This is Crichton’s third book on genetics, Jurassic Park and Lost World being the first 2. While Jurassic Park had a wide appeal to every child who likes dinosaurs, Next will appeal to science or law lovers. This book is a cautionary tale of how fast genetics is moving and what could be possible in a short amount of time. The book highlights that science is moving so fast that law is not able to keep up: A major plot point in the book involves cells taken from a human body have been ruled by the legal courts to be discarded waste material and therefore the property of a university, not the individual. Crichton uses it to highlight that property law seems to govern genetics and not an individual’s right. He also highlights the practice of patenting genes. Many genes that exist in your body are patented.

As usually the story is enjoyable and fast paced with many divergent story lines coming together to a final conflict; however, many story lines do not have any relationship to the main plot and are simply there to show a consequence of genetic research that Crichton wants to focus on briefly.