In Michael Crichton's intense, thrilling, and suspenseful science-fiction novel, scientists have to find the cause of a disease that came from outer space. A meteor has crashed near a small town in the desert, and something has killed everyone in the town except an old man and a newborn baby. Why are these two alive? What common thread connects them?

Four scientists are brought together in a secret government laboratory underground. Their job is to find the solution as fast as possible. They have five days. If they don't find the cause and a solution, the town, the area around the town, and the secret laboratory will have to be destroyed by nuclear explosives to prevent the spread of the deadly strain from outer space. The story is divided into five chapters, recounting what happens on each of the five days.

The Andromeda Strain is well-written and very believable. Of all Crichton's books I found this to be the best because I felt it was actually taking place. As I read, graphs and computer information were used to explain seemingly real events. But could a catastrophe of this nature really happen? With all our space travel and shuttle flights, one exploration really could bring back a foreign strain which would infect our plane C a frightening thought