I listened to the audio version of this book, and honestly the narrator was the best part of it.  I was annoyed by the constant fatphobia reflected in how all the characters saw the main character (including herself) and underwhelmed by the "ancient evil" that was promised in the description. Honestly, I'd call this a B-grade Jurassic Park knockoff.

really wish I could rate this more but they had to bring up how fat Frankie is so many times. did that thing about the pecan sticky bun really need to be in the last chapter of the book??

A piece of airport fiction that is executed with workman-like competence that will keep you turning pages, but leaves no lingering impression with you once you finish.  Most of the book follows a very familiar formula; take your copaganda procedural of choice, say,  NCIS/Bones/Law and Order: SVU and add Pleistocene megafauna sprinkled in for flavor.  And it is just a sprinkle--don't expect the mammoths to be the star of the show the way dinosaurs were for Jurassic Park.  There is an explosive turn late as the book as things become more of a thriller.  Antagonists make sweeping statements about the status of humanity, and so forth. You've seen an American blockbuster movie before, it's that. It mostly works.

Is it good though?  Not particularly.  It's not particularly bad, either, it's extremely adequate.  If you pick this up at an airport, you will have something to read on the plane, and you won't be particularly upset if you forget it at your hotel room at the conclusion of your trip.

One thing, though: the author's afterward makes some wild claims about

hominid evolution, including one regarding a link between Homo neanderthalensis and autism that is just flat-out wrong

. 

The Colorado Rockies, a billionaire with a vision to de-extinct the large animals from the pleistocene period and making them the attraction of his lodge and camping resort. What could possibly go wrong?

If you liked Jurassic Park, think of this as the low budget version where two gruesome murders lead to an investigation with ice-age creatures in the background.

I had an inkling what went on before the second person was killed, which means in chapter one. I knew I was right before the chapters moved into the double digits. From then on it dragged and I wondered how no one even came up with the motive for the murders (which doesn't makes lot of sense anyways) until the evidence was right in front of them.

Should have listened to my instincts, if the author's name is printed larger than the title of the book, steer clear. 

I've somehow never read a Douglas Preston novel despite it being right up my alley genre-wise. Now I don't think I'm missing much. I was actually excited for this one. It seemed really intriguing, but wow was this awful. 

I'm giving it 2 stars because the plot was sort of entertaining in an "I accidentally clicked on this movie on Netflix and I'm not doing anything else right now" kind of way. 

First, this is what Jurassic Park would've been if Crichton feverishly wrote it on a napkin after having a cheese-induced dream. The book also wants to make abundantly clear that it isn't Jurassic Park because it mentions it a bunch of times, even criticizing the science in it at one point. This is ironic since this book is operating on some out of date information, the most irritating of which is the characterization of pre-Columbian indigenous communities as cannibals, something that is certainly more rare than Preston pretends. I would've easily overlooked the flaws if it hadn't been for that throwaway line taking me out of the story. 

Second, Preston really wants you to know that he detests fat people, apparently. I spent most of the book waiting for a major plot point to revolve around someone's body shape. Maybe they get stuck in a tight tunnel because of Agent Cash's overly wide hips? She definitely shouldn't have inhaled half the mini bar in her room. Nope. It's 2024 after all, surely no one is that blatant. Apparently Preston is. There were so many unnecessary comments about people's weight, particularly the female lead who he made sure to beat into the reader's head that she was somehow fit despite her large body. Other male characters (mostly the 'bad guys to my recollection) also had spare tires. One of the last sentences of the book is "It shot her diet to hell, but she'd make it up by skipping dinner." Zero to do with the plot. But there were so many awkwardly placed comments through the whole thing. I usually don't even pick up on a lot of things like this on a first read if I'm enjoying the story, so the fact that I did literally from the second page should say something. 

Usually I give an author 2-3 books before I write them off, but I'm making an exception this time. He either is an incredibly fatphobic and out of touch person or he's a terrible writer that didn't manage to get a point across after some very clumsy writing. 

I did receive a copy of this book free in exchange for my honest review and never have I felt so inclined to be excruciatingly honest before. 

**CW: this one wasn't on the suggested list of warnings, but there is a scene where a gas chamber similar to those of the N@*is is used.**