How Michael Crichtons Widow Is Teaching Their Son About the Dad He Never Met (Exclusive) [Video]

When author and director Michael Crichton died of cancer in 2008 at age 66, his widow Sherri was pregnant with their son, John Michael Todd Crichton. Since then, Sherri has done her best to make sure John Michael knows his father through the body of work he left behind.

Part of that is the new book Eruption, co-written by James Patterson, out June 3. It’s the last novel from the writer and filmmaker who gave the world books like Jurassic Park, The Andromeda Strain and Congo, movies like Westworld and Coma, and the TV medical drama ER.

For more on Michael Crichton and James Patterson’s collaboration, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday, or subscribe here.

It took Sherri 15 years to find the right person to complete Eruption, which was unfinished when Crichton died. She chose Patterson, known for thrillers like Along Came a Spider and Kiss the Girls, because she knew he …