Sphere by Michael Crichton

In the middle of the South Pacific, a thousand feet below the surface of the water, a huge spaceship is discovered resting on the ocean floor.

Rushed to the scene is a group of American scientists who descend together into the depths of the sea to investigate this astonishing discovery.

What they find defies their imaginations and mocks their attempts at logical explanation. It is a spaceship of phenomenal dimensions, apparently undamaged by its fall from the sky. And, most startling, it appears to be at least three hundred years old...

Has the ship come from an alien culture? From a different universe? From the future? Why, initially, are there no creatures on the sea floor, and then, suddenly, swarms of "impossible animals" of whole new species? Who-or what-is transmitting messages onto the scientists' computer screen...messages that grow increasingly hostile? What is the giant, perfect, metallic sphere-clearly not made by man, and seemingly impenetrable by him-that they find inside the spaceship? And-most crucially-what is the extraordinary, the terrifying power that threatens their undersea habitat, and their very lives?...

Here is Michael Crichton at the top of his form-his most exciting, most suspenseful, most ingenious novel since The Andromeda Strain
--front flap

So very very very much better than the movie.

I read this one in jr high. Great beach read.

I'm really torn about “Sphere”. I've read books that I instantly loved and ones that I disliked and stopped reading. “Sphere” somehow managed to keep me in the middle ground all the way to the end. I disliked many things, but the story and pace was interesting enough to keep me going.

“Sphere” got me really hooked in the first half. Throw in some mystery from outer space, some future science and black holes with time travel and I'm instantly hooked on your book. But at the same time I already didn't like the cliche characters and the dialogue. But the action had a good enough pace to keep me going and I hoped for the best that the characters wouldn't get in the way too much. But oh boy did they get in the way.

Michael Crichton had a firm idea how his story needed to advance and play out and disregarded logic and character actions. Illogical actions and implausible reactions to nearly all situations are really a common theme throughout the whole book.

Although this really damped the story for me, I didn't stopped reading because I wanted to know how this all plays out. In the end my time with “Sphere” was worth it, but this story could've been so much more.