The 6th Extinction (Sigma Force Series)

by James Rollins

Overview

#1 New York Times bestselling author James Rollins delivers a masterful epic that combines timeless mystery and ripped-from-the-headlines scientific intrigue.

A military research station buried in the remote Sierra Nevada Mountains of Northern California broadcasts a frantic distress call that ends with a chilling order: “There’s been a breach. Failsafe initiated. No matter the outcome: Kill us . . . kill us all.”

When park ranger Jenna Beck arrives with her search-and-rescue dog Nikko to investigate, they discover that all of the scientists in the lab are dead and every living thing for fifty square miles is annihilated: animals, plants, insects, even bacteria. The land is completely sterile—and the blight is spreading.

Only one team on earth has the scientific knowledge and military precision to handle this mission: Commander Gray Pierce and Sigma. As Pierce and his team race to decipher millennia-old secrets, they face their greatest challenge yet: stopping the sixth extinction—the end of humankind.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062666468
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	03/07/2017
Series:	Sigma Force Series , #10
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	464
Sales rank:	79,979
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 7.30(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

James Rollins is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of international thrillers that have been translated into more than forty languages. His Sigma series has been lauded as one of the “top crowd pleasers” (New York Times) and one of the “hottest summer reads” (People magazine). In each acclaimed novel, Rollins unveils unseen worlds, scientific breakthroughs, and historical secrets—and he does it all at breakneck speed and with stunning insight.

Hometown:

Sacramento, California

Date of Birth:

August 20, 1961

Place of Birth:

Chicago, Illinois

Editorial Reviews

The science... reads like the best of Michael Crichton. The machinations of government read like the best of David Baldacci. And the action and thrills read like the best of Clive Cussler. Rollins takes the best of all of these and creates an amazing thriller unlike any other.” — Associated Press on Bloodline on THE EYE OF GOD

” . . . this is your summer beach read writ large.” — New York Journal of Books on THE EYE OF GOD

“Rollins has done it again. Real history and science play a key role in all of the action, which never wanes. Amid all of the chaos are some terrific characters who get a chance to shine. Definitely keep an eye out for this one.” — Library Journal (starred review) on THE EYE OF GOD

“The book has everything the genre demands: Nazis, ancient maps, alien life forms, a ticking nuclear clock, and exotic, deadly beasts. Rollins makes it all believable, and ties everything together in a satisfying climax that hints at more adventures to come.” — Publishers Weekly on THE 6TH EXTINCTION

“This is another fast-paced mixture of real science, real history, and wild speculation. For speed freaks (narrative speed, that is), Rollins always delivers the goods. Readers, start your engines.” — Booklist on THE 6TH EXTINCTION

“Adventure, history, science, and technology-sheer perfection from an author who is used to giving exactly that every time he tells a tale!” — Suspense Magazine on THE 6TH EXTINCTION

“Best-selling author Rollins has again crafted an excellent nail-biting thriller that all action adventure readers will love. Rollins always provides author notes with the science and historical facts behind his stories, and the creatures the team encounter are frighteningly possible!” — Library Journal (starred review) on THE 6TH EXTINCTION

“...[I]mmediately brought to mind the works of Michael Crichton at his best. With the constant action supported by more than a helping of science, Rollins constructs a rare story of the fantastic that feels real.” — Examiner.com on THE 6TH EXTINCTION

“[This] is everything-but-the-kitchen-sink storytelling at its most unpredictable.” — Fort Worth Star-Telegram on THE 6TH EXTINCTION

“Another winner. Rollins takes truth and stretches it to create an intense and believable plot, combining pulsating adventure, intriguing history, and cutting-edge advances in science and technology.” — Crimespree Magazine on THE 6TH EXTINCTION

“The 6th Extinction is a thrilling novel that not only entertains, but makes the reader think a great deal.” — Huffington Post on THE 6TH EXTINCTION

“Rollins’ smart writing gives us the adventure, the humor, the humanity, and the adventure- nothing is wasted, and nothing is sacrificed.” — Mustard Seed Thoughts on THE 6TH EXTINCTION

“If you’re a fan of science-themed or techno-thrillers but you don’t know author James Rollins and the Sigma Force series, it’s past time to join the party.” — Sciencethrillers.com on THE 6TH EXTINCTION

“The action is of course nonstop and over the top, as readers have come to expect and enjoy from Rollins, while the science is startling and fascinating.” — Book Banter on THE 6TH EXTINCTION

“This is an exciting — and scary — legitimate page turner.” — Examiner.com on THE 6TH EXTINCTION

“The epitome of suspense. The 6th Extinction is relentlessly exciting and thought provoking.” — Portland Book Review on THE 6TH EXTINCTION

From the Publisher

” . . . this is your summer beach read writ large.

New York Journal of Books on THE EYE OF GOD

The science... reads like the best of Michael Crichton. The machinations of government read like the best of David Baldacci. And the action and thrills read like the best of Clive Cussler. Rollins takes the best of all of these and creates an amazing thriller unlike any other.

Associated Press on Bloodline on THE EYE OF GOD

Another winner. Rollins takes truth and stretches it to create an intense and believable plot, combining pulsating adventure, intriguing history, and cutting-edge advances in science and technology.

Crimespree Magazine on THE 6TH EXTINCTION

Adventure, history, science, and technology-sheer perfection from an author who is used to giving exactly that every time he tells a tale!

Suspense Magazine on THE 6TH EXTINCTION

The epitome of suspense. The 6th Extinction is relentlessly exciting and thought provoking.

Portland Book Review on THE 6TH EXTINCTION

The action is of course nonstop and over the top, as readers have come to expect and enjoy from Rollins, while the science is startling and fascinating.

Book Banter on THE 6TH EXTINCTION

If you’re a fan of science-themed or techno-thrillers but you don’t know author James Rollins and the Sigma Force series, it’s past time to join the party.

Sciencethrillers.com on THE 6TH EXTINCTION

Rollins’ smart writing gives us the adventure, the humor, the humanity, and the adventure- nothing is wasted, and nothing is sacrificed.

Mustard Seed Thoughts on THE 6TH EXTINCTION

The 6th Extinction is a thrilling novel that not only entertains, but makes the reader think a great deal.

Huffington Post on THE 6TH EXTINCTION

[This] is everything-but-the-kitchen-sink storytelling at its most unpredictable.

Fort Worth Star-Telegram on THE 6TH EXTINCTION

This is an exciting -- and scary -- legitimate page turner.

Examiner.com on THE 6TH EXTINCTION

This is another fast-paced mixture of real science, real history, and wild speculation. For speed freaks (narrative speed, that is), Rollins always delivers the goods. Readers, start your engines.

Booklist on THE 6TH EXTINCTION

07/14/2014
When a research site blows up in a remote California desert, releasing a virulent pathogenic entity, the operatives of the secret U.S. agency, Sigma Force, swing into action, in bestseller Rollins's exciting, well-researched 10th Sigma Force novel (after 2013's The Eye of God). Under the command of Grayson Pierce, the Sigma team discovers not one, but two, underground worlds. Scientist Cutter Elwes, who has established his living laboratory inside a mountain in the jungles of Brazil, is targeting—through his minion, Maj. Dylan Wright—the domain of Professor Alex Harrington, a huge cavern under the ice of Hell's Cape, Antarctica. Elwes's wants to cause a mass extinction, the sixth in the planet's history, to save it from the evils of humankind. The book has everything the genre demands: Nazis, ancient maps, alien life forms, a ticking nuclear clock, and exotic, deadly beasts. Rollins makes it all believable, and ties everything together in a satisfying climax that hints at more adventures to come. 10-city author tour. Agents: Russ Galen, Scovil Galen Ghost Literary Agency; and Danny Baror, Baror International. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly

2014-07-30
Mash up Lovecraft and Ludlum, stir in exotic geography and lashings of mad science, and you've got the latest from the Rollins (Bloodline, 2012, etc.) pop-thriller factory. Given that half of adult Americans reportedly don't believe in evolution, it's daring to open in the chart room of the HMS Beagle, with Charles Darwin pondering an "ancient Fuegian map" redolent of dark, unsettling mysteries. Move forward a couple of centuries, and we're with the steely-jawed Painter Crowe, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency commando par excellence (and who knew DARPA had commandos?), who takes time out from protecting the world from technological mayhem only long enough to ogle his whip-smart fiancee, "to appreciate the curve of her backside, the angle of her hip, the length of her leg." She may be the captain of the chess club we'd all like to join, but she's got the right stuff, like all of Sigma Force, to protect us from evil—until, that is, supreme bad guy Cutter Elwes returns from the grave where he's presumably been, well, not living for a dozen-odd years to do that voodoo that he does so well. He's very, very bad—we know because he's "French on his father's side"—but he's not the only scientist to be tinkering with the innermost workings of nature, attempting to undo all that we know of the laws of Darwinian evolution by, say, bringing extremely irritable creatures back from extinction and unleashing biological mayhem on an unsuspecting world. Cutting-edge science and mad dashes to D.C., Antarctica and highland Brazil notwithstanding, this is a good old-fashioned dust-up, the cliffhanging question being always whether the good guys of the public sector will prevail over the bad guys of the private. Tune in to find out. Literature it's not—more like an industrial product that sort of looks like it, in the same way that a fast-food burger resembles food. Still, it's plenty tasty, if not very nutritious.

Kirkus Reviews