Harry Benson suffers from psychomotor epilepsy. He often has seizures which are followed by blackouts, which often result to his injuring someone near him fatally. Doctors Ellis and Morris of the University Hospital are certain that they can "cure" Benson of these seizures by implanting 40 electrodes in his brain that would stop the seizures from occurring. However, a female psychiatrist, Janet Ross, and an emeritus professor, Manon, question the nature of Benson's mind which is, according to them, psychotic. In spite of this, the two doctors operate on Benson. The operation is successful and things seem to be going well, until Benson finds a way to stimulate the seizures himself. He escapes the hospital, and starts wreaking havoc.
The Terminal Man is basically a medical fiction novel, but I completely understood it. That alone makes it awesome. It's readable and easy to understand, even for a non-scientific person (like me). What Michael Crichton suggested here - mind control - is not far from happening, and it's really, really scary. (That's probably the reason why I read sci-fi - because it predicts things that could happen in the future)
Another subject that is discussed in the novel is the idea that machines are replacing people. This is indeed true in our present day. We've probably heard of workers losing their jobs because machines are being installed in factories for faster production. In this concept, I don't think Benson was psychotic, because it's happening right now.
The idea of a brain pacemaker is cool, I think. But, of course, it has its down side too, as Crichton discussed in the novel. Take that Backerman guy for example. Medical science is trying to find ways to cure people, not entertain them.
Now, mind control is interesting. I liked that paragraph about humans having their minds controlled since birth. This is one of the things that happen which is not usually noticed by most people. Mind control is a reality.
Okay. So I pretty much liked The Terminal Man. Next to Tess Gerritsen's Gravity, this is one of the best medical fiction book I've read (so far).
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