Customer Reviews

Extinct

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(26)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

A young boy watches two of his friends go under water. His dog starts barking. His friends never resurface. And so begins Extinct, which will probably before ever known as the 90's other giant shark book, getting nowhere near the publicity (or blasting) of Steven Alten's Meg. But unlike Meg, this book takes it's plot seriously, and despite the name, revealling the Megalodon's presence is a big spoiler, as when the marauding shark is first discovered, it is mistaken for a normal great white. As for characters, well, I'm sure Wilson read a lot of Peter Benchley before writing this, because most would be right at home on the pages of Beast, Jaws or Creature. There is drama and action, with some mystery added, and in the end it is entertaining. But the twist in the end, while jaw-dropping storywise, is highly unlikely reality wise, which is not such a good idea for a novel whose main draw is it not as comicbook as Meg. Still a good read.

If I could give this book four and a half stars I would. I love books about predators, they are so fun to read about if the author is skilled as much as Charles Wilson is. He brings forth the best elements in writing: making you feel for the people, and making you understand that animals are just doing what they do. I want to say that I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Rarely is a thiller such as this one, with a prehistoric 'star' so beleivable and put together so well. The family thing at the end is a little far out, but I of how Jaws ended with you saying "is that all?", and with the megalodon in "Meg" ramming submarines and sinking them, the ending Charles Wilson came up with is the best of them so far. The story was so believable, with the shark understanding angles(as real animals do) and how one Admiral Vandiver believed that megalodons still existed. There are over one thousand new animals discovered every year! The coelacanth was supposedly extinct for millions of years when one was caught in '38, so it is possible that as large and as deep as the ocean is a shark could go undetected for a long time. As big as whale sharks and great whites are, how often do we see one of them? Back to the book, this book is an absolute page turner. I find myself torn between rooting for the shark and worrying about the people. Not enough books are written about the possibilities of science, technology, and nature (Jurassic Park, Extinct, Jaws, aand Meg are exceptions). I am currently reading this book again, (so I am writing about two years after reading Extinct for the first time) and I still enjoy this book. This book goes in my collection along with the aforementioned books and "Thinning the Predators". Great book Charles Wilson.

I think alot of people were a little too critical over the book. I think it was a great idea with a wonderful story line. It was a science fiction type of story not meant to be taken so literally and seriously. This book was very interesting and gave us information on the shark, but not so extensively that it would have bored a person who was not a shark fanatic. I am a fanatic myself, though, and I still thought it was a great book! :0)Also, Great Whites are the only shark that can actually stick its head out of the water and look around, so it is plausible that the Meglodon could do the same. Maybe not for extended periods of time, but it could. All in all, it was a suspenceful and interesting book!

I liked Wilson's "Extinct," however I found that it lacked consistency with modern day research. While the book evoked suspense, laughter, and even a line joking about the movie "Jaws," I noticed some technical mishaps. For one, Great White Sharks do not swim in fresh water rivers (I am aware that some sharks do--ex. the Bull Shark). There are even parallels to the original "Jaws" movies throughout the story that make it unoriginal.

All-in-all, I did like the book, but wished it had more technical details about the shark's sensory perceptions on finding prey (a technique Alten uses in "MEG" to frighten his readers--if you don't know what I am talking about--read "MEG" and you'll find out).

The story is a great beach read, and I wish NBC would turn it into a movie as they said they would.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Although some of the ideas were far fetched;Sharks communicating vocally; many of the facts in the book seemed right on the mark. I would recommend this book to any shark enthusiasts who believe the possible existence of Megalodon.

Let me just start by stating that I am a huge fan of ocean fiction. And after reading Steve Alten's Meg I started looking for other books about Megalodons. Thats when I decided to read Extinct by Charles Wilson.

The book started off REALLY SLOW, with a pair of boys drowning in a river in Mississippi. Alen Freeman, a marine biologist, is a close friend of the family that lost thier son, searches for the lost boys bodies and only comes back with a hand. But that was enough to let him know that this wasn't just a simple open and closed drowning, it was a shark attack, in fresh water!

There is a lot of jumping around in this book and I found it a bit hard to follow in the first half, there are a lot of characters in a lot of varying places. But about 150 pages in it starts to get interesting. The shark is believed to be a monster 25 foot great white, and the people of the Mississippi Gulf Coast have all come together to kill it. Only a Navy Admiral suspects the truth, that this 25 foot great white is really a megalodon, and it has a fifty foot friend close by. But he is keeping his mouth shut about it until he is sure.

The ending has some great twists. And overall I thought it was a pretty good read. But if I could make a suggestion to someone looking for a better book in the ocean thriller department, I whole-heartedly recommend Steve Alten's MEG,TRENCH,MEG:PRIMAL WATERS, and THE LOCH. Peter Benchly's BEAST, and James Powlik's SEA CHANGE. All Great ocean fiction!

A big (and I do mean BIG) shark goes up river and begins feeding on swimmers and fishers in Biloxi, Mississippi. The book is as silly as it sounds.

I will give Mr. Wilson the benefit of his obvious hard wark in researching how something like this could possibly happen, but sadly he does not manage to make his story easy to swallow, nor does he make it very suspenseful. Attacks happen, people either narrowly escape or are swallowed whole. It is hard to care either way. Also there is a twist, but anyone who has had a steady diet of this kind of material will see it coming from a hundred pages away. Reading this it is far too easy to see why NBC scuttled the mini-series. There really isn't enough material for a good saturday night movie!

This is a great book, and well worth the time it takes to read. It is full of accurate descriptions of the area that make you feel like you are actually there. One of the best books I've read.

which was all too soon I wanted more. Exciting from the first page until the end. For some reason it was supposed to be a tv movie which never happened Its too bad because it would have been better then Jaws. I really loved this book have read it over and over.

I Read this book in 4 weeks.I liked the whole book,but I thought the ending could have been better.I wished there would have been more attacks and more chases.I really like the idea of a 200 foot long shark.Now I want to tape the miniseries when it comes on.Reading this book makes me want to read MEG and THE TRENCH by Stephen Alten.Now I want to learn all I can about the Megalodon.Don`t be suprised if you here of Megalodons surfacing at a beach near you.I live in Southern Louisiana,not that far from where this story takes place.As a message to all Megalodons out there,you can come but I`ll be ready and waiting.Come and get me.