This is the sequel to the fabulously entertaining Extinction, but it didn’t quite live up to my expectations.
Frankie Cash and Jim Colcord probe a series of ritualistic murders, including the grisly death of an exobiologist. Their investigation reveals a fanatic secret society, a mysterious alien artifact that’s gone missing, and the theft of a religious relic. The resurrected Neanderthals remain hidden somewhere in the mountains and aren’t a part of this story.
This is meant to be a thriller, and is coauthored by Douglas Preston’s daughter. You can tell right away that something is different because it doesn’t read the same and includes social commentary that added nothing valuable to the story. The whole de-extinction theme was absent and this plot centers on some sort of extraterrestrial element and some crazy religious misguided fervor. It was unnecessarily complex and the whole police procedural and investigative dynamic was off between Cash and Colcord. I was most irritated and unhappy with how the big reveals were NOT actually ever spelled out. Without spoilers, I can’t specific exactly what I’m talking about but certainly the reader has earned some sort of detail about the artifact and about the motivations behind the two different groups. It was all very vague. I don’t like senseless violence and some of this was quite grisly and brutal with of course the nearly impossible escape that Cash and Colgord engineer from the brink of death. This was definitely not what I was hoping for in this follow-up to Extinction. I don’t know that I will read another by this duo. I have read almost every book Douglas Preston has written and this just didn’t hit the mark of his work.
I was able to listen to the audio book while also following along in the e-book ARC, both provided by the publishers. It was quite interesting to see what changes were made between the written and the audio production. The narrator, Stephanie Nemeth-Parker, did a fantastic job of voicing all the characters and had a great range of accents. She has great dramatic flair and brought the characters to life. Although a full cast recording would have really been wonderful, Stephanie’s voice enhanced my experience with the book.
This is the second book or a sequel but you could read it alone as nothing much has to do with previous book.
Genre and tags: UAP (UFO), extraterrestrials, religion, artifacts, relics, Spanish Inquisition, ritual murder
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