Extinction Horizon: The Extinction Cycle, Book 1

I've had the ebook of this on my kindle for a few years, but kept putting it off, not sure why but I kept thinking it's a case of "same old, same old." Over the years, though, I started seeing more and more of this and the great reviews it was getting, and while browsing Audible, saw it was available. After listening to the sample, it piqued my interest enough to buy it. Over the course of a few months, I bought all of them with my credits and when I downloaded book 6, I started listening.So this starts with us seeing some American soldiers during the Vietnam war. They were given an experimental new drug that is said to help them turn the tide of the war. They were to become the weapons, it was to make them faster and stronger, but what they unleashed was monsters who killed indiscriminately. Friend or foe, it didn't matter, all they wanted was to kill.Years later, Master Sergeant Reed Beckham and his Delta Force Team, are called back into action because a top secret lab has gone dark. Team Ghost are told to proceed with caution as this lab deals with highly contagious and deadly diseases. It was currently working on a cure for the outbreak of Ebola that was gripping the nation. Team Ghost suit up and head out, only to discover that everyone in the lab seems to have succumbed to....something and are now something more than human. They are monsters who will stop at nothing to feed.Narrowly escaping with their lives, Team Ghost arrive back only to discover that the Ebola virus has spread but also, one person from the lab had left before the place went dark, he was infected with this new strain of the virus and changed! The new strain is creating monsters. It is highly infectious and looks like it's also incurable. What can Team Ghost do?This book exceeded all my expectations and absolutely blew me away. The plot was extremely fast paced and had me on the edge of my seat throughout. Ebola is a horrible and frightening disease but add in what they did with it and it was scary. The results of the outbreak were even more frightening.... The Variants are, plain and simply, monsters. The author also explained the science behind everything in such a way that it was quite believable!! You could easily believe how the Variants came to be.The characters were amazing! Team Ghost are the best of the best and Reed Beckham has kept his men alive through every mission they were sent on. Now though, the new threats aren't easily killed and it's up to Beckham and his team to help save humanity. I loved the friendship that Team Ghost have. They are brothers and would risk everything for each other, non more so than Beckham. Each of them were well written and developed and you can't help but root for them.Even apart from Team Ghost, there are a lot of other characters. Dr Kate Lovato being an important one. She is a scientist, one of very few left, that deals with infectious disease. It's up to her to try to find a cure, or a way to kill The Variants. She was extremely well written and was one of my favourites.Anyway!! This book was phenomenal. Fast paced, action packed, brutal and brilliant, it's a must read for everyone. I devoured it and am so glad I have the next book to dive into straight away. Honestly, this book was amazing and I urge you to go try it. I would so love to see this as a movie or TV series!!! Highly recommend!!!!Bronson Pinchot was also amazing. I can't believe I haven't listened to anything else narrated by him, though I do have some of them in my TBR pile. He nailed the performance and brought this book alive. His narration was flawless and you could easily follow who was talking. He also did an amazing job heightening the tension and keeping me on the edge of my seat. If I could give this book and the narrator 10 stars, I would.

I think it is safe to say that no genre in modern, popular fiction has been as well mined as the zombie apocalypse – except for maybe sexy vampires but the less said about that the better. Yet in to this space boldly leaps author Nicholas Sansbury Smith and his novel “Extinction Horizon”. The first of The Extinction Cycle series is about, you guessed it, the zombie apocalypse. While you won’t find anything ground breaking in this first outing what you will find is a well written, fast paced and thrilling action novel that does a couple of thing very well.First of all the science and biology are first rate. I don’t know how accurate it is but the level of detail that Smith provides gives an eerie and plausible insight into how an extinction level event might unfold. Most of novels of this type gloss over the how’s and why’s associated with super-viruses. Smith attention to those details is one of the highlights of the novel.The second thing that Smith does exceedingly well is that he has created excellent characters with whom the readers will establish a connection and an interest in their welfare. He also writes first-rate dialogue. The human survivors are the stars. The zombies merely keep the action going. On a minor note, I am glad he selected members of the Delta Force as his protagonists. Nothing against members the Navy SEALS but they seem to be turning up everywhere these days. It’s nice to see the Deltas get their due.My only quibble surrounds a scene late in the book where a zombie attack literally comes out of nowhere, is not explained and seems out of place. It is not shocking as much as head scratching. I would be more specific but that would involve SPOILERS.All in all I thoroughly enjoyed “Extinction Horizon”. I digested it in a handful of sittings and am already half way through book two “Extinction Edge”. Well done!

A few chapters in, I was hooked. I’ve read an extraordinary amount of zombie apocalypse novels over recent years & the Extinction Series has nestled a place right up there in my Top 5 faves. Outstanding !! Tight writing, unique twisted aspect to the zombies, non-stop action, I was up til 4am reading, I couldn’t put it down. I must know what happens next. Super excited to find both a highly addictive & entertaining series to dive into. In fact, I’ve read the entire series over the last 8 weeks.I finish one book, and I had to buy the next. Immediately. Thank god for eBooks as I couldn’t wait 2 whole days for an Amazon order. A must read for zombie apocalypse fans. 5 stars all the way.

Es una historia impresionante, muy bien hecha y entretenida; te hace sentir e imaginar cada una de las partes de acción, suspenso y sorpresa del libro de principio a fin.Lo recomiendo a cualquier lector que este dispuesto a pasar un buen rato de emociones leyendo.

This a good one sci fi book. Seems like resident evil plot or the last ship series. To summarize: nothing new here, but well written. Highly recommend. Thats it.

Vorweg: ich mag postapokalyptische Horror-Stories und hab' auch schon einiges in diese Richtung konsumiert. Klar, das ist Literatur, die keinem Anspruch genügen muss, ausser spannend zu sein und eine halbwegs logische Handlung zu besitzen. Ersteres ist hier sicher der Fall. Die Handlung selbst spielt in der Gegenwart (in der ersten Jahreshälfte 2015) und hat den Ebola-Ausbruch in Westafrika in 2014/15 zum Aufhänger. Statt eines Heilmittels bzw. Impfserums (das es ja gottseidank mittlerweile gibt), stellt ein US-amerikanischer Militärarzt eine nicht beherrschbare Biowaffe her, die innerhalb von Tagen um den Globus rast und den grössten Teil der Menschheit ausrottet.Und dann ist da wieder der Held, diesmal in Person eines Delta-Force Operators um dessen Erlebnisse sich die ganze Story dreht. Nein, diesmal rettet der nicht alleine die Menschheit, er ist auch keine seelenlose und unverwundbare Kampfmaschine, aber so ein bisschen unbesiegbar (oder glücklich) ist er doch schon...Kurz und gut: die Story reisst einen mit, das Buch ist dankenswerterweise relativ kurz (ca. 300 Seiten) und hat keine erzählerischen Längen (jedenfalls für mich nicht). Es gibt aber auch kein Happy-End, sondern ein Sequel, das ich auch schon gelesen habe (und ein zweites, das ich gerade anfange...). Literarischen Anspruch gibt es keinen, das ist hier sicher aber auch nicht gefragt.Wer kurzweiligen, spannenden Grusel sucht, der ist hier gut aufgehoben. Und ein wenig nachdenklich mach es dann doch auch schon....

Having read several other books by Nicholas Sansbury Smith (Orbs series), I was really pleased to find a new series -= the Extinction Horizon. However, I rather wish I hadn't discovered it just yet because, having read two of the books in the cycle and having been totally and utterly gripped by the books, I now have to wait (heavy, depressed sigh) for the third book to be released this summer.I am a shameless but rather furtive reader of post apocalyptic fiction (not at all appropriate for grown women, really!) I am all too aware that too often books of this genre are poorly written and badly characterised. However, Mr Smith has none of those flaws. His books (all that I've read) are completely gripping and completely realistic (ok,the zombies aside!). The characters in this novel are well rounded, and entirely believable. I found myself really wanting to know what would happen to them, even the supernumerary characters such as Brett or Chad. The books moves at a swift pace, but not so swift that it is impossible to keep up. However, there is a tension to the book that builds until the end which comes far too soon!I thoroughly recommend this book to all other fans of apocalyptic fiction (grown women or otherwise!). And, if you have read none of Mr Smith's other books, comfort yourself by knowing that, while you wait for the final instalment in this cycle you can enjoy the Orbs series....whereas, I just have to wait!