Pandemic: The Extinction Files, Book 1

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this piece of fiction that predated our Covid epidemic. Prescient in many ways and quite frightening to realize how quickly a medical outbreak of a novel disease can destroy huge parts of our society. I would think it difficult to maintain the reader's interest over seven hundred pages of text, but Mr Riddle supremely brings the reader alone on a thrill ride of mystery and suspense while paying close attention to modern medicine, science and technology. And now , with great excitement, on to the next in the Extinction Files series.

I really loved the idea of this book. I love apocalyptic/dystopian type novels. This book had me until the last hour. It just sort of fizzled. That being said, it’s a multilayered story with a bunch of surprises and it’s definitely not too formulaic as far as pandemic novels go. You get character backstory, love, suspense, thrills, and some lull moments that are necessary. I only took stars off because the ending just didn’t fulfill what the rest of the book was. I have the second book and I’m going to give it a shot later 😌

An interesting story that held my attention with many plot turns, interesting characters, and interesting twists. I enjoyed reading this book a lot and I am looking forward to the second book.One thing I always like is an author that doesn’t use a lot of foul language to tell a story, and A.G. Riddle is such an author.

Holy coincidences Batman! So I was close to giving up on this book when a high-ranking employee of the CDC who happens to be infected with a deadly virus killing millions of people around the world blithely walks into a non-infected and innocent refugee camp especially when “it was not known how it was spread” but was easily persuaded because the “information was too important”. But, BUT! If she had not done so then we wouldn’t have learned about the most fantastic coincidence of all—For there we find the up-to-now missing Charlotte, the gentle brunette who almost adopted the love of her life-Desmond-after he was rescued from a brush fire, but also almost married her dead brother (who died in a fire) as well! So I’m left wondering now if the adopted mother of the man you marry marries your brother, is there a formal term for that? What if you both have kids? I did not stick around long enough to find out if it was the uncle on a military mission who was the one who killed the brother, but where else could this go?All of that aside, it wasn’t a horrible read. There is a decent plot and the dialogue runs pretty smoothly. I think if the author had controlled his cleverer instincts I would have most likely enjoyed the book. I just reached my limits to where I could suspend my disbelief.

Pandemic was so good that I read late into the night to get to the end. Good syfy, good story, great characters.

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).

I love the way ag writes but I would like the endings to be a little longer. Seems like we get to the end and the book just wraps up in a few pages.