.

With one big exception: Amy the gorilla. She's great, a delightful ape who has learned to communicate through sign language and consistently comes out as the strongest part of the book. Anyway, the book does improve in the second half once the journey into the jungle begins. It moves fast and has a lot of action sequences. Unfortunately, I just wasn't invested enough to really be interested.

The film adaption of this has gone down in history as a silly bit of cheesy fluff, but it's actually a considerable improvement over the novel. This is something I'm starting to think applies to all movie versions of Crichton's work.

would have given this book five stars but i've seen the movie which traumatized me with it's badness. although i literally finished the book in the parking lot of the theater the weekend it came out so it was very fresh in my mind and ready to be compared for all its shortcomings. was it fair to the movie? no. was it fair that they actually charged people to see that piece of *expletive deleted*? no. i say that makes us even. my problems with the book. not too many. it did what it wanted to do. rambled a wee bit but most books do. my problems with the movie. oh where to start? how about the horrific casting. ernie hudson as monroe? the role could have been played perfectly by...tim curry! unfortunately mr. curry was playing a different role in the movie. one which he is used to playing: the villain. (see Legend, Rocky Horror, The Shadow, Kinsey and IT for reference). What makes this villain different from the others was that he wasn't necessary to the story. my proof of this accusation is that he wasn't even in the book. yes, you read that last sentence correctly. they made up a main villain for the movie. tim (im a huge fan and therefore reserve the right to refer to him by his first name) is an awesome actor playing a character that should never have existed. sad but true. other problems. monkeys look fake. you can almost see the zipper that opens the suit for the actors to get out them. monkeys are way dumber than they were in the book. what could have been an intense and frightening film was made into mindless action fluff. although the volcano eruption was cool. im too tired from bitching at the movie to keep going now. basically the book was WAY better than the movie and should be read if you like semi realistic horror/action.

I’m back on my Crichton kick, and Congo is a wild mix of adventure, science, and mystery that still holds up—despite some amusingly outdated tech references and Crichton’s usual quirks.

Set in 1979, the novel follows a corporate expedition deep into the Congo, hunting for rare Type IIb blue diamonds—prized for their industrial applications. But when the first team’s final transmission reveals a wrecked camp and a blurry, ape-like figure, it’s clear something deadly is lurking in the jungle.

Enter Dr. Elliott, a UC Berkeley primatologist, and Amy, a young gorilla fluent in sign language. Alongside Dr. Ross, a corporate researcher, and the rugged, resourceful guide Capt. Munro, they navigate rival firms, tribal conflicts, and the mystery of the lost city of Zinj. But the greatest threat isn’t human—it’s something ancient, something lethal.

Crichton seamlessly blends real-world science with adrenaline-fueled action. His deep dive into primate research, African history, and lost-world mythology adds depth to the narrative. Amy steals the show, giving the story a unique edge over typical adventure thrillers.

That said, Congo has its flaws. The pacing wobbles—some sections bog down with heavy exposition on geography and tech, while the action sometimes feels rushed. The characters, while engaging, don’t have the depth of those in Crichton’s best works, making it harder to fully invest in them. And the climax, while solid, doesn’t quite deliver on the novel’s intense buildup. Then again, that’s a common Crichton trait, so I can’t complain too much.

While Congo doesn’t quite reach the heights of Jurassic Park, it’s still a thrilling ride packed with danger, discovery, and Crichton’s signature scientific intrigue. If you’re into action-adventure with a dose of real-world science, this one’s worth the trek.

CW: animal death
Definitely not his best book. Oh no I did not like the gorillas being hurt. That was too much for me. Bit racist. Overall it was just okay.