3.5 stars rounded up. Extinction is a wild ride through the unknown! Filled with adventure and suspense it kept me reading late into the night. The plot while very original leans a bit on the cheesy side but it is entertaining and there's plenty happening for the science nerds out there. I'm a huge fan of the Pendergast series, Preston's collab with Lincoln Child and this was an equally thrilling side trip adventure. My thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

"The real problem of humanity is the following: We have Paleolithic emotions, medieval institutions and godlike technology. And it is terrifically dangerous."- Edward O. Wilson

This was a fun read, a mix of dinosaurs, technothriller and police procedural.

Agent in Charge Frankie Cash, Senior Detective with the Colorado Bureau of Investigation Major Crimes Division is called in to lead the investigation when newlyweds are kidnapped and possibly murdered at the new Erebus Resort in the Colorado Rockies.

The Erebus Resort sits on over 90,000 acres (144 square miles) and is basically a theme park featuring - in their jargon - six de-extincted mammal species, including wooly mammoths.

Cash works with Sheriff James Colcord of Eagle County and the CBI's own CSI team trying to figure out what happened to the newlyweds.

And then more strange happenings start at the Resort and everyone is in danger.

I received this Digital Review Copy from Forge Books through Net Galley in the hopes that I would read it and leave an unbiased review. This is that review.

Published by Forge Books on April 23, 2024

The Jurassic Park franchise suggests that the public has an insatiable appetite for stories centered around the revival of extinct species. Extinction imagines a Colorado park called Erebus that differs from Jurassic Park — as the reader is frequently reminded — because the mammoths and other de-extincted species have been genetically modified to eliminate aggressive tendencies. Yeah, what could go wrong?

Rather than giving the reader a Jurassic Park rip-off, Douglas Preston takes the story in a different direction. A newlywed couple is camping in the park at a discrete distance from their wilderness guide. The guide investigates a noise and discovers a large pool of blood where the couple had been camping. The volume of blood and the short time that elapsed before the bodies disappeared suggests that the bodies were decapitated.

Frankie Cash is a senior detective with the Colorado Bureau of Investigation. She’s charged with leading the CSI team to investigate the disappearance and presumed murder of the honeymooning couple. The newlywed husband’s father is a rich old guy who harasses Cash about finding his son (or his son’s killer) while engaging in boneheaded acts that only obstruct her progress.

Cash conducts a murder investigation that overlaps a wilderness adventure. She suspects that the killers are members of a cannibalistic cult, while Erebus wants to blame the crime on environmentalists. That the killers are armed with spears and knives does suggest a cult, perhaps one that is headed by the QAnon Shaman.

The head of security at Erebus seems to be misdirecting Cash, steering her away from an abandoned mine that might be at the heart of the mystery. What is he trying to hide? The answer is farfetched (as is the way of the modern thriller) but nevertheless entertaining.

Cash is in conflict with a boss who wants all the glory if she succeeds and none of the blame if she fails to catch the bad guys. This is a standard storyline, but it at least invites the reader to warm up to Cash, who is otherwise a bit bland. The story’s action scenes are suitable to a thriller.

Preston is a seasoned author (he takes the opportunity to have a character praise the Preston & Childs novel he’s reading) who can probably construct a novel like this one while he’s clipping his toenails. Extinction isn’t special but it isn’t a waste of the reader’s time. Frankie Cash is not a memorable protagonist and the story didn’t excite me, but the plot moves quickly and the key revelation (what is Erebus trying to hide from the public?) is genuinely surprising, although the surprise is largely dictated by its implausibility.

RECOMMENDED

The first thing I thought of, and couldn’t let go of throughout this book, was Jurassic Park. Even the author mentioned the similarities himself. Having said that this book is a techno thriller of what can possibly go wrong if we mess with the natural order of the world. I believe that is the underlying theme and very possible in the times we live in today. Not a new omission, but not a bad read either.

The Colorado Rockies, a billionaire with a vision to de-extinct the large animals from the pleistocene period and making them the attraction of his lodge and camping resort. What could possibly go wrong?

If you liked Jurassic Park, think of this as the low budget version where two gruesome murders lead to an investigation with ice-age creatures in the background.

I had an inkling what went on before the second person was killed, which means in chapter one. I knew I was right before the chapters moved into the double digits. From then on it dragged and I wondered how no one even came up with the motive for the murders (which doesn't makes lot of sense anyways) until the evidence was right in front of them.

Should have listened to my instincts, if the author's name is printed larger than the title of the book, steer clear.

This is my first time reading Douglas Preston,I should have read him sooner! The story and characters are absolutely amazing.
Erebus is a resort situated in an enclosed valley in the Colorado Rockies. It takes up 92,ooo acres. What makes it special is that it's scientists have de-extincted five different species of animals, that roam the park. Guests can see their biggest attraction, the wooly Mammoth along with other giant herbivores.
The trouble begins when a honeymooning couple go missing from their campsite in Erebus. The husband's father is a billionaire and there is immense pressure to solve the disappearance of the couple quickly.
The Colorado Bureau of Investigation sends in Detective Frances "Frankie" Cash as agent in charge. This is her first time leading an investigation. She is working along-side the Local Sheriff, James Colcord. I really did enjoy both these characters.
The staff of Erebus assure Frankie that this is NOT a Jurassic park situation. None of their animals can be responsible. As the investigation progresses, forensics point to it being a group of people involves, not animals.
Things continue to get stranger and more dangerous as Cash and Colcord continue to dig. They meet resistance every step of the way.
As I was reading, I had an idea of what I thought must be going on, then something happens that made me complete change my mind, except I was right. I can't tell you what my idea was because that would be a major spoiler.

Thank you to Netgalley and Tor Publishing Group | Forge Books for the opportunity to enjoy this epic e-ARC

While Douglas Preston has definitely crafted his own distinct thrilling adventure, there is no question there will be plenty of readers that will be comparing Extinction to Jurassic Park. Which is understandable, but as I said, Present has definitely craft his own beast (no pun intended.) But no one should just assume he’s ripping off Crichton. After all, Preston has been creating these types of incredibly wild stories for decades now. Not to mention the idea of bringing back extinct species is hardly a new idea, nor is it totally ‘science fiction’ anymore. (Though of course what science is doing today isn’t close that what takes place in the story…not yet anyway, lol) The story is gripping and the characters well fleshed out. And yes I’m going to be guilty of making the same comparison I mentioned early. The thrilling adventure that occurs at Erebus Resort is every bit as exciting as the one that occurred at Jurassic Park. On a side note while this and JP are indeed fiction, as man pushes further and further into the arena of resurrection biology who is to say what the future might bring. Thanks so much to Tor Publishing Group, Forge Books and NetGalley for the chance to read and review an advanced copy of Extinction.

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/extinction-douglas-preston/1142827191?ean=9780765317704&bvnotificationId=c1acfa4c-02c0-11ef-8fab-0affcc2dbcf5&bvmessageType=REVIEW_APPROVED&bvrecipientDomain=gmail.com#review/280268291

Science, Imagination, Dinosaurs, Murder and Mystery!! What doesn’t this fantastic story have?

In this thrilling story, we are primarily follows Colorado Bureau of Investigations Agent in Charge Frances Cash. She is investigating the disappearance of a pair of newlyweds. They disappeared from their camp site, where they were on a personally guided trip into the Erebus Resort in the Colorado Rockies. Here, scientists have “de-extincted” six mammals from the Ice Age.

But there is more going on than meets the eye. DNA manipulation and recreation of long extinct species is the theme of this book. Woolly mammoths, giant anteaters and something else that seems so insane but not once you finish this book. It’s a frightening idea.

I thought Extinction was well researched and very well written, this is story of what happens when money and science unite in an attempt to play God. I kept thinking that “this couldn’t happen”, then Preston brought it to life. I really enjoyed this book, and gave it a 4/5 stars.

Bringing back extinct species, and a resort where people can go and view them is a brilliant premise for a story. But as we all know, things can go wrong and they do!

When the son and daughter in law of a billionaire go missing at the resort, he arrives, all guns blazing, demanding action. The Colorado Bureau of Investigation is brought in, and with the local sheriff’s office, they begin to scour the area in search of the pair. Frances Cash teams up with Sheriff Colcord, bringing a fascinating dynamic.

Was the kidnap related to the animals living at the resort? Or have eco warriors infiltrated the site? Grisly killings mean the investigators must find the perpetrators quickly. And what they find is beyond their wildest imagination.

I liked Frankie, and her working relationship with the sheriff was perfectly pitched. It was an interesting combination, and didn’t go as I expected. It really worked and I’d love to see more of them working together in the future.

My goodness! One amazing turn of events after another kept me hooked and, frankly, stunned. The mixture of science, thriller and environmental issues was beautifully done. A well written and engrossing story.

Thank you Tor Publishing Group, Forge Books and Netgalley for this eARC in exchange of a free and honest review.

Extinction by Douglas Preston is a murder mystery that takes place in the Jurassic Park like resort of Erebus, Erebus prides itself in it’s efforts to de-extinct prehistoric megafauna like Ground Sloths and Woolly Mammoths for the viewing pleasure of the world’s elite, But Erebus has a dark side revealed by Colorado Bureau of Investigation Agent Frankie Cash and Eagle County Sherriff James Colcord has they find the culprits behind the kidnapping and murder of a billionaire’s son and his wife,

Extinction hit a soft spot in my heart. As I was working on my degree my physical anthropology classes were my favorite. To learn about the species that contributed to our current species always thrilled me. Through this novel I got to marry my two favorite things, the prehistoric era and a good murder mystery. When I saw this novel available to request I knew I needed to jump on and cross my fingers that I would be able to read. And let me tell you. I was not disappointed. I loved the settings and even more loved the characters. Romanski completely has my heart! Along with the characters the mystery was to die for and had me guessing until the last quarter of the book and when the reveal came around I was shook to my core!

Overall this book was amazing! The thrilling mystery blended perfectly with the the well written characters and the fascinating science of De-Extinction and the Prehistoric record. I would highly recommend this book and hope I can find more by Douglas Preston.

4 Stars!

I have been a fan of Douglas Preston for a long time, so I am always happy when he has a new novel coming out. Extinction caught my attention even more than a new Preston novel would. I am a sucker for the ocean, dinosaurs, and monsters, so the promise of wooly mammoths caught my attention right away. I was curious to see what Preston would come up when working with a crime that was millennia in the making.

Erebus Resort has become the premiere resort in the world. The rich and famous are flocking to the resort, nestled in a valley in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, for the experience of a lifetime. The resort is much more than just a place to relax in luxurious surroundings. The owners of Erebus have found a way to clone Ice Age animals, like the wooly mammoth and Irish Elk, and they can be viewed only at the resort. There is a much darker side to the Erebus Resort that the public knows nothing about, but the secrets hidden in the ground below the resort are about to be exposed when a double murder of a billionaire's daughter and her new husband brings in the police to search for a murderer.

Colorado Bureau of Investigation Agent Francis Cash is sent to Erebus as the Agent in Charge on her first big assignment. Cash is excited about the challenge and the chance to be AIC but it frustrated to find that some of her early calls are blocked by the higher ups in the interest of saving face. She turns to county sheriff James Colcord for help and the two of them begin to dig into the secrets that literally lie beneath Erebus. The deaths begin to mount as Cash and Colcord soon come across a secret so dark that it could change the course of mankind forever.

Preston knows how to craft a thriller, and this comes out immediately as the novel starts with the mysterious murder of the billionaire's daughter. Preston also provides some glimpses of the prehistoric creatures, and the novel draws the reader in from the very beginning. From there, Preston takes a bit of a step back and introduces the main characters and sets the stage for the buildup to an explosive ending. There is a definite Jurassic Park feel to the novel at times but Preston keeps this on the back burner for much of the novel. He provides a little bit of science and keeps the creatures hanging around to give a fantastic air to the story. Extinction does have some science fiction to it, but it is a mystery thriller at heart and Preston keeps it on this track throughout the novel. Readers that would normally shy away from science fiction should not hesitate to pick up this novel as that aspect of the story is done with a light touch until the explosive ending.

I do not want to give anything away as Preston does a good job of letting the story unfold, but Extinction is a very good thriller with a touch of heart thrown in. Preston gets to the root of the morals of cloning that also mirrors that of Jurassic Park, but he takes a turn toward the end of the story to create something much sinister. It can be said that evil lies in the heart of mankind and Preston takes one of the greatest crimes in history and turns it around. The story flows smoothly and it is easy to get lost in the narrative until you find yourself having to come up for breath. The one thing that did not sit well with me was the end, which Preston leaves very open, but I also see how this could be turned into a sequel in the future, so maybe that was his point all along. Extinction is not great literature, but it is a fun way to spend a couple hours lost in a story that is an exciting read that may even make you think just a little bit. Preston is one of the best there is in the thriller genre right now and this is another prime example of how much fun a thriller can be.

I would like to thank Tor Publishing Group and NetGalley for this review copy. Extinction is available now.

Thriller | Adult
Cover image of Extinction, by Douglas Preston (2024)
Take the premise of Jurassic Park, advance the timeline to the Pleistocene epoch featuring herbivores like woolly mammoths and giant ground sloths, and toss in a riveting and gory murder mystery. This is a wild ride of a thriller! The book opens with honeymooners Mark and Olivia on a guided hike in Colorado. Not just any hike; they are in the mountains of the Erebus Resort, looking to spot the resort’s “de-extincted” giant mammals at watering holes and in the trees. But when the two mysteriously disappear, leaving a shredded tent and a lot of blood, newbie Colorado Bureau of Investigation agent Frankie Cash arrives on scene to determine what happened. Along with local sherriff James Colcord, the combative Cash quickly determines no animals did this (knocking my first guess of evil pterodactyls out the window) and starts looking for the responsible humans. More bodies pile up, and the clues start pointing to a weird eco-cult bent on closing the resort. Meanwhile, national media attention and moneyed stakeholders start adding pressure on her boss, who thwarts Cash’s efforts to bring in more help. Oh, and there’s a movie crew filming a western on site. The action never stops, with plot twists confounding every guess – this was so much fun to read! Cash is a bristly f-bomb dropping character who grows on you, and I really hope we’ll see more of her and Colcord in future novels. I found one plot point involving the uber-rich a bit unbelievable, but a fascinating afterword by Preston convinces me that with enough money, hubris, and good science, anything is possible. My thanks to Tor Publishing’s Forge Books for the advance reading copy provided digitally through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. Grand Forks pals will find two copies already on order in the Grand Forks (B.C.) & District Public Library – put in your requests to get in line for this one!
More discussion and reviews of this novel: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/65213662

Anyway, a bit about this book and why it didn’t really do it for me.

Namely, this book felt SLOW. Generally, I’m a big fan of precision and attention detail. A well researched book is a well written book. However, there’s a balance here that is potentially difficult to achieve, and I think the crucial element to getting that balance ‘right’ actually has less to do with how much detail an author provides, and more to do with what the audience expects those details are about.

I’m going to just get this comparison out of the way early since it will doubtless come up, but in a book like Jurassic Park, we patiently read (and if you’re me enjoy) a veritable ton of information about DNA, how genes work, and how de-extinction could work, but we do so because we’ve been promised DINOSAURS WILL EXIST (!!) and wow what an amazing and awe inspiring thing that is.

If you’re hoping that Extinction will provide something of an update (after all JP is over 30 years old) to that science, you’ll be severely disappointed as very little time is devoted to it. Most of the exposition in Extinction seems to be focused more on police procedure and depicting a ‘realistic’ investigation.

As such, there are long stretches of this book which felt like they had little or nothing to do with de-extinction at all, and could have taken place anywhere, and been about any random crime. It seems to me, that the hook for this title was its connection to prehistoric life, and while this connection does take on more prominence with a twist towards the end of the book, Extinction expects its reader to work through about 75% of the story before getting to this point.

Something else which stood out to me, was the book’s orientation towards its characters. In general, I felt like the book spent more time setting up characters we don’t like to fail, rather than building up characters we do like to triumph. This is my first Douglas Preston book, and in general I’ve read very few thrillers, so I’m not yet certain whether this is a convention of the author or the genre, but it didn’t quite land for me. I like to see a ‘bad’ character get their ‘just desserts’ (lolz) as much as the next person, but here it felt a bit one-note.

In the afterword, Preston writes: “My novel Extinction is a way for me to say to readers: welcome to the Island of Dr. Moreau.” In some ways this is a good comparison and one of the areas in which I felt the book succeeded was in presenting some argument surrounding the ethics of de-extinction.

One character in particular, chief scientist Marius Karman, actually suggests that we have a moral imperative to resurrect species which we had a hand in the extinction of. I’ve seen this argument around in other places, but I think this is the first time I’ve seen it come up in a work of fiction.

On the surface, this argument seems reasonable, but I think the novel is able to show that this kind of thinking doesn’t work wholesale, and isn’t a good idea for every species.

So Should You Read This One or Not?

Ultimately, I’d say it’s ok to miss this one. The best comparison I have for the experience of reading this book would be like watching a show like NCIS. While the story is kind of sandwiched between a unique (ish) premise, and a action-packed finale, most of this book felt like boilerplate police procedural, unengaged with the very premise which hooked readers in the first place.

Where the book succeeds, is perhaps in updating some of the moral argument around genetic engineering, though there is only slight reference to the state of the science behind such issues.

Misleading Description Yet Excellent Tale. Just Not Anything Really Remotely Like Jurassic Park. Ok, the few things that *are* like Jurassic Park: human hubris leads to "de-extincting" long-extinct plants and creatures. Commentary on modern science baked into the story. Commentary on history baked into the story. Thus ends the things that are like Jurassic Park.

In other words... don't go into this book expecting "Jurassic Park... With Mammoths". This is *NOT* that story. Instead, it is more "murder mystery at a park similar to Jurassic Park". Go into this book with those at least somewhat lower expectations... and this is an awesome book with plenty of wonder, action, thrills, chills... and a few cheeky meta references. (Such as when a character is reading one of his and longtime writing partner Lincoln Child's Pendergast books - a trope many authors use to plug their own books or sometimes friends' books or even just random books the author has read and enjoyed.)

For the story we *do* get here, it is truly well done, a fast paced action thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat and keep you guessing about what will come next.

Very much recommended.

I was really excited to read this book, and it was just a massive disappointment. The book is not really what it purports to be, and is advertised as something it very much isn’t.

If you’re looking for a fun and adventurous Jurassic Park like novel, look elsewhere. I had thought, based on the publishers summary, that this would be like Jurassic Park with megafauna. In reality, it functions more like a procedural, and there isn’t much fun to be had in terms of the elements involving the animals.

About halfway through the book, there is a grotesque and unnecessarily upsetting butchering of a baby mammoth. It felt like a mean thing to do to the reader, and wasn’t necessary to drive the plot where it ultimately ends up going. And it is most definitely not in the spirit of Jurassic Park, as the book and its publisher so adamantly advertise it as.

Perhaps It’s largely meant as a cautionary tale about why zoos are bad in any form, and while I certainly appreciate that sentiment, the people who will be affected empathetically by this type of approach to that warning are not the people who still need to be convinced.

Preston is a good writer and I dearly loved his recent nonfiction collection The Lost Tomb, but this one is a wolf in sheep’s clothing, and very different from what it claims to be.

Extinction by Douglas Preston had me wanting to book in at the exclusive Erebus Resort, tucked into the Colorado Rockies, to view some re-extinct animals in the worst way - I just didn’t want to meet the same demise as the honeymooning couple at the start of the book!

Straight up, this book gave me the heebie jeebies! Imagine a cloning and genetic altering science experiment determined to bring once extinct mammals back to life... now set that in a remote mountainous location... and you've got the backdrop of Preston's new thriller! The descriptions, setting, and just how real the possibility that this could happen was simply terrifying. My fear and claustrophobia were real as I read, all being attributed to Preston's incredibly atmospheric writing! A full cast of characters, strong female representation, and beautiful scenery perfectly round out this book.

The only thing that rubbed me the wrong way was how the physical appearance was mentioned about the female officer (more than once); honestly, I could have overlooked this issue if it wasn't for the final mention on the last page.

Narrator David Aaron Baker was absolutely phenomenal! Are there audiobook narration awards? Because he absolutely deserves one! The speech narration flowed so smoothly, with natural hesitations and pauses as if the conversation were organically unfolding. I'm not sure I've ever heard an audiobook performed this way before, conveyed this true to real life, but I wish more audiobooks were like this - especially ones with so much reactionary narration!

Four thrilling and scientific (but approachable!) stars!

Thank you NetGalley, Tor Publishing Group, Forge Books and Macmillan Audio for the complimentary copies to read and review.

So I really loved the concept of this one and the setting was just incredible. It felt like Jurassic Park, but safer and like the scientists thought about safety above everything else. The animals that were brought back from extinction were created with the gene for aggression removed, and this led to super docile mammoths, giant ground sloths, and more.

The book opens with a honeymooning couple hiking through the backcountry of the exclusive Erebus Resort. It sounded absolutely incredible and I wanted to be them. Until they were almost immediately attacked and kidnapped.

What ensued was more of a police procedural than a thriller, with some twisty elements thrown in. While I loved the story, this one had the unfortunate downfall of a man writing a woman, like a caricature of a woman.

My complaints aside with the character writing, I would recommend this one for fans of science fiction, thrillers, nature, and suspense!!

**Thank you to NetGalley for the eARC and Forge reads for the physical ARC of this title!**

Jurrasic Park meets detective mystery...sign me up! Preston always writes a good book, and Extinction is no exception. The characters are relatable, the setting feels real, and the pacing was just right. A win-win all around.

Erebus Resort in the Colorado Rockies has discovered a way to de-extinct several Pleistocene era mammals including the wooly mammoth through genetic manipulation. When a newlywed couple visiting the park goes missing and are discovered to be brutally unalived, CBI agent Frances Cash and county sheriff James Colcord team up. At first suspecting eco-terrorists they soon discover that the threat is bigger than they could have ever imagined.
If you enjoyed Jurassic Park, this book is similar, but also quite unique. The science fiction aspect of the genetics testing was well explained so the average reader (aka, me lol!) could understand without getting too lost in the details. I liked how the partnership between Cash and Colcord developed throughout the story from antagonism to friendship (and is there a hint in there of a sequel?) I really like Douglas Preston's writing and I was super excited to get an early copy of this book!
Thanks to Tor Publishing through Netgalley for the advance copy of this book. The opinions in this review are my own and given voluntarily.

This is a WOW book. Douglas Preston is one half of the well known Preston and Child co-writers of the excellent FBI Special Agent Pendergast series as well as many other thrillers. In EXTINCTION, Douglas Preston writes solo, but he definitely kicked some serious......well you know. The story line is great, the characters, so well developed that you'd really like to kick one or two of them for attitude adjustments and the tension is built in from the beginning. I have a long list of people who MUST read this book just so I can tell them how GOOD it is.