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Origin (The Konrath Dark Thriller Collective Book 2) Kindle Edition
| J.A. Konrath (Author) Find all the books, read about the author, and more. See search results for this author |
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One hundred years later, a team of scientists gather at an underground facility in New Mexico to determine what this being is--the most amazing discovery in the history of mankind--and how it has managed to survive. A biologist will analyze its structure. A veterinarian will study its behavior. A linguist will translate its language. But even the greatest minds in the world can not answer one inescapable question: Could this ancient creature, this mockery of God and nature, actually be the ancient demon known as . . . the Beast?
ORIGIN by J.A. Konrath
Hell is about to break loose...
From bestselling author J.A. Konrath comes a tense and thrilling exploration into the mysteries of life and death, good and evil, and the original source of our darkest fears . . .
Praise for J.A. Konrath's bestselling thrillers
"EXCELLENT."--Lee Child
"UNRELENTING."--James Rollins
"CONSTANT THRILLS AND CHILLS."--Heather Graham
If you are a more sensitive (or adventurous) reader, the Konrath scale rates specific categories from 1 (lowest) to 10 (highest) to give you some idea if this is your kind of book.
ORIGIN by JA Konrath
Scary - 6
Violent - 7
Funny - 5
Sexy - 4
Crossover - Characters also appear in the Jack Daniels Thriller series and Jack Daniels and Associates Mystery series
- LanguageEnglish
- Publication dateApril 8, 2009
- File size4572 KB
-
Next 3 for you in this series
$14.18 -
Next 5 for you in this series
$23.72
From the Publisher
This Is The Good Stuff You've Been Looking For
WHAT MAKES GREAT HORROR
Checklist For Readers
- Scary
- Can't Put It Down
- Give You Nightmares
- Great Villains
- Freaks You Out
- Heroes To Root For
- Emotional Impact
- Fantastic Ending
Roller Coaster
Strap in tight, because this is going to be one helluva ride...
The Dark Thriller Collective
Thrills, Chills, & Suspense Galore
Do you like your thrillers on the Dark Side?
Do you like a few scares along with your suspense?
Do you like books that make you turn on the light and check to see if the doors are locked?
Do you like really morbid humor?
Welcome to the Dark Thriller Collective...
GRIPPING
You'll grip the book so hard you'll break your own fingers...
Editorial Reviews
Review
"It's the best piece of fiction I've read in several years. It simply NEVER lets up." - James Rollins, author of The Last Odyssey
"Fast and ferocious, this is a dangerous thriller that will take a bite out of you." - Jonathan Maberry, author of V-Wars
"Bring on the sequel!" - BookPage
"A startling novel, from its thrilling onset to horrific closing pages." - Michael Laimo, author of Dead Souls
"Oozes with stylistic violence." - Shots.uk
"A bloody, terrifying, hurtling assault across a landscape of non-stop mayhem. A guilty, guilty pleasure." - F. Paul Wilson, author of The Keep
"An absolutely relentless nightmare. Horror fans will be wiping blood out of their eyes with glee." - Jeff Strand, author of Pressure
"Fans of gross-out horror will love it." - Publishers Weekly
"You'll probably need a shrink when you're done." - Edward Lee, author of The Backwoods
From the Author
For the completists, or those with a bit of obsessive/compulsiveness, or the folks that just like my stuff and want to know how it all connects, I have a lot of recurring characters and intertwined series. If you need to know the best reading order, or how to make sure you haven't missed anything, check out the bibliography page on my website. You can also visit there to see when a new title will be released.
If you're just looking for a quick checklist, here are my main series.
These do not have to be read in any particular order, but I encourage you to read them all.
JACQUELINE "JACK" DANIELS THRILLERS
#1-Whiskey Sour
#2-Bloody Mary
#3-Rusty Nail
#4-Dirty Martini
#5-Fuzzy Navel
#6-Cherry Bomb
#7-Shaken
#8-Stirred (with Blake Crouch)
#9-Rum Runner
#10-Last Call
#11-White Russian
#12-Shot Girl
#13-Chaser
#14-Old Fashioned
#15-Bite Force
#16-Jack Rose
Bonus #2.5-Lady 52 (with Jude Hardin)
JACK DANIELS AND ASSOCIATES MYSTERIES
#1-Dead On My Feet
#2-Jack Daniels Stories Vol. 1
#3-Shot Of Tequila
#4-Jack Daniels Stories Vol. 2
#5-Dying Breath
#6-Serial Killers Uncut (with Blake Crouch)
#7-Jack Daniels Stories Vol. 3
#8-Everybody Dies
#9-Jack Daniels Stories Vol. 4
#10-Banana Hammock
THE KONRATH DARK THRILLER COLLECTIVE
#1-The List
#2-Origin
#3-Afraid
#4-Trapped
#5-Endurance
#6-Haunted House
#7-Webcam
#8-Disturb
#9-What Happened To Lori
#10-The Nine
#11-Second Coming
#12-Close Your Eyes
Bonus #4.5-Holes in the Ground (with Iain Rob Wright)
Bonus #5.5-Draculas (with Blake Crouch, Jeff Strand, F. Paul Wilson)
Bonus #6.5-Grandma? (with Talon Konrath)
TIMECASTER
#1-Timecaster
#2-Timecaster Supersymmetry
#3-Timecaster Steampunk
CODENAME: CHANDLER (Ann Voss Peterson & JA Konrath)
#1-Flee
#2-Spree
#3-Three
#4-Hit
#5-Exposed
#6-Naughty
#7-Fix (with F. Paul Wilson)
#8-Rescue
STOP A MURDER PUZZLE BOOKS
#1-How: Puzzles 1-12
#2-Where: Puzzles 13-24
#3-Why: Puzzles 25-36
#4-Who: Puzzles 37-48
#5-When: Puzzles 49-60
#6-Answers
Stop A Murder Complete Cases (Book 1-5)
MISCELLANEOUS
65 Proof - Collected Short Stories
The Globs Of Use-A-Lot 3 (With Dan Maderak)
EROTICA
Ann Voss Peterson & Joe Konrath writing as Melinda DuChamp
MAKE ME BLUSH series
#1-Kinky Secrets Of Mister Kink
#2-Kinky Secrets Of Witches
#3-Kinky Secrets Of Six & Candy
ALICE series
#1-Kinky Secrets Of Alice In Wonderland
#2-Kinky Secrets Of Alice Through The Looking Glass
#3-Kinky Secrets Of Alice At The Hellfire Club
#4-Kinky Secrets Of Alice Vs. Dracula
#5-Kinky Secrets Of Alice Vs. Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde
#6-Kinky Secrets Of Alice Vs. Frankenstein
#7-Kinky Secrets Of Alice's Christmas Special
JEZEBEL series
#1-Kinky Secrets Of Jezebel And The Beanstalk
#2-Kinky Secrets Of Puss In Boots
#3-Kinky Secrets Of Goldilocks
SEXPERTS series
#1-The Sexperts - Kinky Grades Of Shay
#2-The Sexperts - Kinky Secrets Of The Pearl Necklace
#3-The Sexperts - Kinky Secrets Of The Alien
From the Inside Flap
Q: Did you always want to be a writer?
Joe: No. I wanted to be a model for husky pants. But then, when I was barely a teen, they stopped making husky sizes.
Damn those clothing designers for shattering my dreams.
Q: When did you decide to become a writer?
Joe: I mean, I'm not offended by the term "husky." Now they're called "relaxed fit" jeans. It's the same thing, but there's nothing sexy about being a "relaxed fit jeans" model. Husky sounds like you're owning those extra pounds, making them work for you. Relaxed fit sounds like you eat too much and are just plain lazy.
What was your question again? Ideas? I hunt through James Patterson's garbage, and steal what he tossed. When Patterson throws out ten pages, that's like fifty chapters.
Ha ha ha! Get it? Because his chapters are so short! I swear, the last Patterson book I read had more chapters than page numbers.
Actually, I just watch old Outer Limits episodes and appropriate the plots, like Alan Moore did with Watchmen.
Q: Who do you like to read?
Blake Crouch, Ann Voss Peterson, Jeff Strand, Henry Perez, F. Paul Wilson, Tom Schreck. Pretty much anyone I collaborate with. Because here's a dirty little secret: when you co-write a book with someone, you kind of have to read the stuff they wrote.
My absolute favorite author is Dr. Seuss. In fact, I tried my hand at writing a few Dr. Seuss-style children's books. Here are the titles:
HOW THE GRINCH STOLE MY WIFE
HORTON HATCHES A TERRORIST PLOT
ON BEYOND DONKEY PUNCH
MARVIN K MOONEY WILL YOU PLEASE DROP DEAD
THE CAT IN THE HAT GETS NEUTERED
GREEN EGGS AND E COLI
THIDWICK THE BIG HEARTED COKE DEALER
MR. BROWN CAN MOO, AND THEY PUT HIM AWAY
THERE'S A WOCKET IN MY POCKET, AND I BLAME CIALIS
BOOMER THE TUMOR
Unfortunately, I haven't been able to sell any of these. I think it may be some sort of rights-issue thing.
Q: What's a work day in the life of Joe Konrath like?
Joe: I wake up early and make some eggs.
Then the smoke alarm goes off, because the eggs are burning because I fell asleep again.
Then I spend ten minutes explaining to the firemen that show up how I'll be more careful next time.
I go back to bed, and the next thing I know, it's around noon. Time for lunch. I want to make an egg sandwich, but I'm out of eggs. And bread. And pretty much everything except some sort of fruit that's been in the refrigerator forever and might be a lime. Or not. It may not even be fruit. So I put it back and think about cooking some pasta but that seems like a lot of work for just lunch, so I go take a nap.
Around three I get up, ready to start my work day, but first I need to eat something. Do pizza places deliver at three? I make a few calls. Nope, no one delivers before five.
I check the fridge. The lime thing is still there, but it looks like it moved from where I saw it last. How odd. Did it move by itself? I'm really hungry, so I decide to give it a try.
It's not a lime, because limes don't have bones.
When I finish eating, I sit down at my computer and write my daily quota, thirty pages.
Q: What's next for Joe Konrath?
Joe:This Spring, Carson's will be releasing my signature scent, called Nocturnal Emission. Available in parfum, eau du toilet, cologne, and roll on. I like the roll on. It tickles my armpits. My goal is to make enough money to buy Nebraska. Then I'll rename it Joebraska, and invite all of my friends to visit. We're going to have a big party in the state capital, Joemaha. You can come, if you want.
Q: Do you want to talk at all about your books?
Joe: Nope. Not really.
From the Back Cover
If you want something to do for the next two years and insist on reading every Konrath novel, here are the order the author recommends:
WHISKEY SOUR
BLOODY MARY
THE LIST
RUSTY NAIL
AFRAID
DEAD ON MY FEET
DIRTY MARTINI
FLEE
ORIGIN
SHOT OF TEQUILA
JACK DANIELS STORIES VOL. 1
TRAPPED
FUZZY NAVEL
CHERRY BOMB
SPREE
DRACULAS
DYING BREATH
JACK DANIELS STORIES VOL. 2
HOLES IN THE GROUND
SERIAL KILLERS UNCUT
ENDURANCE
THREE
SHAKEN
STIRRED
EVERYBODY DIES
HAUNTED HOUSE
LADY 52
TIMECASTER
JACK DANIELS STORIES VOL. 3
RUM RUNNER
WEBCAM
GRANDMA?
TIMECASTER SUPERSYMMETRY
LAST CALL
HIT/EXPOSED/NAUGHTY
DISTURB
WHAT HAPPENED TO LORI
WHITE RUSSIAN
JACK DANIELS STORIES VOL. 4
SHOT GIRL
65 PROOF
STOP A MURDER COMPLETE CASES
CHASER
BANANA HAMMOCK
THE NINE
OLD FASHIONED
SECOND COMING
BITE FORCE
CLOSE YOUR EYES
JACK ROSE
TIMECASTER STEAMPUNK
About the Author
Product details
- ASIN : B00264FT0Y
- Publication date : April 8, 2009
- Language : English
- File size : 4572 KB
- Simultaneous device usage : Unlimited
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Print length : 385 pages
- Lending : Enabled
- Best Sellers Rank: #122,527 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #552 in Technothrillers (Kindle Store)
- #714 in Technothrillers (Books)
- #4,309 in Horror (Kindle Store)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

Joe Konrath has written over a dozen novels in the Lt. Jacqueline "Jack" Daniels thriller series. They do not have to be read chronologically to be enjoyed, but the order is: Whiskey Sour, Bloody Mary, Rusty Nail, Dirty Martini, Fuzzy Navel, Cherry Bomb, Shaken, Stirred (with Blake Crouch), Rum Runner, Last Call, White Russian, Shot Girl, Chaser, and Old Fashioned. More coming soon.
If you love Jack Daniels and her cast of supporting characters, you should know about the Jack Daniels and Associates Mysteries, which include the titles Dead On My Feet, Dying Breath, Everybody Dies, Shot of Tequila, Serial Killers Uncut (with Blake Crouch), Jack Daniels Stories Vols 1-4, and Banana Hammock.
Wow, that's a lot of Jack.
If you like your thrillers on the dark side, check out the Konrath Dark Thriller Collective, which includes the books The List, Origin, Afraid, Trapped, Endurance, Haunted House, Webcam, Disturb, What Happened To Lori, The Nine, Close Your Eyes, and Second Coming.
Joe also wrote the Stop A Murder mystery puzzle series, where you become the sleuth and solve brain teasers to try and catch a killer.
He also wrote the sci-fi trilogy, Timecaster, Timecaster Supersymmetry, and Timecaster Steampunk. Even if you don't think you like sci-fi, give them a try. They feature Joe's well-known characters from his other series, and are insane.
With Ann Voss Peterson he wrote the Codename: Chandler thrillers, including Flee, Spree, Three, Hit, Exposed, Naughty, Fix (with F. Paul Wilson), and Rescue.
And, finally, he wrote erotica under the pen name Melinda DuChamp, also with Ann Voss Peterson.
Joe writes a lot. You should probably read everything.
You can visit Joe and sign up for his newsletter at www.JAKonrath.com/mailing-list.php
Customer reviews
Top reviews from the United States
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The way Bub ‘tricks’ them into letting him out- so beyond transparent.
They spent the whole beginning throwing up because he was so freaky and disgusting.
But yet, they’re more than happy to trust everything he says.
Then when the typical horror starts happening, again, I didn’t understand their choices at all.
*** spoilers ***
So he’s very dangerous. He can reanimate dead things and turn them into more of himself.
What do you do? I’ll tell you: you pickaxe your way out and run like hell.
Then as he comes out of the hole too – that you dug for him – you say pretty much “oops”
Maybe one character I can see doing it? That’s the more expected thing.
But ALL of the survivors? Their only concern was for their own lives. Not one person thought, we cannot let this thing get out and eat grandma/my sister/my mother. Not a moment of guilt even or a second of ‘well, maybe we should take our lumps to save the world?’
It was presented by every character as the only logical choice: they can’t nuke this place because I’m in here.
I couldn’t empathize with anyone in the book.
I loved the premise and the beginning, but it let me down so hard.
The gross factor made me squirm a bit so if you're a fan of that kind of horror, this book is for you. I wasn't disappointed with the concept development. It was an intriguing take on humanity's beginnings and what would happen if all of our belief systems were tested. I'll give another Konrath book a try.
Finally, after over 100 years of studying their discovery, it recently woke up. New people are drawn into the big secret and things quickly get out of control.
I found myself very intrigued by the plot. It would be awful to be trapped underground with something ancient and evil through and through. As the characters fall for it’s trickery, they meet some bloody ends.
I’d love to see this as a movie. The action is relentless and the author pulls no punches when throwing horrific things in your path. Watch out for ceiling vents and corners. You never know what’s waiting to jump out at you.
Chilling reading served up just the way I like it.
I had no idea how right I was.
The book is a mix of genres with aspects horror, SF and techno-thriller showing up. But they blend together very well. There are a lot of technical details, but they are adroitly woven into the story so you never get bogged down by them. The characters are a diverse collection of human beings. Each of these people have done bad things, in some cases very bad things. And this is not glossed over or ignored, as a matter of fact it's an important part of the story. But they still have good in them. And you can see them striving to do the right thing. Sometimes they succeed, sometimes they fail but you admire them because they strive. It's nice to read a book where you like, and root for, the characters.
One, Dr. Frank Belgium, stands out in my mind. Through a combination of poor judgement and negligence he caused a lot of damage in his past. And there's a risk he will again, but he's trying very hard not to.
A warning. This book is most definitely not for kids. (Well, I would've liked it when I was a kid, but I was a weird kid.) If you're sensitive to violence and gore this book might not be for you.
Top reviews from other countries
The novel was actually written in 1999 under the pseudonym of Jack Kilborn and is described as a `Technothriller'. No spoilers will follow, but in brief, Andrew Dennison, a translator and a polyglot, is recruited by the President of the United States to work at an underground, top secret government research facility in the middle of the desert. A `demon' is kept at close guard in the facility, where he had been lying comatose for nearly a century. But he has now woken up and Andrew Dennison is needed to act as an interpret or translator. I won't go into too much detail but of course, things don't quite go according to plan.
At first I wasn't too sure about this story; it was a bit slow to start with. I was, however, intrigued by the references to linguistics in the plot; different languages are mentioned at several points within the narrative and I thought it was quite unusual to have a male character who was specialist in that field. The `demon', who is referred to as `Bub', didn't seem very frightening to me - in fact, I found him quite ridiculous. However, humour is one of Konrath's trademarks and there was an underlying menace in the `monster' that kept me on my toes. By the time I was half-way through the book (it's quite short, at about 300 Kindle pages) I couldn't put it down, and I had to stay up until 2:00 A.M. to finish it.
Of course this is - as another reviewer here pointed out - a `popcorn' read. It's entertainment and it doesn't try to be particularly deep, although I would argue that it does manage to raise a few interesting questions on the origins of humanity, on religion and on the power of our beliefs (I'll shut up now - no spoilers!). It has a distinctively cinematic quality to it and I wasn't surprised when I subsequently read in the afterword to `Origin' that the author had originally come up with the idea of the book as `Jurassic Park meets The Exorcist'. The snappy dialogue, the predictable romantic interest, the fast paced action - all essential ingredients adding to the `movie' experience. In fact, if there is a movie producer browsing Amazon right now, may I suggest that they option this book and start turning it into a script?
This was the second book of Konrath's that I have read - I am definitely going to read more of his work. It's fun and fast-paced but by no means dumb.
PS - As 'extras', the book contains excerpts to two further novels: 'Disturb' and 'Beneath'.
Great blend of weird but damaged characters, which is my first niggle because if "you" seriously had this terrifying secret you needed to keep would you allow that calibre of person to be responsible for it? With no other military presence?
But then I guess there would be no real failure in procedure and the story would be pretty boring!
I enjoyed the relationships between all of them but really found the holies annoying with their religious double speak although you could feel the depth of research that JAK had done within the language element and the biology as it just oozes off the page. However the biblical pondering goes on way too long and I found myself skipping some of the genome waffle as it did not really enhance the story at all, IMO.
One of the main characters is a linguist; however as soon as he walks into the room with Bub, the demon decides to speak English! Kind of negates his need to be there really and think he could have been expanded much further in reading of the casket etc I feel that JAK merely skimmed the surface of what could have been a very in depth and complex story line.
Another brilliant description yet niggle was the "facility" it was so huge yet had no staff; who did the maintenance? When they dropped off food who did the unloading? What about humans needing sunlight to live? And could they not have had a hydroponics unit for fresh food?
Humour is one of JAK trademarks but im not sure he meant Bub to be quite so "cute" - I did not really find him terrifying so was nose wrinkling when I read the "reactions" of the team when they first meet him, or maybe I just read too much horror.
I wish JAK had expanded on his history a little more, maybe played with Bubs inner dialogue more. Don't get me wrong he is no huggable, fluffy demon, he has his gorefest moments but felt there could have been more.
Other reviews have suggested that this is a "popcorn" book and I would be disappointed to know that his how JAK intended it, as the basic concept is pretty awesome and possibly could have been executed a bit better with a longer novel. It does have some interesting arguments about the beginnings of humanity and our need for religion and where all the legends stem from.
The windup to escape is pretty tense as no character is safe, which is always good in a novel, although how you can put up with that much physical injury and still climb a ladder amazes me, but sometimes you need to suspend belief.
My final niggle is the internal bombs, why does Bub just not dig them out sooner? I dislike when authors just suddenly blag a bit or change a basic function of a character to help them out of a jammy bit of storyline; that's so Hollywood.
Overall I really loved this book, the ending is pretty awesome and I really look forward to a sequel. This would make a great film, as the action is all very visual and the time line is pretty straight, with maybe a few flashbacks.
J.A. Konrath, who also writes as Jack Kilborn is a well established author of novels which span the genres of Horror, Science-Fiction, Mystery and Techo-Thrillers and it was the recent reading of `Draculas' to which he was a contributing author that led me to search out other of his creations that I may have missed. ORIGIN was one such and is a real gem.
When linguist Andrew Dennison is virtually kidnapped by the American Secret Service at the specific command of the President he finds himself taken to a ultra secret underground establishment in the desert staffed by a team of social and scientific experts; all of whom are misfits in the outside world. Their task is to examine a creature which has been secretly held at the bunker like facility since 1906 and to try to figure out if it is a real live demon or perhaps even Satan Himself. At the beginning the creature seems benign and co-operative but soon the situation changes and, and the team are fighting for their lives and the lives of everyone on the planet.
The story is a refreshing change and since it was originally written in the late 1990s has retained a lot of the style and energy of that era. This is no handsome demon racked with guilt but a full on lying, murderous, undying monster bent on world destruction. The story is full of action, tension, demons, monsters and the threat of nuclear destructions, a fast paced thriller which I found hard to put down until I had read it through to the end, which I did. I find that I am now at an age where I do not need much sleep but still quickly get bored when I am awake and so spend most nights reading or watching movies. I got through this novel in a single sitting with only one break for liquid in and out.
Another great story from Konrath/Kilborn, I am amazed that the author states he was unable to sell this book when it was newly written, but I have now downloaded the Kindle Edition and will definitely add this to my `read again' file.
I've read (and rate) a number of Graham Masterton's novels and I think this compares admirably with those: and is way better than a lot of self-styled 'technothrillers' that really don't feature the quality of writing present in Origin.
Original, great characterisation, superbly judged touches of humour, conspiracy and romance - probably just a hint of Resident Evil - great entertainment and worth substantially more than the the low-price ticket for Kindle. I'll be reading more of Mr Konrath's writing in the coming weeks as it's rare that I'll read any novel at only two sittings, but I only put this one down as I fell asleep in bed! Highly recommended!















