From the creator of Jurassic Park and ER, a classic techno thriller brimming with high-stakes action and heart-pounding suspense In an age of political unrest, one man aims to bring the government to its knees—and there’s only one agent who can stop him. Wealthy political radical John Wright has taken aim at the US government, believing that only he can make things right. State Department Agent John Graves has been watching Wright for months, studying him, gathering intel, trying to determine his next move before he makes it. Now, after hacking a government computer for secret files and stealing a shipment of VZ nerve gas, a binary agent, Wright has gathered everything he needs to unleash mass destruction on a million people—including the US president. As the clock winds down, Wright and Agent Graves play a high-stakes game of cat-and-mouse with the fate of the government and a million innocent people hanging in the balance. With a new introduction by Sherri Crichton “The Crichton strain is unmistakable.”—Time magazine

マイケル・クライトンが別名義で放った本作は、冷徹な知性と緊迫した政治劇が融合したテクノスリラーの原点です。二つの無害な物質が混ざり猛毒へ変わる「バイナリー」の設定は、単なる兵器の仕組みを超え、対立する二人の男が破滅へ加速する物語構造そのものを象徴しています。読者は、科学的リアリズムがもたらす逃げ場のない恐怖に戦慄するはずです。 白眉は、狂気を秘めた知能犯と冷静な追跡者による、極限のチェスのような心理戦にあります。一刻を争う秒読みのなか、緻密な情報戦が繰り広げられる様はまさに知の総力戦。クライトン特有の乾いた筆致と圧倒的な速度感が、現代社会の危うさを鮮烈に浮き彫りにし、最後の瞬間まで読み手の心臓を激しく揺さぶり続けます。