State of Fear

American author Michael Crichton’s thriller novel State of Fear (HarperCollins Publishers, 2004) dramatizes the debate surrounding global warming. Set in the contemporary world, the novel tells the story of a group of characters attempting to thwart eco-terrorist threats. The plot exudes intrigue and action—including shootouts, deadly crocodiles, deceptive agents, and the faked death of George Morton, the man who links the characters together. State of Fear is also a polemic casting doubt on the theory of global warming and criticizing perceived biases in the media and science. Crichton weaves graphs, footnotes, and scientific references into the novel’s plot to support his argument. State of Fear received the 2006 Journalism Award from the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG), despite being a work of fiction, and despite the perceived conflict of interest between an energy industry organization and the theory of global warming.

Plot Summary

Part 1, “Akamai,” opens by describing seemingly unrelated events: the mysterious death of a researcher in Paris named Jonathan Marshall, and the purchase of industrial equipment in Malaysia. Later, these events all prove to be connected to the eco-terrorist group, the Earth Liberation Front (ELF). Researchers John Kenner and Sanjong Thapa, while tracking ELF, cross paths with associates of the National Environmental Research Fund (NERF). These include the philanthropist Morton, his lawyer Peter Evans, and NERF’s director Nicholas Drake. Drake and his team are preparing for a lawsuit filed by the Pacific island Vanutu against the United States, who it charges as responsible for the global warming causing rising sea levels that threaten the nation. Drake is obsessed with promoting the theory of global warming as a catastrophe, in part to bolster the case. Morton begins to doubt Drake and withholds funding for NERF. After a NERF banquet, Morton crashes his car and is presumed dead, although his body is not found at the scene.

In Part 2, “Terror,” ELF is planning to break off part of the Antarctic ice shelf with explosives, forming an enormous iceberg to dramatize the issue of global warming. Kenner, Sanjong, Evans, and Morton’s assistant Sarah Jones attempt to stop the event, but they are thrown off by ELF operatives posing as researchers. One traps Sarah and Evans in a deep ice crevasse, and they only barely escape. As they recover, Kenner suggests to Evans that media coverage of global warming is deceptive. In Part 3, “Angel,” and Part 4, “Flash,” Kenner tells Evans he is suspicious of Drake. Evans discovers a DVD of Drake discussing manipulating the presentation of scientific research to suit NERF’s intentions. Meanwhile, Kenner and Sarah follow an ELF operative to Arizona, where the eco-terrorists are testing the creation of artificial lightning. When ELF members entrap them in the test site, Kenner and Sarah narrowly escape being struck by lightning.

Part 5, “Snake,” takes place in McKinley State Park, where ELF is planning to trigger a flash flood with a storm seeded with artificial lightning. Despite several skirmishes with ELF members, Kenner and his entourage fail to stop the flood. In the aftermath, Sarah recovers from a lightning strike that would have killed her had Evans not resuscitated her. Kenner’s niece, Jennifer, has long discussions with Evans and an actor associated with NERF, Ted Bradley, about the inconclusive research, bias, and media manipulation surrounding global warming. A body believed to be Morton’s is discovered, but Evans is unable to identify it. At the close of the section, ELF operatives attack him with a deadly blue-ringed octopus, though he survives.

Part Six, “Blue,” reveals that Drake knew about the attack. Evans attends the NERF conference, where he is introduced to Professor Norman Hoffmann, and his theory that the “politico-legal-media complex” controls perceptions of climate science and generates false threats like global warming. At the conference, Sarah witnesses blatant media manipulation of climate science, simultaneously confirming the connection between ELF and NERF.

In the novel’s final section, “Resolution,” Kenner’s group heads to the island of Gareda to thwart ELF’s plan to generate a tsunami. Cannibalistic islanders capture the group, though they escape (with the exception of Ted), when Morton appears, alive and well, to help them. They fail to stop ELF’s tsunami, but it is too small to do any damage. As the novel closes, Morton recruits Evans for the new environmentalist organization he plans to found, one focused on depoliticized, unbiased research and action. State of Fear closes with a list of the research sources Crichton used when writing the novel, as well as his Author’s Message and an Appendix on “Why Politicized Science is Dangerous.” These echo the novel’s argument against the theory of global warming, media manipulation, and biased research.