Extinction Point - Book One [Kindle Edition]

Paul Jones (Author)

Book Description

Book One: The End

Reporter Emily Baxter has a great job, an apartment in Manhattan, and a boyfriend she loves. All that changes the day the red rain falls from a cloudless sky. Just hours after the first reports from Europe, humanity is on the brink of extinction, wiped from the face of the earth in a few bloody moments, leaving Emily alone in an empty city. As she struggles to grasp the reality of her situation, Emily becomes the final witness to the end of our world... and the birth of a terrifying new one. 

The world she knew and loved is dead and gone. Now Emily must try to find a way out of New York as the truth behind the red rain is revealed: the earth no longer belongs to humanity.


*** Extinction Point is the first in a new post-apocalypse series by the author of Towards Yesterday ***

  

Editorial Reviews

From Kirkus Reviews

“This is a page-turning, apocalyptic thriller that manages to imbue some nice original twists… Conceptually, Extinction Point is fantastic… A recommended, fun, summer blockbuster-type of read.”

Review

"Paul Jones has started a refreshingly unique Post-Apocalyptic series, unlike anything I have read in the genre... Paul Jones' ability to bring complex concepts to life through description and narrative is awe inspiring. Few authors could successfully create the world that emerges after the 'red rain.' Even fewer could relate the experience to readers in such vivid detail."
~ Steven Konkoly - Author of The Jakarta Pandemic and Black Flagged  & Black Flagged Redux~

"I stayed up really late one night reading this in order to finish it and thought it was really good - I'm ready for the next book continuing the tale!"
~ Five out of Five stars - Michael Gallagher - Amazon Top 50 Reviewer

"Think "Day of the Triffids" meets "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" meets "I am Legend" and you still won't have grasped the full scope of the apocalypse in Paul Jones' artfully crafted tale of extinction and survival."  
~ David P. Forsyth - Author of the Voyage of the Dead series ~

"Holy red smoke! This book scared me. I like scary books but this book SCARED me...  The strength of this story is the details and the believability. The author makes the reader truly believe the events in the book. I loved how every move Emily made was described and how the reader could go "NOOOO" when you watched Emily go somewhere where you knew trouble was waiting!"
~  Four out of Five Skulls - BadassBookReviews.com ~

"'Surprised' and 'fun' are the key words I associate with this book. Surprised, because I thought, what can you tell about the end of the world that we have not heard yet?"
~ Jack L. ~

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• File Size: 427 KB
• Print Length: 283 pages
• Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1475006314
• Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
• Language: English
• ASIN: B007GFD1WG
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Enabled
• Lending: Not Enabled

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

196 of 201 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars No Resolution, Questions Left Unanswered April 17, 2012

By Brother Ken

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

I have no problem with a series. Book One? Okay, I'll try that. The problem I have is that this is not a full book. Well, it's as long as a book, but it doesn't have a full story arc. This reads like the first part of a book stretched out to make it long enough to call a book. But there is no resolution for the reader. The story just stops, and if the reader wants to know what happens next, they have to wait for the next book.
A properly constructed series of books has a complete story arc in each book, with a continuing story running through the series. Extinction Point starts a story, then leaves the reader hanging. This reader feels cheated.

What I liked about this book was the basic premise: the red rain and what starts to happen after that.

Unfortunately, a good premise isn't enough. There is a long list of other problems:
Emily is the ONLY person in all of NYC that survives? Why? We never find out.
Dragging a body down the hallway exhausts her to the point of near-collapse?
Biking to ALASKA seems more workable than teaching herself to drive? Seriously?

A magical backpack that holds 2 parkas, several sweaters, snow boots, 2 pairs of sneakers, tee shirts, trousers, underwear, socks, and a supply of canned goods. (My biggest suitcase wouldn't hold all that.)

Emily starts off cursing like a sailor and never quits. This did not endear her to me. I never really warmed to her. She makes odd decisions. She's accident prone. Her injuries are always more serious than seemed feasible. On her first foray out for food and supplies, she goes across the street to the store that she saw being looted from her apartment window. Everything in NY is hers for the taking, and she picks through the debris of a looted store. Really? As the new Eve, she's sub-par.

There are technical problems as well, the worst being the continual misuse of the hyphen. It seemed like every page has at least one unnecessary hyphen. It was highly distracting.

Repetition was another problem. In the first chapter Emily goes to a café. She looks in. It's deserted and she has her pick of the tables. She goes in, greets the owner, and orders a BLT and Cappuccino (though all this takes many paragraphs). Again, the café is deserted and she has her pick of the tables. This sort of problem is, well, repeated.

The fitted bed sheet was "elasticated" (should be elasticized). She tried the website for the "Whitehouse." You know, that place the President lives. (White House.) Those were just two I noted, though there were others.

I slogged through this book because I really wanted to know what happens to Emily. The level of detail is excessive and slows down the story. Everything takes too long. Pages of inner speculation. Detailed descriptions of walking down the hallway or climbing the seventeen floors to the apartment she clings to. I really didn't care what streets she took to get to the bike store. By the time I reached about 80% it was clear there would be no resolution, unless it was a quick, unsatisfying wrap-up.

If you like drawn out, bloody, detail-saturated stories that leave you hanging until you can purchase the next book (which may or may not be out yet when you read this review), and the promise from the author that you will have to purchase maybe four more books before you get an ending, then this might be for you. If you like tight, concise writing that moves the story forward and a resolution at the end, give this one a pass.

156 of 168 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Really Liked This One and Ready for More May 11, 2012

By Michael Gallagher HALL OF FAMETOP 10 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

I've been on an end-of-the-world reading kick over the last six months, and I was pleasantly surprised at how good (and different) this book was while I was reading it - in this case, rather than a super-flu or nuclear war this end-of-the-world scenario involves aliens from outer space. This is also one of those books I just couldn't seem to put down.

Without having a spoiler, the author does a great job of getting you into the main character's head and feeling the range of the emotions as she deals with the aftermath: as she gets angry, depressed, scared, and happy you feel those same emotions. You reach out and can relate to her plight and, you know a book is really good when a week after you read it (like me) you are still thinking about the various scenes and scenarios wondering what you would do if you were in an identical situation.

I stayed up really late one night reading this in order to finish it and thought it was really good - I'm ready for the next book continuing the tale!

I picked this book up during a free Kindle promotion, and as I type this review the pricing is now $2.99: you will get more than $2.99 of entertainment value out of it.

139 of 152 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars How to turn three chapters into an entire book March 30, 2012

By Chelle

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

First, I liked the concept and the plot was interesting. I won't rehash the whole biking instead of driving flaw, but it was distracting. Bottom line is the plot just doesn't move like it should. I felt the author was bogged down in details and it obscured the storytelling. Seriously, a play by play of every minute of her life is overkill. I found myself skimming more and more in order to find out where the story was going. If the author can tighten up the next installment, I would enjoy reading it. However, it's a long ride to Alaska and I fear we'll get the color of every tree along the way.

More About the Author

A native of Cardiff, Wales, Paul Antony Jones now resides near Las Vegas, Nevada, with his wife. He has worked as a newspaper reporter and commercial copywriter, but his passion is penning fiction. A self-described science geek, he's a voracious reader of scientific periodicals, as well as a fan of things mysterious, unknown, and on the fringe. That fascination inspired Extinction Point, his first novel in a proposed series following heroine Emily Baxter's journey into the bizarre new alien world our earth has become. The first sequel, Extinction Point: Exodus will be available soon.

Amazon Author Rankbeta 

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#17 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Action & Adventure

#21 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Science Fiction

#24 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Action & Adventure

#25 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction

#64 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy

#17 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Action & Adventure

#21 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Science Fiction

#24 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Action & Adventure

#25 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction

#64 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy