If you ever want to feel a sense of awe, stand near an erupting volcano. The late author Michael Crichton was fascinated by volcanoes for most of his life. And even now, sixteen years after his death, you will find piles of volcano research among the countless books and papers in his office in Santa Monica.
To his widow, Sherri Alexander Crichton, it’s almost as if he’s still there. “I feel his energy all the time,” she said.
And in the mountain of papers he left behind, she found parts of an unfinished novel centering on a massive volcanic eruption. It struck Sherri as something he would have wanted to share: a posthumous blockbuster from someone who gave the world so much in his relatively short life, including genetically recreated dinosaurs.
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In the literary world, Michael Crichton was a colossus: the only writer to have a number one book, movie and TV show in the same year. He was also a Harvard-educated physician, a prolific genius who created scientific thrillers that took millions of people on heart-wrenching rides, from the emergency rooms of the big city in “ER,” to the tornado-ravaged heartland in “Twister,” to places where only exist in our dreams (and nightmares), like ‘Jurassic Park’.
Family photo
Sherri Crichton remembers him as someone who was incredibly fun, but sometimes distant. “I remember when I first started dating Michael, a dear friend of mine said, ‘Sherri, it’s going to go like this: It’s going to feel like he doesn’t want anything to do with you when he’s writing. He won’t feel like he wants anything to do with you when he’s writing.” like he’ll love you more because he’ll like the book. And you’ll have to make peace with that.’ And I thought, ‘Of course I’ll be fine.’
“But when it hit, like those first few times he really broke up, he was present, but he was actually still in his creation, whatever that was,” she said.
She admits it was a difficult time: “And it took a lot of self-confidence to be able to say to myself, ‘This will be okay. Let’s give it another month. Let’s see what it will be like.'”
They married in 2005, but three years later Michael Crichton died of cancer at age 66, leaving Sherri alone and six months pregnant with their son, John Michael.
As she picked up the pieces of her life, she discovered and read parts of the volcano book he had been working on, a page-turner about a massive eruption in Hawaii that was worse than any in history.
It ended abruptly. “But I kept thinking, ‘There has to be more,’” Sherri said.
And so, after more than ten years, she decided it was time to finish it. But then there was the question of who. “I just went big. I thought, ‘What about James Patterson?'”
James Patterson is one of the most successful authors in history, having sold approximately 400 million books and collaborating with the likes of President Bill Clinton And Dolly Parton. The truth is, Patterson has a backlog of projects that keep him working every day. But when Sherri Crichton called, he answered. And Michael Crichton’s story – about the explosive volcano and the fact that it threatened to burst open a stockpile of toxic waste so powerful it could wipe out life on planet Earth – was too good to pass up.
But finishing the book was a tall order for both Patterson and Sherri Crichton.
She said she was apprehensive at first: “I was just nervous because it’s a new relationship,” Sherri said.
Patterson added, “And she lives in Hollywood, and people lie here!”
“I have to say, I’m just fiercely protective of Michael’s materials,” she said.
WEB EXTRA: James Patterson on the “gift” of a new Michael Crichton thriller (YouTube video)
And how did Patterson find Michael Crichton’s voice – or should he? He said: “I’d read everything Michael Crichton wrote. So I guess I had a feel for the voice. This book might be a little smoother than some of his books, but just a little bit. But I had a feel for it. I challenge people to come out and say: This is where Michael stopped, and this is where James started. And I’m really proud of that. I’m really happy with it.”
The end result – ‘Eruption’ by Michael Crichton and James Patterson – will be released tomorrow.
Klein, Bruin & Co.
Patterson said, “There’s a quote – I don’t know where this came from, and it’s not me, but I love it, and it relates to my participation in this project, and I think it’s actually more valuable to 20 year olds than it is for me – and the quote is: ‘My time here is short; what is the best thing I can do?’
“And I felt like with ‘Eruption’ and Michael Crichton I could do it beautifully,” Patterson said.
He’s not wrong; The finished book is already rumored to have studios clamoring for the film rights.
And it’s also true to the spirit of the man who started it. Sherri said, “He was amazing. He was vulnerable and kind.”
And now his work will live on, in a team effort that is highly anticipated and – for Sherri Crichton at least – worth the wait.
“I was single until the time I met Michael,” she said. “And people always said, ‘Why are you so picky?’ And I’m like, ‘It’s just not right yet.’ So I waited.
“And it was the same with Jim. … I waited for this manuscript until I felt that the time was right, that I had all the pieces of the puzzle. But then it had to fit well. And I think it was. Okay!”
READ AN EXCERPT: “Eruption” by Michael Crichton and James Patterson
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Story produced by John D’Amelio. Editor: Mike Levine.
