Gripping thriller with intriguing premise
A crime thriller set in, essentially, Jurassic Park? Say no more, sign me up!
Agent in Charge Frances Cash and Sheriff Colcord team up to investigate the case of two hikers who have disappeared in Erebus Resort, situated in a large valley in the Colorado Rockies. The facility is famous for bringing woolly mammoths and other animals back from extinction by genetic manipulation. Are eco-terrorists responsible? A billionaire with an axe to grind? Or something more sinister?
I haven't read one of Douglas Preston's books before, but I was hooked from the start. The writing is engaging, the setting is intriguing and there's a diverse cast of characters. Agent Cash is no nonsense and I'd love to read more books with her as the main character. The book is fast paced, and I found it genuinely very hard to put it down in places. It's heavily into the crime and police procedural side of things, rather than the sci-fi element (the animals aren't given as much focus as I would have liked), but the setting makes it so unique. I had guessed the twist early on, but it didn't dampen my enjoyment of the book.
One criticism I would have is there is some odd, and often repetitive phrases used at times which jarred me out of the narrative. The obsession with turning torches down to '5 lumens' was strange, and there's a lot of derogative language towards weight which seemed unnecessary. I really enjoyed the Afterword which spoke of the science behind some of the aspects of the book. This really grounded the story in reality and made me want to research the topic further.
Overall, Extinction is a gripping crime thriller with an unusual premise. Thank you to NetGalley & Head of Zeus - Aries for the chance to read the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
