I received a complimentary copy of this book through Netgalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
FBI agent Mason and his partner stumble upon a group of diseased immigrants during an investigation, but it was part of an ambush by a group determined to smuggle deadly viruses into the US. After his partner is killed, Mason is determined to find the terrorists. But everything isn't as simple as it seems, and he learns he can't trust anyone but his closest friends.
It took a long time to find out where this story was going, but once the details started falling into place, I was hooked. I look forward to reading the rest of the series.

Thank you to St Martin's Press and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is a whirlwind action packed book with a fast paced timeline full of surprises!
FBI agent James Mason makes it his life's mission to capture the group responsible for trying to decimate the world's population with a deadly virus; especially after losing a close friend and his wife.
The storyline wasn't quite what I was expecting as the plot is more about a secret society trying to end the world with a man made virus and less about the virus itself. Still the author delivers with an engrossing tale of suspense that will have you reading compulsively long into the night!

If you want an engaging, high-octane thriller, then look no further. The Extinction Agenda was original, and well-written.

Being an excellent example of the thriller genre, I recommend it highly to any fan of Jonathan Maberry.

FBI Special Agent James Mason and his team discover a conspiracy to inflict a deadly virus on humanity. They launch a night raid to prevent release of the pathogen, but the group behind the cosnpiracy knows they are coming. The building explodes, killing most of the strike force. Mason realizes the plot is much worse than first thought and at the center is an evil that has caused pandemics in the past. And Mason is determined to stop the killing...once and for all.

This story has a real Mission Impossible vibe to it. I liked the characters, action, and vivid detail. The author definitely did a lot of research and mixes many, many facts into this fictional story. I like his writing style, although at times the story did get bogged down in a lot of extra details. It didn't harm my enjoyment of the story -- I got sucked into the action and couldn't stop reading. There is definitely a lot of suspense, gruesome details and action sequences. I could see this book being made into a movie. I would definitely watch it!

Enjoyable story! I will definitely read more by this author!

**I voluntarily read a review copy of this book from St. Martin's Press via NetGalley. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.**

This is a good start for a series the characters were well developed.There was enough action and government conspiracy that I wanted to keep reading (sadly life didn't give me enough time to read) looking to forward to reading more from Michael Laurence!

This is a terrific set up for the series to come. As a stand-alone book, it is a bit slow because it is so detailed with plot formation and characters. But if you extrapolate into a series, with this being an introduction to this series, it works well. Super interesting. I look forward to the future books.

#TheExtinctionAgenda #NetGalley #StMartinsPress

I was floored by The Extinction Agenda by Michael Laurence, which is book one in his series of the same name. This is a thriller of the first order.

FBI Special Agent James Mason is sent to the to a scene of obvious carnage with lots of dead birds and evidence of humans but no bodies. Mason and his unit follow the clues to another scene that turns out to be a trap that ends in the death of over a dozen agents including Mason’s partner and mentor, Spencer Kane. One of the men Mason encounters at this scene later kills Mason’s wife, Angie, an IRS agent.

Agent Mason vows to find and kill the man he holds responsible for the deaths of his wife and partner. To this end he joins forces with his friends Ramses Donovan and Gunnar Backstrom to battle a coalition that has been in existence for over a hundred years and is bent on world domination through genocide using a deadly viral agent.

Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.
—Ronald Reagan, address to the annual meeting of the Phoenix Chamber of Commerce (1961)

Michael Laurence is a master literary mind. His characterization is amazing. His use of scenery is masterful. The desert, burned buildings and bodies are so vividly described, I could taste the ash and soot and smell the burned flesh. The plot is literally breathtaking. I thought I knew what was going to happen, but I didn’t have a clue. The Extinction Agenda is a definite 5 out of 5 stars. I recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good thriller. There is some violence and gore that may be inappropriate for sensitive readers.

My thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this book. However, the opinions expressed in this review are 100% mine and mine alone.

Good concept. Overall the book would have been better if it were more concise. There were so many sub plots and conspiracy theories I was never sure exactly what mystery needed solving in order to save the world.

I enjoyed all the characters - their interactions had a Mission Impossible “team” vibe. If there is a continuation, I would give the next book a shot.

*Thanks to NetGalley and publishers for the copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Well That Was Great

I’ve been thinking about the audio version of this book for some time. My friend and fellow blogger Michael Patrick Hicks reviewed this book back in mid-July (see his review here). I actually did have an ARC of this book and I ended up being that guy and I waited for the audio to come out. I’m glad I did because Christian Rummel did a fantastic job narrating this.

The Extinction Agenda is a thriller but it doesn’t follow all of the typical thriller tropes. Sure, FBI Special Agent James Mason has some of the typical traits – this book reads a little different. The main plot is Mason’s unrelenting attempt to thwart seemingly an unending force of people trying to cause a massive die-off of the worlds population.

A couple of times I honest thought there was going to be a slightly different plot point View Spoiler » but overall I thought that Laurence did a great job throwing me for a loop every time I thought I had the book figured out.

It reads like a bio-thriller at times and an action-packed military thriller at others. Throw in some modern detective and technothriller vibes and you start to scratch the surface of this book.

I absolutely flew through this book and I couldn’t believe it when it was over. The last 2 hours I found myself checking and rechecking to see how close to the end I was. Not because I couldn’t wait for it to be over, but more because I didn’t know how he was going to wrap everything up in the final moments.

I needed a book like this in my life and boy am I glad that this one came along. The Extinction Agenda is a story I won’t soon forget and I cannot wait for more stories in this series.

This was not at all what I was expecting. It's more of an action thriller. But even so, it took a long time to get to any real action.

Great Setup. In this book, Laurence does an excellent job of telling a complete tale that winds up setting up a compelling overall mythos. There are a couple of issues that others may criticize more heavily than I will, but I thought that at minimum these issues didn’t really detract from the overall story. In fact, the one most likely to be criticized actually serves as a plausible motivation generally, that Laurence works to great effect in his telling of this tale. Action fans will love the sequences in this book, which can be very inventive.

Overall truly a strong tale, but unfortunately for me the entire series will be compared to another that wrapped up last year and had a very similar premise (and was astounding) – Brett Battles’ PROJECT EDEN series. This particular effort does well in differentiating itself in key ways from that effort, and I look forward to seeing how this series progresses. Very much recommended.

THE EXTINCTION AGENDA is a remarkably engrossing thriller which hooked me and held me from the very start. I was at once agreeably surprised, since the story stars certain of those Federal agencies I prefer not to consider and also, let's face it, Gentle Reader: hasn't in the past the Pandemic trope been "done to death"? (Forgive the pun.) But this author delivers it in a realistic, vivid, "in your face" way that inspires the reader to realize, "Hey, this could happen," then pray it doesn't. Definitely a page-turner I could not walk away from. In fact, I remained breathless throughout: a high-quality thriller indeed.

I liked this action packed novel. Yes, there might have been a little too much description and thinking by the hero. In general, I thought it a great novel of one man fighting to save the world from destruction by a powerful few.

The characters were over the top. The villain was really, really evil. Mason and his friends were an interesting combination of technical ability, hacking into spy satellites, brute force, innovative thinking and more. I was surprised at some of the information about conspiracy theories, such as the one about 9/11. The whole idea of conspiracy was essential to the plot so it fit well. I would have liked an author afterward, however, to explain some of the information, whether it had factual foundation or was totally fiction.

I like to learn a little when I read a novel and this one contained a great deal about pandemics and the possibility of creating deadly viruses. I also learned a bit about the stock market, such as the volatility index and what drives it.

This is a good book for readers who enjoy a suspense filled novel with lots of innovative technical aspects to it. I'll be looking for the next one from this author.

I received a complimentary egalley of this book from the publisher. My comments are an independent and honest review.

Thank you netgalley for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
This was a well written, action packed novel. We are drawn into the action and right into the center of a gory scene of death and destruction. Mason is a special agent on the hunt for a group of terrorist that have killed his partner and wife. He is a conflicted, flawed character consumed by his quest for vengeance but his dedication reveals a sinister plot to wipe the world of it's helpless inhabitance. Well paced and a real page turner.

FBI Special Agent James Mason stumbles into a strange situation, watching his partner go up in flames as they try to capture some illegal aliens who have nothing good in mind.  

This book spends most of its time picking up after he recovers from that.  Lots of different trails as he works to find out what is going on.  It appears that there is some sort of monster virus being brought into the US and Mason is determined to not let it get loose.  

This is well-written and definitely kept my attention.  It isn't for everyone because it can be a little graphic.  I liked it, though.

Extinction Agenda opens with a bang when an explosion kills the majority of FBI Agent James Mason’s multi-jurisdictional team. They were hunting a more lethal mutation of the bird flu virus at the Arizona-Mexico border. The flames deactivated the virus. However, Mason begins a one-man vendetta to avenge his friend and partner, Kane’s death. The cartel leaders’ who brought the deadly virus to America were out there somewhere.

Mason and a new team are tasked with following the money to bring down the cartels. When another person near Mason is killed, no one will believe it is related to the first explosion. Except Mason, who decides to investigate on his own and on the sly.

I confess that I was worried about the negative reviews for Extinction Agenda. People seemed polarized on whether it has too much action or too many details. I think the issue is that this book is a merging of an action thriller with a police procedural. I like the unusual approach. I’ve lowered rating for thrillers that had too much action because even that gets boring after a while. Let’s face it, we’ve all read police procedurals that work faster than Ambien for inducing sleep. Combining the two makes the book’s pacing perfect: ACTION, police work, ACTION, police work, etc. I also liked the characters especially the ones lurking in the gray areas of the law. If you like both action and procedurals, I think you will enjoy this intriguing action-packed blending of both. 4 stars!

Thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martins for an advanced copy. All opinions expressed are my own.

*REVIEW* 🌟🌟🌟.5
The Extinction Agenda is one of those books that I kind of liked, but I kind of didn't like, too.
What I liked: The premise of this story is relevant and plausible. Bioterrorism is a very real threat. It's unfortunate but true. The main character, Mason, is both heartbreaking and brave, which makes him realistic to me. I felt sympathy for Mason as he carries on in the wake of tragic events in his life. The anger and trauma he feels serve to further motivate him to find answers. It's well written and obviously well researched. The story is informative and thought provoking about an important topic.
What I did not like: While I appreciate and respect the author's knowledge about the topics presented, I got lost and bored trying to read through all of this information. Explanations and descriptions were too detailed and overdone for my taste. The pacing was slow because of this as well. I like more action and drama with this type of book. There are also some seriously gruesome descriptions of viral effects, etc. that I could have done without completely. I'm too squeamish for that. It's simply a matter of personal preference. While I got bogged down in the information, this style is perfect for so many other readers.
Overall, I'm on the fence about this book. If you want something detail oriented and aren't squeamish, I definitely recommend. Regardless, The Extinction Agenda is a sort of wake up call about a legitimate threat to society. I'm glad to see a story address something truly important.

There’s no question that it gets harder and harder to write good fiction dealing with ‘the end of the world as we know it’ when the daily news offers it regularly in bite-size bits. Author Michael Lawrence has written a thriller designed to scare and engage us but I, for one, live with that already. The problem I have is that the book doesn’t open with a really gripping scene. Nor does it move on to any other gripping scenes. Without grabbing my attention in a big, convincing way, the author hasn’t brought me into his tale or allowed my imagination to be caught up in his story. And I never really got hooked, I must admit. There’s a nice twist at the end. Perhaps the next books in this series will be better. I received my copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Fans of the small team of committed people fighting the evil global super duper conspiracy will like this one for its action oriented plot and great cliff hanging chapters. FBI SA James Mason loses his job and then his wife and sets out with Gunnar and Ramses to right the world. This is one of those completely implausible novels that blends Nazis, bioterrorism, violence, politics, and lots of other things but you know what- I kept reading it even when I knew I really shouldn't. The characters are lightly drawn and there's lot of detail about things you might not care about AND there's some gross descriptions, but it's a page turner. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A book for travel not for right before bed.

Thank you Netgalley, St Martin’s Press for this advance readers copy.
This is a thoroughly researched story about biological warfare, conspiracy with a myriad of people involved in the story.
This book was too technical for my taste. I skimmed some section of the book.
There were some parts which I enjoyed but unfortunately this book was not for me.
It was well written. 2.5 stars