Extinction
by Douglas Preston
Pub Date: April 23, 2024
Tor Publishing Group | Forge Books
General Fiction (Adult) | Mystery & Thrillers
DESCRIPTION/SYNOPSIS:
With Extinction, #1 New York Times bestselling author Douglas Preston has written a page-turning thriller in the Michael Crichton mode that explores the possible and unintended dangers of the very real efforts to resurrect the woolly mammoth and other long-extinct animals.
Erebus Resort, occupying a magnificent, hundred-thousand acre valley deep in the Colorado Rockies, offers guests the experience of viewing woolly mammoths, Irish Elk, and giant ground sloths in their native habitat, brought back from extinction through the magic of genetic manipulation. When a billionaire’s son and his new wife are kidnapped and murdered in the Erebus back country by what is assumed to be a gang of eco-terrorists, Colorado Bureau of Investigation Agent Frances Cash partners with county sheriff James Colcord to track down the perpetrators.
As killings mount and the valley is evacuated, Cash and Colcord must confront an ancient, intelligent, and malevolent presence at Erebus, bent not on resurrection—but extinction.
REVIEW:
I’ve read many of the books co-authored by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, but my favorites, no doubt, have been the entries in the Agent Pendergast series. Preston and Child, however, are just as prolific in writing books on their own. I had previously read and enjoyed Blasphemy by Preston writing solo, so when I read the description of Extinction, I wanted to get my hands (virtually) on a copy. What I was expecting was a variation on Jurassic Park and there are obviously similarities, with prehistoric species, most notably woolly mammoths, de-extincted to roam in a park (Erebus Resort) as a tourist attraction.
A newlywed couple camping in the resort is brutally attacked, leaving behind a lot of blood, but no bodies, so a sliver of hope that they’ve survived. The immediate assumption is that one of the de-extincted animals is responsible. But early on, it’s made clear that aggression has been edited out of the gene sequences of these restored animals. Unlike the prehistoric fauna roaming in Jurassic Park, they should be harmless. Unless that process was flawed… So, suspicion shifts to human predators, either protestors or eco-terrorists. Frankie Cash from the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, Sheriff James Colcord of Eagle County, along with Ererbus’ own security personnel investigate the couple’s disappearance/probable murder and attempt to apprehend those responsible. Soon the killers begin to openly taunt the investigative team, and things take an even darker tone, with evidence of cannibalism by the “cult.” Soon things turn catastrophically worse. With creepy and relentless killers stalking everyone within the Erebus Resort’s borders — including the abandoned mines used for administration and experimentation — Preston delivers a nail-biting, claustrophobic thriller.
Preston bolsters his claims that the novel’s science should not be considered “science fiction” with an extended and interesting afterword to the novel that is equally terrifying in its implications.
Note: I received a free eGalley of Extinction from Net Galley in consideration of an unbiased review.
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