READ EXCERPT: 'Next,' by Michael Crichton

Nov. 28, 2006 — -- Best-selling author Michael Crichton's latest thriller, "Next," which explores genetic research, hits stores today.

The Harvard Medical School graduate, never one to shy away from controversy, takes on science gone awry and the dangers of genetic experimentation in this thriller. Two million copies of "Next" will be released in hard cover, e-book and audio book format.

You can read more about "Next" by clicking here.

Read an excerpt of the book below:

Beneath the high canopy of trees, the jungle floor was dark and silent. No breeze stirred the giant ferns at shoulder height. Hagar wiped sweat from his forehead, glancedback at the others, and pushed on. The expedition moved deep into thejungles of central Sumatra. No one spoke, which was the way Hagarliked it.

The river was just ahead. A dugout canoe on the near bank, a ropestretched across the river at shoulder height. They crossed in twogroups, Hagar standing up in the dugout, pulling them across on therope, then going back for the others. It was silent except for the cry ofa distant hornbill.

They continued on the opposite bank. The jungle trail grew narrower,and muddy in spots. The team didn't like that; they made a lotof noise trying to scramble around the wet patches. Finally, one said,"How much farther is it?"

It was that kid. The whiny American teenager with spots on his face.

He was looking to his mother, a largish matron in a broad straw hat."Are we almost there?" the kid whined.

Hagar put his finger to his lips. "Quiet!"

"My feet hurt."

The other tourists were standing around, a cluster of bright-coloredclothing. Staring at the kid.

"Look," Hagar whispered, "if you make noise, you won't see them."

"I don't see them anyhow." The kid pouted, but he fell into line asthe group moved on. Today they were mostly Americans. Hagar didn'tlike Americans, but they weren't the worst. The worst, he had to admit,were the--

"There!"

"Look there!"

The tourists were pointing ahead, excited, chattering. About fiftyyards up the trail and off to the right, a juvenile male orangutan stoodupright in the branches that swayed gently with his weight. Magnificentcreature, reddish fur, roughly forty pounds, distinctive white streak inthe fur above his ear. Hagar had not seen him in weeks.