While doing postdoctoral work at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California, Crichton published
The Andromeda Strain (1969), a technological thriller, which garnered literary acclaim and national prominence for the author. Upon leaving medical studies, Crichton began a full-time writing career. Eventually, he also directed his screenplay of his novel
Westworld (1973), starring Yul Brynner, and wrote the screenplay for his book,
The Great Train Robbery (1978).
Crichton's stories generally take place in contemporary settings and focus on technological themes, although his earliest works were traditional mystery novels. Writing under the pseudonym John Lange, Crichton published a mystery novel entitled Odds On (1966), followed by A Case of Need (1968), written under the pseudonym Jeffrey Hudson. A Case of Need received favorable reviews and the 1968 Edgar Allan Poe Award of Mystery Writers of America. In 1969, Crichton published The Andromeda Strain, a novel that, Crichton acknowledges, was influenced by Len Deighton's The Ipcress File (1962) and H. G. WellsThe War of The Worlds.The Andromeda Strain is a technological thriller about a seemingly unstoppable plague brought to earth from outer space; it became a Book-of-the-Month Club selection and a 1971 motion picture, directed by Robert Wise and starring Arthur Hill.
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