Tag Archives: police procedural

Amy Caudill’s Reviews : Extinction

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Extinction by Douglas Preston

Extinction by Douglas Preston (Goodreads Author)

Amy Caudill‘s review

A technological breakthrough runs amok in this new novel by author Douglas Preston. A group of scientists have “DE-extincted” several species of dinosaurs, aka Jurassic Park, and set them up in a nature preserve in the Colorado wilderness.


When a wealthy couple disappear deep in the wilderness of the preserve, the reader is left wondering momentarily if the culprits are animal or human, at least from the short early chapters I read before the book’s official release. However, after getting a copy of the entire book I was able to quickly realize the dinosaurs were innocent. Instead, a group of unknown size had somehow infiltrated the park, a group that had insider knowledge of the security, the routines, and the hidden old mining areas underneath the park.


As Colorado Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Frankie Cash and Sheriff Jim Colcord are forced to work together to find the missing couple, they quickly discover clues to far more sinister deeds. The kidnappers have left behind videos and evidence they wanted to have discovered-evidence of murder, cannibalism, and strange, primitive rites conducted under their noses. Who are the members of this group? How are they eluding the security of the park and the manhunt of combined forces of CBI and police investigators?


Forced to work under close scrutiny of the press, the administration of the park who are being evasive, the billionaire father of one of the victims who is outraged but also hiding information, as well as the CBI and the governor; Cash and Colcord are only left with more questions and very few answers. Finally they resort to underhanded means to get inside the laboratories where the dinosaurs are made. Once there, they discover that the scientists bred more than dinosaurs.


The group of scientists actually De-extincted one of humanities’ ancient rivals, a rival species driven into extinction by homo sapiens. The newly resurrected race escape the control of the scientists, and are out for revenge. Their goal- extinction of the human race.


I was shocked at the big twist in this book; I definitely did not predict the direction this story would take. That being said, I believe it was handled in a manner that was all too plausible. Preston has a history of writing stories where technology gets the better of its inventors and this is just the latest example of his writing style. What at first seems like a re-write of Jurasssic Park turned out to be so much more, and I award this novel 5 stars.

Amy Caudill’s Reviews : An Eye for an Eye

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An Eye for an Eye by Carol Wyer

An Eye for an Eye (Detective Kate Young, #1) by Carol Wyer (Goodreads Author)

Amy Caudill‘s review

The first book in this series introduces us to Detective Inspector Kate Young, a driven, successful British cop who has recently survived a trauma that is at first only alluded to in flashbacks and offhand comments, but the reader soon becomes aware affects her entire life, professionally and personally.

We meet Kate as she is attempting to come to terms with a tragedy she witnessed, while being on medical leave.  Each day is a struggle, without the job that gives her purpose.  When her boss calls her in to head a murder investigation, Kate worries that she is being set up to fail.  She has to deal with a team that is concerned with her mental state, a couple of higher-ups that want to look over her shoulder and yet withhold vital Intel, and the fear that she is losing her mind.

The murderer soon strikes again, and a list of potential future targets includes one of her bosses, all while Kate is undergoing withdrawal from anxiety meds and trying to direct a team of seasoned cops who may or may not have her back.  Will she be able to keep it together and prove she can still do the job before she is removed from the case or the killer strikes again?

Carol Wyer has written an excellent mystery with a complicated, driven heroine that I enjoyed reading very much.  The actual antagonist was presented as a minor character in the story, someone that no one would have expected to be a criminal mastermind at first introduction, which gave the book a delicious twist. 

That being said, the background plot was a little bit easier to guess.  Maybe I’ve read too many mystery stories, but I figured out the mysterious fatal weapon before the detectives uncovered that information.  I also understood the secret tragedy that Kate would not admit to herself until three quarters of the way through the book.  I am intrigued with the direction the author chose to help Kate deal with her issue, and how that creates another character foil for her through the end of the story and probably into the next book. 

I probably will pick up a copy of the next story to see how that situation further develops, as well as the tantalizing bits that her husband left for Kate to investigate about corruption in the police force.  All in all, a very good story and a strong start for a series.  I give this book four stars.