Extinction

With Extinction, #1 New York Times bestselling author Douglas Preston has written an epic thriller in the Michael Crichton mode that explores the very real effort to resurrect the woolly mammoth and other extinct megafauna from the Pleistocene Age.

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.

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Thriller

Release date: April 23, 2024

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Douglas Preston

Some thriller writers chase danger. Douglas Preston studies it, dissects it, and then quietly lets it loose on the page.

Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1956 and educated in English literature at Pomona College, Preston’s early path did not begin in a writer’s garret but inside the halls of the American Museum of Natural History in New York. Working as an editor and publications manager, he absorbed the language of scientists, curators, and explorers. The experience left a permanent imprint. Laboratories, expedition camps, museum basements, and forbidden archives would later become the living, breathing settings of his fiction.

Preston rose to international prominence through his long collaboration with Lincoln Child. Together they introduced readers to the enigmatic FBI agent Aloysius Pendergast in Relic, a novel that fused forensic investigation, evolutionary theory, and gothic menace inside a Manhattan museum. The book’s success, including a film adaptation, launched the long running Pendergast series, now considered a cornerstone of modern techno-thrillers and crime fiction. The series stands out for its blend of meticulous research and atmospheric suspense, pairing high concept science with deeply human obsessions.

While the partnership brought global bestseller status, Preston’s solo work reveals the breadth of his interests. In novels such as The Codex and the Wyman Ford series, he explores cryptography, lost civilizations, artificial intelligence, and moral ambiguity. His nonfiction moves even closer to the edge of reality. The Monster of Florence, co-written with Italian journalist Mario Spezi, plunges into a chilling true crime investigation that led Preston himself into legal trouble in Italy. In The Lost City of the Monkey God, he recounts a real expedition into the Honduran jungle in search of a legendary civilization, blending immersive reporting with the pacing of a thriller.

A hallmark of his writing is plausibility. Scientific theories are not decorative backdrops but engines of tension. Archaeology is not romantic nostalgia but a risky confrontation with the unknown. Preston’s thrillers often hinge on one unsettling idea, what if the boundary between credible science and catastrophe is thinner than we think?

Beyond novels and narrative nonfiction, he has written for publications such as The New Yorker, National Geographic, and Smithsonian, bringing the same narrative intensity to essays about exploration and discovery. His books have topped the New York Times bestseller list and have been translated worldwide, cementing his place among the most widely read contemporary thriller authors.

Yet what continues to define his career is curiosity. Whether tracing the path of a Renaissance manuscript, investigating a serial killer, or imagining a rogue scientific breakthrough, Preston writes with the mindset of an investigator. He invites readers to step into the archive, the jungle, the lab, then asks a simple question: what if the search for knowledge comes with consequences no one can control?

In the realm of suspense fiction grounded in real science, few voices feel as convincingly dangerous.

Cash & Colcord

In the Cash & Colcord series, the wilderness is not a backdrop. It is an active force, patient and indifferent, waiting for human ambition to overstep.

Created by Douglas Preston, this emerging thriller series blends crime investigation with speculative science and environmental tension, carving out its own space within contemporary techno-thriller fiction. While newer than some of his long running franchises, these novels quickly establish a distinct identity, grounded in the stark landscapes of Colorado and charged with the consequences of scientific risk.

At the center are Frances “Frankie” Cash, a sharp and disciplined Colorado Bureau of Investigation agent, and Sheriff Jim Colcord, a seasoned lawman whose authority is rooted in the rhythms of mountain towns and hard winters. Their partnership is not effortless. It grows out of friction, professional pride, and a shared recognition that the cases confronting them are unlike anything in standard criminal procedure.

The opening novel, Extinction, introduces a remote luxury resort built on a radical promise, the resurrection of extinct species through advanced genetic engineering. What begins as an investigation into a disappearance unfolds into something darker and far less controllable. The premise taps directly into contemporary anxieties about de extinction science, corporate secrecy, and the ethical limits of innovation. Yet the real tension lies in the human response to that power, fear, greed, denial, and the stubborn belief that nature can be managed.

Across the series, the atmosphere leans toward high altitude suspense. Snowbound forests, isolated research facilities, and rugged terrain amplify the sense of vulnerability. The mysteries combine procedural detail with speculative elements, creating a hybrid of crime thriller and science driven suspense. The stakes feel both immediate and existential, a missing person, a violent death, a breakthrough that may not remain contained.

What sets these books apart within the modern thriller landscape is their balance of grounded investigation and unsettling possibility. The science is plausible enough to feel real, yet strange enough to hint at catastrophe. The partnership between Cash and Colcord anchors the narrative, providing emotional continuity as each case peels back another layer of ambition and unintended consequences.

For readers searching for a Colorado set thriller series that merges eco thriller themes, genetic engineering, and atmospheric crime investigation, this series offers a compelling blend of realism and dread. The mountains keep their secrets well. Cash and Colcord are simply the ones tasked with uncovering them, and surviving what they find.

Cash & Colcord consists of two books and series is set to expand with the upcoming release of one more book. The current recommended reading order for the series is provided below.

★ 8.00 / 1

⧗ 8.00 / 1

⧗ 8.00 / 2

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