Summary from Goodreads: They thought their daring hotel robbery scheme was airtight, but three men are about to learn that nothing is that simple at the Hotel Reina . . .
To rob the finest resort in fascist Spain, three Americans need to blend in among the Mediterranean elite. And to do so, they will each need a gorgeous girl as cover. They find a depraved millionaire, a drug-addled nymphomaniac, and an assistant hotel manager who enjoys mingling with her handsome guests after hours.
The would-be thieves have used an IBM supercomputer to plan the perfect heist. Their crime has been calculated to the last detail, with every possible contingency planned for, save one: the women. The Hotel Reina is crawling with femmes fatales, and these crooks will be lucky to escape with the shirts on their backs.
I have always been a fan of Michael Crichton’s novels. I have read almost all of them. His novels are very technical and scientific with lots of math which I enjoy. But this book was written when he was in med school and trying to make money under the name John Lange. You can tell the difference from his later works. This reads like an episode of some campy tv show.
What I always enjoyed about his later novels is how woman are portrayed. They are strong loud, ruthless, intelligent, and independent. Something that Hollywood seems to reverse when making the books into movies. Just look at the horrible adaptation of Congo.
So I was surprised at how the women were portrayed the opposite. They are actually treated as objects. Which made this book hard to read at times. It made it very hard. The women are basically treated as pieces of sex meat.
Which comes to the other issue I had when reading the book. It is filled with a lot of graphic sex details. I felt at times that it was completely unnecessary. When I say the details were graphic, I am talking about being pornographic. To the point where I felt he was describing a porno scene. What was the point? Who was his audience? Was it suppose to be written in a way where is it erotic and sensual? Was it suppose to turn on the audience?
I can only guess that since it was written in the 60’s, it was kind of the norm before sexually graphic tv shows we have now?
If you can get past the way women are portrayed and graphic sex. Which is pretty hard to do for me. The story is not bad. It is like watching something on tv to pass the time.
My thoughts: I am giving another one of his early works a shot called Drug of Choice, I will see how that goes for me.