The Andromeda Strain is a 1969 techno-thriller novel by Michael Crichton, his first novel under his own name and his sixth novel overall. It is written as a report documenting the efforts of a team of scientists investigating the outbreak of a deadly extraterrestrial microorganism in Arizona. The Andromeda Strain appeared in the New York Times Best Seller list, establishing Michael Crichton as a genre writer.
Content warning Ending revealed
The plot and science is compelling 50+ years later. I found the ending unsatisfying: the organism evolved to be no threat to humans, on its own? Does that make all of their research pointless - the outcome for humanity would have been the same if Project Wildfire didn't exist? But I thoroughly enjoyed the book overall.
