State of Fear is a 2004 techno-thriller novel by Michael Crichton concerning eco-terrorists who attempt mass murder to support their views. The novel had an initial print run of 1.5 million copies and reached the bestseller position on the New York Times Best Seller list for one week in January 2005. The book contains many graphs and footnotes, two appendices, and a twenty-page bibliography. Climate scientists dispute Crichton's science as being error-filled and distorted.The novel takes place in 2004. The plot is built around a group of eco-terrorists who are attempting to create a state of fear to further advance their agenda regarding global warming. The protagonist is an environmentalist lawyer named Peter Evans. Evans is a junior associate at a large Los Angeles law firm that represents many environmentalist clients (although they also have clients in industry). Evans is described as someone who eagerly accepts all conventional wisdom about global warming, but not unquestioningly. He is also described as something of a weak-willed person who has lukewarm relationships with women. Evans' chief client is a millionaire philanthropist, George Morton, who donates large sums to environmentalist causes. Evans' main duties are managing the legal affairs surrounding Morton's contributions to an environmentalist organization, the National Environmental Resource Fund (NERF) (modeled after the Natural Resources Defense Council.