This book is the last in the “books I read on the plane” series and, as such, I wasn’t expecting much from it. After one book where the mystery is revealed about how there are still dinosaurs [or, there are new genetically engineered dinosaurs] living on a remote Costa Rican island, it’s hard to keep the secret much longer. Accordingly the storyline, which is thin to begin with, makes us take some serious leaps of faith as to why everyone doesn’t know about these dinos yet. They go back to the island, some people get eaten, some do not, and at the end of it all, there’s always room for another sequel.

The other major indicator that this book is merely going through the motions is the addition of two young kids -- sort of proteges of one of the scientists who is now reduced to teaching classes at the local high school -- who aren’t much to read about but probably look good on screen. They predictably stow away in one of the research containers and then become both liabilities and assets in the dino-eat-dino Lost World. I like Crichton’s writing and there’s usually enough science to keep me interested in otherwise thin plots, but this book really went over the edge and looks more like a fleshed out treatment for a movie and not a novel at all.