Genre bending science fiction that is everything you need from a scifi novel. I highly recommend this book, but just make sure you pay attention!

This was a thrilling read about a government agency I could actually root for. Taking care of the nation’s wildlife—including protecting it from poachers—is always vitally important.

As I read my way through this book, it seemed more and more like the start of a series that I’d really want to read. It doesn’t look like there’s a part two planned yet (or even promised), but I certainly hope it will be in the near future!

The book was good. The writing was strong and the characters were very developed. I am interested to see what this author comes out with next!

There's echo of Jurassic Park and a strong ecological message in this well plotted and fast paced techno thriller. I enjoyed it and rooted for Sam.
The clones were victim and hoped for the best outcome for them too.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

thank you net galley for the arc.were do i begin so so good havent read a good good monster horror in a while. the female charachter sam works for the fish and wildlife service and hunts poachers. we follow sam and her team as they try to catch a saber-tooth tiger. felt like i was watching a movie

I thoroughly enjoyed this story about Special Agent Sam Brodie with the United States Fish and Wildlife Services. The story started out with her being stationed in Wyoming and getting a call that ended up with her having to take down a saber-tooth tiger. Extinct for thousands of years you say? Well, that's what Brodie thought too.

Brodie ends up being selected for the Wilderness and Animal Special Protection (WASP) Task Force, whose 'official responsibility is the rapid response to unclassified, obscure, and abnormal fish and wildlife that may pose a threat to American environments.'

So she, along with her counterparts, are in for a crazy adventure involving cloned dangerous extinct animals and their even more dangerous human creators and handlers.

This story was well written and fun and hopefully will be the start of a new Sam Brodie series.

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

Thank you to Netgalley.com and Waypoint Books for providing an ARC for the review!

"When you play God, God might decide to play back."

What a perfect quote to come from such a hidden gem of a book! This quote perfectly sums up the themes and struggles that are portrayed in The Lazerus Key by Rachel Aukes.

The Lazerus Key is a sci-fi thriller about a 47 year old Wyoming game warden named Sam Brodie as she investigates a seemingly impossible report; a Saber-toothed tiger which has been extinct for thousands of years, has been spotted in the area. Before she knows it, she's caught up in a devious plot for rich men to hunt dangerous predators come back from extinction by mad scientists and megalomaniacs! To defeat these foes, she joins forces with a secret federal agency: the federal Wildlife and Animal Special Protection (WASP) agency. They handle the bizarre and unusual cases that her normal job usually disregard (cryptids like Big Foot or The Mothman). But there's more here than meets the eye... Why did the government form this organization? How did that Saber-toothed tiger get in Wyoming? Has our MC gotten in over her head? I'll leave that, dear reader, for you to find out!

Oh man what a thrilling read! Now I love creature features like Natural Selection and Jurrassic Park, but they tend to follow a specific pattern; so you can kind of know what to expect. This book however, throws all of that out the window, and I am here for it! It gripped me in the first 5 pages and did not let go!
First, it's done in a dual-timeline format, which can be tricky to get right, but the author definitely succeeded. Knowing what was happening in the past and seeing it converge with the present added more suspense and tension to the story. Next, it follows a Game Warden who works for the WFS (Wildlife and Fisheries Services), which you normally wouldn't think of as an exciting career, but I found it to be a fascinating glimpse into a whole new world. You can clearly see the love, care and respect the MC has for animals and how it kills her when she's forced to take a life; though sometimes it's necessary in this field. The villain's whole story arc of starting out as morally grey at best to downright evil and single-minded was so satisfying. But that ending has got to be the most WHAT?! moment i've experienced while reading in a long time, and I really hope there's a sequel so that I can find out more in that regard.

What else can I say? If you enjoy books like Jurassic park or Jaws, love a good bad-guy-taking-over-the-world plot with some mad science thrown in, then you will love The Lazerus Key!

Marketed as a “science thriller,” this is actually a gory, basic police procedural regarding genetically-altered animals. The blurb promises thrills but it’s more on the lines of shock factor blood and guts yuck than surprise.

The protagonist is a female wild animal officer whom I couldn’t help comparing unfavorably with Nevada Bart’s Anna Pigeon (a character I greatly admired—especially when voiced by the incomparable Barbara Rosenblat). In general, I thought the book’s dialogue is a bit stiff, glib, and cocky and its tone lacked heart, grit, depth, and the beauty of nature.

I’m not a big fan of police procedurals, and it’s not marketed as such, but I scooped this book up for the purported science fiction aspect. Unfortunately, I got too much of what I don’t like and not enough of what I like.

I was hoping for more from the science fiction aspect. By that I don’t mean weird cross-bred animals or more blood and guts. I mean more of an educated stance regarding science. The scientists were easily manipulated schmucks, and their motives and backgrounds didn’t seem rooted in data. Showing the one guy all smelly and disheveled made him seem like a mad scientist. And the theme of morally corrupt scientists against noble nature is juvenile. And for that dumbing-down, I have to take away a star.

Thank you to NetGalley and Waypoint books for this opportunity to read rate and review this arc which is available January 8,2024!

Hot. Damn. Y’all!

It’s been a hot minute since I have read an epic monster horror book. And one written by a woman. This was a fast paced in your face (sorry for rhyming) grab you by the throat read. I freaking LOVED IT. And if you like monster horror with a strong female main character. Sinister elite and freaking SABER TOOTH TIGERS do yourself a favor and pick this book up!

I was instantly hooked on this! My covid brain couldn't distract me from this one. It was a miracle.
So right off the bat a man dies from an attack while hunting a tiger unlike anything living today. Then we meet our protagonist, a woman named Sam, who fights poachers. She is the coolest!
Sam ends up joining a team of people investigating this cryptid (maybe) they shot in Yellowstone and it puts her in serious danger. Rich jerks are not people to mess with.
I loved it so much! I know I usually hate anything "cop" but this was enough like Jurassic Park and my favorite book Future Home of the Living God by Louise Erdrich that I was into it. It can have some cop stuff. It is okay this time.
I serious. This was glorious.

Excellent novel and incredibly well researched! I couldn't stop turning pages. Definitely cant wait to read more from this author!

When Wyoming Game Warden Sam Brodie is called to assist someone from another agency, she does not expect to encounter an illegal hunt of a saber-tooth tiger. Due to her skill under fire and knowledge base, the other agency recruits her to help investigate the appearance of extinct Ice Age predators. Can Sam and her new team prevent ecological disaster before they are killed themselves?

A scientific thriller, this book is a mix of investigation and Jurassic Park with North American Ice Age animals instead of dinosaurs. It has mad science and evil man. I loved the main character, Sam Brodie, and her developing friendship with her new team. She is strong, smart, middle-aged, and valued for it. I am hoping it is the first in a series. The science isn't too heavy and the story is well written. If anything, I wanted to read more about the animals.

Warning - animal death and cruelty

Publication date - January 8, 2024

I would to thank NetGalley and Waypoint Books for an ARC copy.

Game Warden Sam Brodie is concerned about poachers and hunters in Yellowstone Park. She should be more concerned about their prey. Because when Warden Murphy Barnes calls of help, the prey is a sabertooth tiger. And the hunters are sharpshooters armed with automatic weapons. After the two survive both hunters and tigers, Murphy asks Sam to join him as a WASP (Wilderness and Animal Special Protection task force) Agent. Sam agrees and learns that there have been sightings of prehistoric animals in National Parks, put there to be hunted down by sophisticated methods.

Paralleling this story is the development of Sention Laboratories by Angel Cooperation and Marc Angel. Their work with animal DNA is only a small part of a devastating plan. WASP must stop Marc Angel before he can reach his world wide goal.

Fans of Michael Crichton will love The Lazarus Key. So will all readers! If you love a well written action thriller with characters you’ll want to see again and a multilayered plot that will leave you guessing, The Lazarus Key is for you! I hope this is the start of a new series. 5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley, Waypoint Books and Rachel Aukes for this ARC.

The Lazarus Key is about a Game Warden for a National Park discovering an extinct species of sabertooth tiger has been brought back into her park. It's the scheme of a lab that uses them for greed, and Sam must stop the eco-terrorist organization.

One thing I really like about this book, is it's straightforward way of writing. It helped add to the grit themes of the story, and wasn't convoluted. It helped get across the overall theme and aesthetic, especially with the main character being a skilled outdoorsman. This has good enough knowledge of guns and hunting, and I appreciated the underlying lesson of poaching happening in our national parks.

Warning for animal cruelty/animal death, I think we all expect people to die but it hits different when it's animals. Another thing I really loved was the MC (Sam) is so respectful and shows a lot of care for the lives of the animals that she's essentially forced to take.

I don't know if this was necessarily a horror, it's more of a action/adventure. So I wouldn't go in thinking this is something that may necessarily scare you (unless you are afraid of predators or big cats) as opposed to interest you. For myself, I was never scared or fearful. Especially for the main character's Sam and Murphy who I always felt had a good handle on the situation. In a way, this hindered the story, because I was never allowed to fully drown in my tension or anxiety because I knew Sam and Murphy were in no real danger of being killed off. Instead, we saw a lot of nameless or supporting character's suffer the brunt of the gore.

If you're a fan of Jurassic Park, you'll love this. It's a very fun and engaging story that you'll be able to finish rather fast, and go back to multiple times! It's also a favorite if you're a fan of paleontology or cryptozoology. I had a lot of fun reading it.

I wish there were more books like this around. Humans bringing back extinct animals and mayhem ensuing is never boring to me. The author gives us a protagonist that is a middle aged woman named Sam (not short for anything), who has been in the Army and currently works in the Fish and Wildlife department. She's not fond of poachers, and she's good to be around in a fire fight. It's a nice break from the lead woman being some damsel or delicate scientist. This lady is brave and tries to do the right things, but is still able to think in shades of gray. The villains are the rich elite humans in the story and I feel so bad for the innocent animals caught up in their schemes. I'm hoping this is a start of a series, because it was fun and cryptids were mentioned enough to hint there is more going on in the world.