Extinction: A Novel

4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars | 7,305 ratings

Price: 2.99

Last update: 12-29-2024


About this item

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.

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.


From the Publisher

Extinction Douglas Preston

Extinction Douglas Preston Lee Child quote

Extinction Douglas Preston James Rollins quote

Extinction Douglas Preston Tess Gerritsen quote


Top reviews from the United States

  • MRogue
    5.0 out of 5 stars Jurassic Park 2: Wooly Mammoth Boogaloo!
    Reviewed in the United States on April 24, 2024
    I'll admit to a slight bias here as I've been on the Preston & Child runaway train since Relic, but Preston's Extinction is a bona fide page turner.

    Less "sci-fi" and more crime-thriller than expected, this is the story that I always envisioned/hoped for from the Jurassic Park sequels (book and films): namely, that having failed at taming the exotic eco-system of the dinosaurs of the Jurassic/Cretaceous eras, hubris has convinced the corporate overlords that they can do better with something more familiar: mammals (enter the Wooly Mammoth, Giant Ground Sloth, etc). Alas, JP never really went that direction and that's where Douglas Preston picks up the conceptual baton of my dreams. Of course, all hell breaks loose via interesting characters (some developed more than others), high-octane situations and a few twists and turns along the way (some more telegraphed than others despite the author's noble attempts to throw you off the scent).

    I've mentioned Jurassic Park a lot (so does Preston in the book via wise, meta call-outs), but don't mistake this as a Jurassic Park re-mix, subbing in extinct mammals for dinosaurs. Extinction is it's own beast. The antagonists in Extinction aren't velociraptor equivalents and their kin (and I'll die on the hill that the T-Rex was the overarching protagonist across all the films). The resurrected Pleistocene "megafauna" critters take a decidedly back seat to a set of heroes and villains that are much more of the human variety.

    Extinction is high-drama, high-stakes and high-concept. All the things that Preston excels at. Enjoy.
  • John Simion
    4.0 out of 5 stars Great Book ... Just Overlook a Few Things
    Reviewed in the United States on December 17, 2024
    This is first and foremost a detective story, and a very good one at that. The characters are interesting and intelligent, and there are lots of human conflicts. Then you learn the true culprits and it becomes an action and suspense story in addition to a detective story. The culprits themselves are the only reason I knocked my rating down one star, and that's because their abilities were simply unbelievable. I can barely handle modern electronics myself but the culprits could figure out how to turn off a drone, eliminate its GPS tracker and record messages on it. That may not sound like much now but it will you learn who they actually are and where they'd been for 20 or more years. OTOH, just overlook things like that and enjoy the story.
  • Matthew A. Bille
    5.0 out of 5 stars Superb scientific thriller
    Reviewed in the United States on May 4, 2024
    Wow. This is a terrific thriller, and my favorite of Preston’s solo novels. While I’m a faithful reader of everything by Preston and/or Childs, this might be the most fun I’ve had since it all started with Relic.
    Preston knows readers will look at his valley of de-extincted Ice Age mammals and think, “Jurassic Park,” so he has fun by having his characters trash the films at every opportunity. While his wealthy entrepreneur and brilliant and slightly mad scientist didn’t bring back any apex predators, the vividly written mammoths, glyptodonts, Irish elk, and others draw a stream of healthy visitors to this beautiful site in Colorado.
    The murder of two guests kicks off the thread of an investigation that runs through the book. Agent Cash and Sheriff Colcord conduct a superbly written, suspenseful series of investigations as things get weirder and deaths continue. The company is up to something even stranger than bringing back mammoths, but the investigators don’t know what is or how it’s connected to the murders. A mix of grieving parents, secretive executives, cultists in the forest, and a movie company using mammoths in a Western (go with it) add to the fun and suspense. And when you think you’ve solved the mystery, you haven’t.
    The characters are excellent. Cash is especially notable because most writers would make her Hollywood pretty, not plain and a bit stout. She has a secret past which implies we’ll see her in another book, and I hope so. She and Colcord’s initially prickly partnership changes to professional respect and friendship, not a throwaway sex scene.
    I guessed the first of two twists - that they are breeding Neanderthals. The scientist in chief teaches the surprisingly intelligent “cave men” not just English, but use computers and other modern technology. What could go wrong? How about “everything?” Preston’s take on this subspecies is original and surprising.
    The second twist doesn’t strike until the last chapters, and I didn’t see it coming. I won’t spoil it, but it’s stunning and adds a great deal of emotional weight to the novel. Finally, an Afterword explains the scientific thinking, some of it controversial, Preston put into the novel. You’ll be disquieted about both the past and the future.
    There’s not much to nitpick here. All the animals are at the high end of their real-life sizes, but that’s logical if you’re choosing the genes for animals to exhibit. Preston’s ground sloth is too big, though. A “honey wagon” on a movie set is a portable bathroom, not a star’s trailer (unless the character mentioning it is being sarcastic).
    It's a satisfying read in every possible way. I stayed up late reading this, You will, too.

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