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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Amoral Office Politics Taken to a Worldly Extreme, 6 Aug 2004
This novel is seriously flawed by concocting two of the most amoral and unscrupulous corporate characters imaginable to the most paranoid author. Machiavelli would not have found these people credible either. These characters are way "over the top" for me. They would not have lasted in any company that I have ever run into. I graded the book down two stars for this extreme weakness. If you believe that there are people willing to cut every possible corner operating at the top of major American corporations, you will probably find this to be a five star book. If you think that people who run companies are pretty much like everyone else in terms of how intrigued they are by power and money, then you will have difficulties accepting the premises of this book.
The basic story line is very intriguing, building on a role reversal of the typical sexual harrassment charges. A male executive, Tom Sanders, is accused of sexually harrassing his new female boss, and former lover. He, in turn, accuses her of sexually harrassing him. The incident itself turns out to be simply one scene of a five act play involving larger corporate issues. In the process, you will learn a great deal about how sexual harrassment law has become an area where the accused and the victims both have little to gain. Also, you will see how false charges can be used as powerful leverage inside a company or other workplace. The book also contains interesting tidbits of information about the history of sexual harrassment and what the law describes it as.As a reader, I urge you to be patient with the sexual harrassment scene. It is overtly phony . . . but that has a literary purpose. I can say no more without affecting your enjoyment of the novel. John Lithgow does a tremendous job with his reading of this abridgement. One of my favorites amongst his stylings is a loud sniff that precedes every sentence uttered by the pompous corporate general counsel. I could hardly keep from laughing aloud whenever Mr. Lithgow did this. He has a very versatile voice and ability to handle many accents well, and thus moves easily among the different sexes, ages, and ethnic backgrounds of the characters. The audio cassettes are also very well produced, and are helped by the addition of some music to heighten the tension. If you find you don't like the beginning of the book, stick with it. I thought that the second half of the novel was unusually well plotted and developed. There is a virtual reality section that will amuse almost any reader. There is a mystery inside the sexual harrassment issue for Tom Sanders to solve. For mystery fans, you will find this mystery pretty simple to unravel. So don't buy the book expecting the return of Sherlock Holmes. You will probably have the mystery's conclusion figured out within the first 25 percent of the book. The unraveling of the mystery is done very well though, so it's fun just to listen to how Dr. Crichton manages it. After you finish reading this book, I suggest you be sure that everyone in your workplace knows what your policies are on prohibiting sexual harrassment. Also, be sure to have a code of ethics to cover everything that could come up, not just sexual harrassment. With those two actions, you will probably avoid the terrible situations described in Disclosure where you work. That would be good for all. Encourage the pursuit of ethical profits . . . rather than profits for their own sake.
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by Michael Crichton
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