The 6th Extinction by James Rollins (Sigma Force Series #10)

The 6th Extinction is the latest book in the Sigma Force series by James Rollins. I have a few authors who are in my ‘auto-order’ list on Amazon for their new books, and James Rollins is one such author for me.

I love his books, ever since I’ve read Subterranean, his first ever novel. That book hooked me from the start and I was on the lookout for other books by him ever since.

In the 6th Extinction, a terrifying distress call from a old and rather secretive military base in the Sierra Nevada Mountains has the local sheriff ask Jenna Beck, the mountain ranger, along with her trusted canine friend Nikko, to go check it out. Something must be terribly wrong at the base since the signal included the words “Kill us all!”.

Jenna knows the base is one that nobody can enter at will, so curiosity gets the better of her and indeed heads to that part of the mountain, to the source of the distress call. The gate is open and just as she’s ready to enter, the sheriff urges her to immediately vacate the premises, which she does, not realizing that merely the fact that she was there in the first place puts her in mortal danger from those who don’t want anyone know what is going on at the base.

Jenna flees, but some kind of army is immediately on her tails. She is rescued on request by the Sigma Force team in the very last minute, when she’s already given hope of living beyond the next 5 minutes.

Little does she know that she stepped into something so much bigger than she ever could dream about – something that a few select people are ready to torture and kill for. Afterall they are organizingthe 6th Extinction!

I couldn’t put the book down. I was caught up in the intrigue, suspense and thrill of it all right from the start. The action never stops, which is very common in the writings of James Rollins. When I started reading it, I was up for many hours and half my night for the enjoyment of finishing the novel.

James Rollins is an excellent crafter of a world of sci-fi technology where things can go so wrong that they might literally end humanity as we know it. And only the Sigma team can stop that doom from happening.

The themes in his books are pretty much formulaic – there is a genius madman who puts the world in gave danger of peril, and Sigma team has the right people to stop humanity from extinction and come out victorious in the end. And even if we know pretty much how every book will end up, the thrill of the chase, the suspense of not knowing the details and the fantastic world of science, science-fiction of technology coming all together in one explosive story, you can’t but read every single word while biting your nail in trepidation of turning the pages. All this while the coffee you’ve brewed up in anticipation of reading the books sits there cold left all alone.

And this is exactly what James Rollins delivers to his fans. Every new book is better than the previous, and the conclusions of the stories are fully gratifying.

The only thing I missed slightly in this book was a bit more development and back story for the Sigma Team folk. However other characters like Jenna were introduced and if you read till the end, you’ll find a nice Easter egg in the last few pages of the story – two characters briefly appearing from an older book. I had a chuckle when I read this, but I’ll leave you the suspense of finding out who they are, to yourself.

The 6th Extinction is an accomplished novel of an accomplished author who always knows to deliver the goods in the most thrilling way possible. You can’t but be hooked on the story and don’t want it to end too soon (which at almost 500 pages, is not a real threat, there’s plenty to read and enjoy before you get to the last page).

What I also very much appreciate in the book is the author’s last few chapters that explain some of the scientific, historical and theological aspects of what we’ve read. I always devour that part, because there are so many new things in each of his books that I’ve never even heard of, that I simply want to know more about those genetic experiments, about the field of synthetic biology and what lays below Antarctica.

James Rollins has a knack of mixing in real life with science fiction in a way that makes it all plausible and very credible throughout. No wonder I want to read those last few Addendum pages to learn what is fact and what is fiction!

Overall The 6th Sense was one of the best books I’ve read this year and now I’m eagerly looking forward to more more more Sigma Team novels! Hurry up James Rollins, your fans are waiting!

The 6th Extinction by James Rollins
Series: Sigma Force Series #10
Published by William Morrow
Published 2014
Genres: Adventure, Sci-Fi Thriller
Source: Purchased
Also by this author: The Eye of God, Tracker, Innocent Blood, The Bone Labyrinth, The Seventh Plague, Ghost Ship