Costa Rica has a few unwanted guests, so the island of Isla Sorna is shut down to tourists. However, a past ­visitor, Ian Malcolm (who was injured by the island's dangerous inhabitants in the prequel, Jurassic Park), and his unlikely cohort, Richard Levine (a pompous, rich 30-year-old), have decided to travel to the island to study extinction. They are helped by naturalist Sarah Harding, car engineer Dr. Thorne, and Levine's superintelligent eighth-grade students. They meet many obstacles as they encounter death, dinos, and Dodgson.

A series of bad choices (and a few smart ones) make up The Lost World. For instance, Dodgson (who wants the dinosaurs' eggs for animal testing) is talking to one of the men in his posse before going to get a tyrannosaur's egg. He mentions a theory that a T-rex has a brain the size of a frog's. His choice to believe in this unproven fact leads to a disastrous turn of events. The fast pace, realistic details, and enticing theories bring the reader to the edge of her seat, especially in this part of the story.

Science-fiction fanatics and people who love action will have a hard time putting this book down. The hard-core action and suspense keep the reader flipping pages and flying through chapters. The dialogue is very bland in most cases, though, mainly ending in “he said” or “she said.” Other than that, the book is very descriptive and has plausible theories; one at the end will undoubtedly put a smile on the reader's face: a satisfying ending.