The Terminal Man

Harry Benson is a technician in the neuropsychiatric research unit at UCLA (called the University Hospital in the book). Mild-mannered on the surface, he suffers from unpredictable violent episodes during which he remembers nothing, and he is again taken into police custody and hospitalized. Neurosurgeon McPherson (Roger McPherson in the book) and others propose an experimental psychosurgery called "Stage 3": electrodes are implanted in the patient's brain, connected to a computer-controlled device that reads and corrects abnormal brain signals, thereby "eliminating" violent behavior. The operation is deemed a success, and Benson himself is skeptical of the hospital's explanations. But the feedback between the device and the human brain soon spirals out of control; the electrodes' discharges are interpreted by Benson's brain as a source of pleasure, and his behavior is pushed step by step to extremes. By the time the hospital realizes the danger, he has left care and his whereabouts are unknown, and a manhunt begins over whether to save him or stop him. Drawing on his medical background, Crichton weaves brain science, computer control, psychosurgery, and police investigation into a tightly paced thriller, ultimately asking: when technology can "repair" human behavior, who decides what should be corrected, and who should bear responsibility for the consequences when it goes wrong.