Peter Evans
Peter Evans is the character whom Crichton wants the reader to identity with in order to sell his argument. The argument of State of Fear, of course, is that fears of global warming and climate change are not only oversold but fraudulently presented. Evans is young, a smart attorney and fully buys the climate change argument despite knowing little about the actual scientific evidence. By the end of the book, he will have undergone the most significant transformation.
Norman Hoffman
Hoffman is a professor of the “ecology of thought” which situates him among many of his colleagues as a lunatic voice of dissent. Hoffman is a skeptic, plain and simple and he wield tremendous influence over the transformation of Peter Evans from believer. While Evans does not wind up quite as committed to the idea that climate change science is fraudulent, Hoffman does bring him around to being far more critical.
George Morton
Rich and philanthropic, Morton is also big on promoting environmentalism. Like Peter Evans, the novel details a transformation of his character to a greater degree than most others. At the start, Morton is more of a playboy dabbling in environmental causes, but by the end he has made the transition into something of a visionary on the subject.
David Kane
Grad student David Kane is actually known as Brewster through most of the novel as a result of falsely assuming the identity of James Brewster, one his professors at grad school. He sinister plot will ultimately be revealed on the frozen tundra of Antarctica where his plan is to blow up a chunk with explosive and thereby create the biggest iceberg in the ocean.
John Kenner
Highly educated consultant to a number of government agencies, Kenner is the action hero of the novel He can climb mountains and then ski down them. Kenner is the key player in the “thriller plot” on which Crichton hangs his anti-global warming agenda. He is the James Bond who uncovers the plot of NERF and ELF.
Ted Bradley
Ted Bradley is a friend to Peter Evans. He is the Crichton’s tool for displaying the folly of believing things that run counter to factual evidence. In a scene befitting his job—acting—Bradley is the star of the novel’s most ironic sequence. Not terribly long as confidently asserting “I read a book by some professor. There never were any cannibals, anywhere in the world. It’s all a big myth” he is subsequently devoured by actual cannibals in a ritualistic ceremony.
