If you’re a fan of Post-Apocalyptic fiction, you don’t want to miss this one. This is the first in a planned series reminiscent of The Stand, Omega Man and Invasion of the Body Snatchers…all wrapped into one. Check out my review.

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Paul Jones has started a refreshingly unique Post-Apocalyptic series, unlike anything I have read in the genre. Set in the present day, Extinction Point starts out with news of an advancing world-wide phenomena… an intense red colored rain that falls mysteriously at 12:30 PM local time and abruptly stops a few minutes later. Emily Baxter, reporter for a Manhattan based newspaper, finds herself indoors when the thick crimson rain strikes the concrete jungle around her. Careful to avoid contact with the thick red fluid, she reports to work, expecting to find a flurry of activity. She finds the rest of her colleagues speechlessly glued to the news floor’s television monitors. Reports from western Europe are sketchy at best…Eastern Europe has stopped transmitting video altogether. As New York City descends into panic, Emily returns to the safety of her apartment, never to emerge into the same world again.

Extinction Point brilliantly increased the tension with each successive chapter, as the menace of Earth’s apparent demise slowly unravels around her. Nothing is what it initially seems, as Emily ventures into her new world. She is the apparent sole survivor of an extinction level event, but her loneliness is replaced by horror, as she starts to make inexplicable and disturbing discoveries.

The author has a talent for description, immersing the reader in the solace of an empty city. His true talents for description shine, as more of the “red rain’s” true purpose is revealed. 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.

I thoroughly enjoyed Emily’s transition into survivor mode. Shuttered in her apartment, she reluctantly comes to terms with the fact that she has to leave the city. The author chose to make this difficult for her…as a true New Yorker, she never learned how to drive. She is bicycle bound, which adds a whole new dimension to her survival story. Readers will enjoy watching her prepare for the trek out of the city, and may even argue with her as she shops empty stores and adds gear to the limited list she can carry.

The story is punctuated by realistic periods of slowdown and reflection, as the main character contemplates the strange phenomena outside of her apartment, but the author keeps the tension level high. The “new world” continuously changes around her, unveiling the alien-intelligent design of the world’s metamorphosis. I couldn’t wait for her to turn another corner.

I eagerly await the next installment in this series, which will clearly plunge Emily into an increasingly unfamiliar world, as she treks north.”