Maybe Something Should Stay Dead

Extinction by Douglas Preston

Stars: 4

Thank you to NetGalley for this book.

I have loved Douglas Preston’s writing since I picked up Relic, his first novel with Lincoln Childs, featuring FBI Agent Pendergast, in my opinion, one of the best modern Sherlock Holmes-like characters. Preston also wrote a fascinating history of the Natural History Museum in New York, Dinosaur’s in the Attic. If you haven’t read either of these, I can’t recommend them enough; both of these books embody what I find fascinating about New York. Anyway, I figured I would enjoy this book by Preston, it seemed to have all the thriller elements that appeal in many of the Preston-Child novels.

Frances Cash is an agent with the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, a transplant from Portland, Maine, who is finally going to be the lead on a case. Of course, she might not want it; the son and daughter-in-law of a tech billionaire have been kidnapped from their campsite at the ultra-exclusive Erebus Resort. Erebus is kind of like Jurassic Park, except instead of dinosaurs, the scientists there have resurrected more placid, plant-eating extinct species, like wooly mammoths and giant sloths, you know, so they can bring in tourists but not worry about death. But after getting to the crime scene with her forensic team and the local sheriff, Cash knows there is something sinister going on. And as members of the search team start to end up dead in almost sadistic violence, they know there is something else out there hunting people.

Look, is this classic literature, nope, but will it pull you and keep your attention? Yep. Will you be intrigued and want to know what is out there? Of course. Are there mysteries in them there hills? You bet your bronco. Do I want there to be a sequel and meet up with some of these characters again? I really do, which for me is indication that the book has transported you for a short period of time to a very enjoyable fantasy world. On the other hand, it also scared me a bit, because I am not sure we would be far off from the ultimate theme of this book.