cover image The Sixth Extinction

The Sixth Extinction

D. Leonard Freeston. Dundurn, $22.99 (464p) ISBN 978-1-55488-903-7

Canadian Freeston's first novel shares many traits with the work of such grand adventure writers as Edgar Rice Burroughs and H. Rider Haggard, including flowery, sometimes florid, prose; outsized human figures and animals of heroic proportions; and improbable but entertaining quests. Megalomaniac Jason Conrad uses his incredible wealth to create the Doomsday Complex, a secret repository of the best genes and seeds of the world's animals and plants. Conrad's men kill hundreds in the process of collecting these specimens. Sgt.-Det. Irina Drach and Sgt.-Det. Athol Hudson investigate after Conrad's agents kill Jerome Perron, of the Montreal police K-9 squad, while capturing Perron's dog%E2%80%94the ideal German shepherd. The primary action takes place in Canada's boreal forest, where champion racehorse Zarathustra and mighty lion I-%C3%A1rish%C3%B3ni escape from the complex and become key players in the drama. Readers thirsting for old-style adventure in a modern setting may find the match between the dogged Drach and the ruthless Conrad a satisfying read. (Sept.)