Book Review: Crush Depth by Ryan M. Patrick

Michael Crichton And Tom Clancy Have Been Resurrected, Fused Together, And Mixed With A Pinch Of James Cameron, Jeremy Robinson, And Stephen Spielberg. Michael Crichton's death 18 years ago now was a **major** blow to the world of science-based techno thrillers. Really one of the biggest since the genre exploded in the 80s and 90s. Tom Clancy's death five years later was another massive blow, even if Clancy hadn't been "Tom Clancy" for a while before his death.

Here, Patrick shows that he is a worthy successor, fusing hard science with *just* enough science fiction and wonder to bring back the best elements of all of these legendary writers and directors in their primes - and *just* enough religion and mysticism (along with plenty of rather insane and utterly terrifying scifi action) to tie into the best of Robinson to boot.

In other words, you're welcome, y'all - Ryan M. Patrick has brought the modern technothriller *back* from... well, from the abyssal plains it had been sinking into these last several years as others squandered their talents in various ways playing into various fads and dramas.

This is one of those tales that *should* appeal broadly and *should* launch Patrick to stardom the way Jurassic Park and Jaws and The Terminator and The Hunt For Red October did for their creators - even moreso than The Martian did for Andy Weir.

This is a type of tale that the market has been sorely lacking for quite some time - or at bare minimum, which it has been seemingly decades now (yes, pedants, I truly mean it has seemingly been over 20 years) since I personally have encountered such a tale, even with my roughly 200 books per year reading habit this past decade or so. A tale of "deep terror" where things are *just* bleeding edge enough to be plausible in the "near future", *just* real enough to be absolutely grounded... and *just* "out there" enough to truly bring out the awe and wonder and joy of being a kid once again and discovering things for the very first time.

And yet there is also *just* enough terror here that those with certain medical conditions may need to make sure they take adequate precautions while reading this book, because your heart rate and blood pressure are absolutely going to spike from these frights and thrills.

Truly a masterful work.

Very much recommended.

This review of Crush Depth by Ryan M. Patrick was originally written on October 16, 2026.