If you are seeking a unique thriller that is impeccably researched and told in a style that will make you question what is real and what is fiction, you cannot do much better than a book by the great Douglas Preston.

EXTINCTION is Preston’s latest solo effort, and it hits all the marks of a scientifically sound technothriller that will challenge all you thought you knew about a particular subject. The decades between Michael Crichton’s novels and the scientific advancements that have occurred in our world make the possibility for the de-extinction of previously existing creatures that once roamed the face of our planet a deadly reality.

"What makes EXTINCTION so engaging and thrilling is not the points it brings up about man playing God --- a theme that has long been a popular one in science fiction --- but what it has to say about where we have come from as a species…and where we may be heading."

Olivia and Mark Gunnerson are the first victims of EXTINCTION. They are building a campsite within the thousands of acres that make up Erebus Resort in the Colorado Rockies, which mockingly has been called a modern-day Jurassic Park. Mark has received this privilege as he is the son of a billionaire investor who is friends with the principal donor behind the resort. The couple watches in awe and wonder as they observe long-extinct species from the Pleistocene era, including woolly mammoths. It is a shock to everyone involved when their campsite is found torn up and their beheaded bodies left behind. This is certainly not the behavior of the typically docile mammoths, which sparks the burning question: Who or what is behind these brutal murders?

To get to the bottom of this, and to do so in an efficient manner that will cause a minimum amount of downtime at Erebus, a team of specialized law enforcement is called in. Colorado Bureau of Investigation Agent Frances Cash and Chief Detective Bart Romanski meet with county sheriff James Colcord. Regrettably, this tragedy is just the tip of the iceberg, and the newly formed duo of Cash and Colcord will have their hands full in solving these crimes while trying to keep everyone living and working at the resort safe.

Frustratingly, Andrew Maximilian, the chief of security at Erebus, appears to be keeping secrets and not providing full disclosure. Meanwhile, the financier behind the resort is equally uncooperative and has a lot of influential people and political types to support him. Mark’s wealthy father demands that Cash press Erebus for what they are not saying about the murders.

The man behind the science is Marius Karman, and it is his secrets that are being guarded so carefully throughout the book. There are plenty of protestors and radical animal advocacy groups that may be breaching the perimeter. But would any of them claim human victims to get their message of disapproval across? Cash, Colcord and their entire team will quickly become expendable to the truth that does not wish to be uncovered, which may involve previously extinct creatures that predate the woolly mammoths themselves.

What makes EXTINCTION so engaging and thrilling is not the points it brings up about man playing God --- a theme that has long been a popular one in science fiction --- but what it has to say about where we have come from as a species…and where we may be heading.