Michael Crichton Writing as John Lange...

Drug of Choice

Crichton penned and published several novels while attending Harvard Medical School. Drug of Choice was Crichton's 6^th published novel (1970) under the pseudonym of John Lange. In this novel, we are immersed in familiar Crichton themes: Science exploited by those in power for nefarious reasons.

Our central protagonist is Roger Clark, a good-looking twenty-something; a participating resident in internal medicine at Los Angeles Memorial Hospital. Arriving on the late shift, he's told of a strange case of a Hells Angel brought in the ER from an alleged motorcycle accident. When examining the patient, there is no bodily trauma, no obvious bruises or scratches, yet the young man is in a coma. This does not appear to be a common coma because the patient appears merely to be in a deep sleep. As is a procedure in coma cases, a catheter is applied, and what Clark discovers later is the man's urine is blue in color.

Later a more central character enters the ER in a similar state: an apparent coma. After initial drug screening, there are no signs of a drug overdose. Except for the patient's urine is that same blue color. Clark brings this unusual fact, the blue urine, to a leading doctor's attention in the hospital. The lead doctor dismisses Clark's observations. It is at this point in the narrative that scenes and actions become a little weird.

Our second patient is a beautiful up-and-coming Hollywood starlet who, when leaving the hospital, takes a great liking to Roger Clark, thanking him for saving her life. As readers, this is unusual because Clark had little interaction with the patient. Sharon Wilder is a beautiful woman with numerous male suitors. So why the instant interest in a common resident? Obviously, Clark falls for her advances and meets her at a yacht party, where we encounter the usual Hollywood types. Clark meets up with Wilder on the boat, to find himself waking up in a strange apartment: Sharon Wilder's. Clarke's only problem is he cannot remember anything from standing on the bow of the yacht to waking up in the starlet's bed. Apart from his amnesia, he feels wonderful, unusually so, to investigate Wilder's connections, particularly her psychiatrist.

The novel is in three parts: Coma – Eden – Madness.

It turns out that Eden is a brand new resort of the highest caliber. Over a set of unusual circumstances, Clarke accompanies Sharon Wilder to this highly secretive and high-end resort. This section is the most revealing, and the creative imagination to come up with such a scene is absolute, Michael Crichton.

To describe the connection of science and the machinations of those in power to use it for their own gains would spoil the entire point of the novel.

It should be said that Crichton, writing this tale in 1969, reveals his genius, in the ways of science and it's exploitation, as he was known throughout his career.

Excellent read.