Crichton was easily my favorite contemporary author. Jurassic Park, Prey, State of Fear, Timeline among others were great books. I wasn't as big of a fan of his more corporate stories such as Rising Sun or Disclosure, but they were decent as well. The only bad Crichton book that I've read was The Great Train Robbery.

Really loved the dinos dude-RIP

I'm not hellishly impressed by hack writers, no matter how successful they are. 

It was surprising to hear yesterday that Michael Crichton passed away. I grew up reading several of his successful novels, and they were always well done. He was creating great works of fiction for about forty years before his death, and a surprising percentage of them were made into successful films. Crichton will probably be most remembered for two classic American franchises. Jurassic Park is one of the classic novels and films of the 1990s, and ER is one of the most successful television programs of all time. Its a bit upsetting to see that cancer took his life relatively early.