When an Entelodon goes on the rampage down Oxford Street, causing untold damage and loss of life, Cutter decides a new approach to tackling the anomalies is needed. However, his investigations expose him and the team to a violent encounter with a mysterious Russian scientist and a situation more catastrophic and frightening then they've ever faced before. When Cutter, Abby and Connor disappear without a trace, Lester and Jenny must use every trick in the book to try to track them down...

Extinction Event is a paperback reprint of the hardback edition which was originally published in January 2009.

This book feels more like a movie treatment than any other tie-in novel I've ever read in the past. There really is a lot more thought and attention to detail here than many fans of the show will be expecting.

The book kicks off with a major event in the heart of London. The loss of life and general excitement that this caused led me to think that author Dan Abnett had peaked way too early. I mean, how on Earth was he going to keep this up for the following 200+ pages? Well, don't ask me how, but he does and with some style too. The opening is merely designed to whet your appetite for the action that is to follow.

Cutter, Connor and Abby are kidnapped and whisked over to Siberia in order to help a Russian group with a problem they've encountered. Oddly enough their captors take them towards Tunguska - which historically is famous for being the impact site of a meteorite which is thought to have exploded, before hitting the Earth's surface, in 1908.

With so many characters to service, Jenny and Lester play second fiddle to the main story. However, while they are used sparingly, their involvement isn't just filler material - as they too get their fair share of dinosaur encounters.

I have only two complaints. Firstly the person who designed the book cover shouldn't have placed a Tyrannosaurus Rex on there as it spoils the final act of the book. Every time a beast is heard, but not seen, I kept thinking: "Ah, it's the T-Rex on the cover". But alas this only emerges in the final pages of the book - although it's hinted at in the constant references to Baba Yaga (or more correctly Baba Yaga's house).

And secondly I can't understand why the retail price of the UK book was the same as the earlier hardback edition, while the USA price is now $3 cheaper and the Canadian price is $4 cheaper. As this book is published in the UK I can't fathom why once again UK book buyers we are being short changed when compared to American and Canadian readers.

But those slight grumbles aside, Extinction Event is a good, solid story that is packed to bursting with action, adventure and jeopardy. Any self respecting Primeval fan should own this.

9

Nick Smithson