Date: 22 June 2025
Location: Pat & Carol
There were 15 of us at the meeting and 10 had read the book. There were two people there who read Extinction, but it was by a different author – same title, different book. Only Gary, Peggy, Annie, and Claudia were absent. When all the people who were out on the tour out back with Carol, showing everyone the day lilies, were pulled inside, we got started on our discussion of the book.
The book begins with the disappearance of a wealthy couple from a very exclusive remote resort in a valley, high up in the mountains, and surrounded by snow capped mountains. If you have to ask how much it costs to stay there, you probably cannot afford it. The resort, Erebus, was advertised as place for honeymooners (those that could afford it). Besides the scenery, and the service provided to the visitors, the main attraction is what is roaming freely, at a distance, around the grounds,. Species of animals that have been extinct, such as wooly mammoths, have been brought back to life. The couple, who were newlyweds, had taken a hike with a guide, and set up a camp for the night and it was from this camp they disappeared. The guide heard a scream but by the time he got dressed and made it to their tent, they were gone.
When the local sheriff was called by the security at the resort, he called the Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Frankie Cash was assigned the case, her first investigation as Agent in Charge. They had been called in because they would need the forensic services that could be provided by the CBI. It didn’t take long for the forensics to confirm that they were healing with murder and not just missing people.
So that is the setting for this book, a murder mystery in a very unusual setting and with questions that point towards an unusual solution. How and why were the bodies taken? Tracking dogs could not follow a scent and those that carried out the killings were not a part of the staff or clients. In addition, no one could get into the valley undetected.
The de-extincted herbivores were created on the property in a large, lab built into an enlarged cave entrance, using powerful new gene-editing techniques that used CRISPR, editing out the genes for aggression. The cave system was extensive and had several entrances and had been extensively mined for gold in earlier years. Now, a place for the killers to hide and a way to move around without being seen.
For comic relief, it turns out that there were other people in the valley – there was a crew filming a movie at a ghost town. It was a western, where a herd of mammoths get caught in a time warp and appear in the 1880s. A bunch of cowboys catch and break them, and then ride them into town to save it from a railroad baron. It was established that none of them had anything to do with the killings.
The first break in the case came about through the use of drones. The very wealthy father of the man who was killed showed up with them and their operators. But, when they were found, they proved to be very elusive in their camouflage and their stealthy ways and it still was not clear who these people were. There was no shortage of rumors about who they were and why they were so knowledgeable about the operation of the resort. The most popular theory was related to organizations that were unhappy that the resort was established here and wanted it closed down.
Then the tactics changed and the agent and sheriff were led to a camp where they found the bodies of the missing couple and they had not only been killed but they had been eaten. The deaths and now cannibalism made this a national story and now the press was clamoring for more information. When contact was made, it became clear that these people were on a mission to kill whoever they came in contact with – they had spears and knew how to use them.
With a no-knock warrant in hand, the good guys, and gals, investigated the large laboratory complex and finally discovered who these people were. The lab was not only de-extincting animals but had de-extincted an extinct people, the Neanderthal, a race that competed with Sapiens, and were stronger and had larger brains. Unlike the other animals that had been de-extincted, the Neanderthals could reproduce and they found children who were being well cared for and educated. The explanation of why Sapiens won out over Neanderthals was that we had empathy and they didn’t, which enabled us to work together in larger cooperative groups.
Remember the honeymooners, they had come to for gene therapy to have stronger children, but were not told where the genes were coming from.
Things really heated up when the clever Neanderthals on the loose stole over a hundreds pounds of dynamite, with which they destroyed the power plant and got the lodge burning. They were also killing any Sapiens they encountered. They had figured out that Sapiens were responsible for their extinction and they wanted revenge. Spears against automatic weapons but the Neanderthals were stronger, faster, and had more endurance. Of course, armed helicopters could overcome any advantage the Neanderthals had. But, until the force needed to put down the uprising arrived, the good guys and gals were on the run and along the way they had collected the “father” of the Neanderthals, the expert in gene therapy who headed up the lab. In the final confrontation, he convinced the Neanderthals that with his help they could survive in the mountains and accomplish the re-wilding that they had planned. He would go with them if they left the good guys and gals go and they agreed.
As the author points out, this is a novel, but plans for de-extinction are in progress. This is a tale of how things might evolve. If I had to write a one sentence description of this book, it would be one of the quotes at the beginning of the book: “The real problem of humanity is the following: We have Paleolithic emotions, medieval institution, and godlike technology. And this is terrifically dangerous.”
— Reynolds