Disclosure
Michael Crichton, 1994
★ 3.80 from 75.5k ratings on Goodreads
A Seattle tech manager’s merger week turns personal when an accusation makes the office a maze of power, sex and plausible deniability. Office power games give this merger-week thriller a queasy, curious momentum, with ambition and identity always in play.
Feels like unease, curiosity and dread. About power, society and ambition.
Who it’s for
You may like it if you enjoy corporate thrillers about harassment, plausible deniability and tech-world ambition. Be warned that some readers find the gender politics angering and the middle slow, with dated technology throughout.
Why read it
It turns a merger week into a tense study of office power and accusation, useful if you want a provocative, fast-reading corporate thriller with moral friction.
A page from the book
The founder who can’t imagine a life after the company.
“Nobody knows,” Sanders said. “Bob built the company from nothing, fifteen years ago. When he started, he was selling knockoff modems from Korea. Back when nobody knew what a modem was. Now the company’s got three buildings downtown, and big facilities in California, Texas, Ireland, and Malaysia. He builds fax modems the size of a dime, he markets fax and E-mail software, he’s gone into CD-ROMs, and he’s developed proprietary algorithms that should make him a leading provider in education markets for the next century. Bob’s come a long way from some guy hustling three hundred baud modems. I don’t know if he can give it up.” What readers say
Readers are split: many call it a gripping, provocative page-turner about workplace harassment and corporate power, while others are angered by its gender politics and frustrated by dated technology and a slow middle.
Michael Crichton.Michael Crichton was six feet nine, graduated from Harvard Medical School, and directed the film Westworld from his own screenplay.
Books that feel like this
More by Michael Crichton
The Lost World
Michael Crichton, 1995
A rich man's expedition to a hidden island turns into a firsthand argument about dinosaurs, media, and whether humans are as smart as we think.
Jurassic Park
Michael Crichton, 1990
A billionaire builds a private zoo of extinct animals and flies experts in to approve it. The experts keep finding reasons to say no.
Where to get it
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Questions readers ask
- Is Disclosure for me?
- You may like it if you enjoy corporate thrillers about harassment, plausible deniability and tech-world ambition. Be warned that some readers find the gender politics angering and the middle slow, with dated technology throughout.
- What is Disclosure like?
- Office power games give this merger-week thriller a queasy, curious momentum, with ambition and identity always in play. Feels like unease, curiosity and dread. About power, society and ambition.
- What should I read after Disclosure?
- If you liked Disclosure, try Seven Days in May (Fletcher Knebel), One of Us Is Lying (Karen M. McManus) and Behind Closed Doors (B.A. Paris).
A taste of the feed
A handful of men can stop the government from falling off a monument.
All you’ve got to know is this: right now the government of the United States is sitting on top of the Washington Monument, right on the very point, tilting right and left and ready to fall off and break up on the pavement. There are just a handful of men that can prevent it. And you’re one of them.
Seven Days in May · Fletcher Knebel
What a parent’s ambition feels like from inside the child.
My hand hurts within minutes. It’s pathetic, I guess, but I can’t remember the last time I wrote anything longhand. Plus I’m using my right hand, which never feels natural no matter how many years I’ve done it. My father insisted I learn to write right-handed in second grade after he first saw me pitch. Your left arm’s gold, he told me. Don’t waste it on crap that don’t matter. Which is anything but pitching as far as he’s concerned.
One of Us Is Lying · Karen M. McManus
Perfect manners can be the most frightening thing about a person.
We go downstairs and in the hall, he takes my coat from the cupboard and holds it open while I slip my arms into it. In the drive outside, he holds the car door for me and waits until I’m in. As he closes it behind me, I can’t help thinking it’s a shame he’s such a sadistic bastard, because he has wonderful manners.
Behind Closed Doors · B.A. Paris
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