Pandemic: The Extinction Files, Book 1

I started with A.G. Riddle and his Atlantis Gene series.It was the first time I had encountered an author who thought as I did and loved conspiracy theories as much as I did. I love a book where the facts mentioned are actual things I can research for myself. The characters, the motivations, the tragedies, and love are all well done.For me, it's kind of like a better version of Michael Crichton as been found. Let's be honest, Crichton sucks at endings to his books. Riddle is much better at weaving his stories.Extinction Files is another fun ride into an overgrown XFiles-esque episode. The way we are introduced slowly to the main character is genius and a nice device. It throws flavors of Total Recall, etc. into the mix. If you've done much research about FEMA and preparations it has already made then it isn't such a stretch to believe this scenario is possible. The island where germ warfare was created in Russia really exists, etc. Good job, Mr. Riddle.I, highly recommend this book. There is some violence, no real sexual situations beyond PG or maybe PG13. There is no real adult language. It's so nice to find an author who can write a pretty clean story and hasn't fallen prey to editors saying they need to use bad language and lots of sex.

While I read more than I used to, I'm not a regular consumer of fiction / series. So when I saw how long this book is, I feared maybe I had gotten in over my head — in the sense it might take me a month or more to finish it (which never has the same effect). I finished this book in about four days! That is testament to the interesting nature of the suspense the author creates, and to some of the character development as well. I don't know how long the second book will be but I am already looking forward to it.WHAT I LIKED MOST• The development of the main character, Desmond — seeing both sides of him from a young age and having to guess at what role he played in the whole thing. The memory aspect was pretty ingenious.• The overall plot and scenario — I don't know how many thrillers / suspense novels about epidemics or pandemics there are out there but this was my first forray into the topic and I feel it is both relevant in the times we live and interesting generally. You could tell in places the author did his homework; the details didn't feel fudged.• The storyline for the African doctor, Kibet. I'm glad the story didn't leave him behind as the activities in Africa became secondary. He is interesting.• The fact that the author obviously did some homework on how the CDC operates and on some real-world diseases and their impact. Made it a lot more authentic.MINOR DISTRACTIONS• In the first maybe 100 pages of the book, characters' hair color / qualities were described a lot and in Peyton's case, the color changed back and forth 4 or 5 times. First brown, then black, then dark brown, then black again, then brown again. lol I attribute this more to the editor of the book than the author — they should've caught it, synced a couple and and removed a couple of the references to avoid the distraction.MINOR CHARACTER / PLOT FLAWS*** SPOILER ALERT ***• The components of the Looking Glass (which I understand has to remain mysterious in its own right), were mentioned often in the second half of the book, with virtually no hint as to what role those components played / why they were important. Rook, Rendition, etc. While it's OK to leave readers in the dark initially to build suspense, towards the end of the book when clues and characters are coming together to paint a picture, I think more detail about what those inidividual pieces meant, would've been helpful.• Too many characters back from the dead and/or doing the whole "not who you think they are" bit: Peyton's Dad, Peyton's Brother, Peyton's Mom. I find it hard to believe on some level, that for all those years she never suspected any of it nor was dropped any hint about it by anyone involved. It felt a little forced and a bit like a TV drama or something where they have to keep hitting you over the head with "mind blowing moments" to cover up the fact that half the actors can't act and the script writers can't write. Obviously that's not WHY it was done here (there are no actors and the author is quite talented at weaving a story and painting a picture), but I do feel like it was over the top. I also find it almost impossible to believe that her brother, once the island was captured and overrun by US military, would simply be allowed to leave unquestioned and go start a life in Australia.• Unlike the Aftrican doctor, I felt like the continuation of Elliot's story in Atlanta left something to be desired. Maybe it lacked a thematic focus or — not sure. I actually would've preferred that part of the story be told from the perspective of someone totally unconnected to the CDC or the people involved in all things Looking Glass. Like John and Jane Q Public and their kid and their dog... some type of terrors or tribulations they had to go through, somewhere not so lucky where there's no Georgia Dome or CDC, more chaos maybe. People panicking and turning on their neighbors, etc (which I believe would happen in real life in many places).

Here's one book for your personal library. A must have, complete with twists and turns that reads like the newspaper headlines. I had to read some of the parts over so that I didn't miss anything that was going on. As always, Enjoy!!!

Excellent researched book on pandemics, but it could have been told in a couple of hundred pages less. The first half was much more compelling and logical; however, the characters are well developed- as a whole. However Riddle reaches too far in advancing a way to knit the characters together- Like discovering Peyton’s father and brother reappearing from the dead and her mother working earlier with the organization that started the bioterrorism, but he is a excellent and suspenseful story teller. While he is extremely good on relaying CDC operations, epidemic controls, WHO, etc, he is awful weak in military weapons/procedures and aircraft/flight operations. Flying from Kenya to a small Scottish island in some lightly described Red Cross cargo plane is no more difficult than hopping in a SUV for a ride downtown. No need to worry about a flight plan, navigation systems, Air traffic control,VOR/DME, etc.; just fly VFR and use Google maps. By the way, for someone that supposed to be technically adept AG Riddle displays surprisingly lack of understanding that one can just whip out your cellular phone and get a signal to surf the internet while flying in some cargo plane. Of course, this was even a more startling surprise to see them just take off from Uzbekistan to head for Australia- without a refueling stop. I doubt that I will read the following series book.

Another good series from Riddle

A bit convoluted towards the end but still a good read, starting the next book now, hope its as good...

After reading the " Atlantis Trilogy"(that's probably not the correct title ,but you know what I mean ) I couldn't wait to see what else AG Riddle had written, and I am really glad that I did. This book is definitely action packed and Very Hard to put down. The writing style continues in this book, a real page-turner, that keeps you guessing all the way thru. The characters are well written and easy to root for and/or against, the plot is original and complex, but easy to follow. I'm very pleased with this book After enjoying the previous trilogy very much, I was very interested to see his next book, and I am pleased with it's originality! (You know how some authors seem to write from a formula, and the books are good, but the plots so similar that they are almost interchangeable, AG Riddle is Not that kind of author!) The quality of his work is consistent, but the stories are Definitely One of a Kind! I strongly recommend this book ! Now I'm off to find Book 2, because this story is just that good , I've got to see what happens next

With Cov 19 Pandemie and at Home.This book gives Hope in better tomorrow. Stay healty and together. Love and Best wishes from Austria.

I read a lot of the author's book and could say that this one is one of a kind. The plot is awesome, the pace is well set and the way the story goes on is really amazing. Keep up with this excellent work. Eager to read book two. Highly recommend this book. 11 out 10.

In principe een spannend verhaal met voldoende wendingen om het 'vers' te houden, en de opzet aan het einde naar een groter mysterie vind ik ook niet erg, al is het wel wat vergezocht. Verschillende karakters worden goed gebruikt: eerst ter afwisseling, dan voor meerdere perspectieven op dezelfde gebeurtenis, en aan het einde komt alles mooi samen. De keuze van de auteur om op bepaalde plekken merknamen te gebruiken in plaats van iets algemeners (bijvoorbeeld [specifieke nieuwsdienst] i.p.v. "het nieuws", [luisterboekdienst] i.p.v. "een luisterboek") vind ik persoonlijk echter wel heel jammer, het heeft geen duidelijk nut voor het verhaal en is daardoor alleen maar afleidend op een storende manier.