Sometimes, reality is not always what it seems, and you have to dig beneath the surface to find the truth. The deaths of a hooker (Jean Gaynor) and Frank Milhet (the head of the law firm and law partner and friend of Jack Slidell) in an apparent drugs/sex killing cause Jack to be suddenly running for his life along with Caroline (whom Jack calls Five Spot), a beautiful woman who is also a lawyer at the firm. Jack happens to be the first one on the scene at the cheap motel and discovers their bodies. The cocaine Frank had snorted and which Jean was attempting to cook up into a rock was laced with cyanide. Jean’s body is bruised, and looks as if she was beaten (almost) to death. But, how could Frank have been the one to have murdered her, when he was dying from the cyanide, and she is the person who called Jack? Why would she have phoned Jack if Frank had beaten her? And, how does all of this led to Jack’s and Caroline’s becoming involved in figuring out who is behind a vast conspiracy, a cover-up about the dangers of electrical pollution, and an unstoppable force that threatens the extinction of all life on Earth?
Everyone linked even remotely to the case seems to also be dying, like the front desk clerk at the motel, who gets his hand impaled by the iron railroad spike he uses to secure bills and receipts. Then, his assailant uses the spike to stab him to death. Also, Stickman, the skinny nephew of a Pakistani American who might have known Jean and done drugs with her, dies of an apparent suicide. Jack discovers his bloated body hanging from a tree branch in a junkyard where he’s gone to try to talk to Stickman, who’s known to sometimes sleep in one of the junker cars there.
Jack and Caroline learn that Jean had been suffering from a long list of medical problems before her death, including having irregular periods, headaches, and hallucinations. Eventually, their research leads Jack to think Jean may have been suffering from electrical pollution, and that the electrical company is to blame for her symptoms.
This still doesn’t explain why the novel’s titled The Extinction Event. Well, I’m not going to tell you why–you’ll have to read it to find out for yourselves. But I will say that the author doesn’t reveal why until the last few pages of the book. You’ll either be amazed by the ending, and love the book, or you might be sort of ticked off, because a novel which has seemed to be one type of book has become a very different type.
I include myself in this latter group of people. Though the novel is well-written and full of action, I didn’t particularly care for the ending. Possibly if there’d been a few elusive hints earlier on, to help build up curiosity about what were the true reasons for the cover-up, I would have enjoyed it more. The book’s jacket has several blurbs on it from famous celebrities, such as author Douglas Preston, and actors like Bill Cosby, Richard Dreyfuss, and Alec Baldwin, all praising the novel. Maybe I was expecting quite a lot from the novel based on reading these blurbs, and no matter how good it might be, it couldn’t live up to the expectations I had established in my mind.
The Extinction Event is filled with a film noir atmosphere that charges the novel with tension and suspense. I liked how it evoked a noirish feeling as I was reading it and learning about the dangers of electrical pollution. Black is a very good writer, having won and been nominated for several awards, and having written and produced television shows including Law and Order, CSI: Miami, and Miami Vice. The book is a good read–I enjoyed most of it–just not the conclusion; but this is just my opinion. If you like reading thrillers that are action-packed and deal with conspiracies and cover-ups, Extinction Event is one you should consider checking out.
