Percivious: Escape

by J.J. Cook, A J Cook

Who will survive when the future can only be saved by the past?

A vicious insomnia pandemic devolves into a devastating apocalypse, and humanity teeters on the brink of extinction in the thrilling final installment of the Percivious Trilogy, Escape.

Emerging from the dark side of the moon, the HELIX and its crew embark on a desperate effort to save the last of their species—and ours.

An unexpected alliance forms between humans and the XYZ—Earth’s first intelligent hominid species—to stop the pandemic once and for all. But when unforeseen forces surface, Herriden, captain of the HELIX—which carries the last of the cetacean XYZs—must make an unfathomable choice, if it’s not already too late . . .

Escape is an astonishing conclusion to the Percivious Trilogy, in which life as we know it will never be the same.

277 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 8, 2022

About the author

Publisher's Weekly: The Cooks’ impressive SF medical thriller, the first of a trilogy, overflows with intriguing ideas. The main plot focuses on a new wonder sleep drug, Noctural, which runs into a snag. Despite successful preliminary trials, Noctural fails to work for a test subject with chronic insomnia and other people suffering from sleep deprivation. Figuring out why falls to a researcher for the Big Pharma company behind the medication. Other story lines are less conventional. One involves Human Pinnacle Theory, which posits that humans have reached the pinnacle of their evolution, and thus are at risk for extinction because of an inability to adapt to Earth’s changing environment. Another centers on a secret U.S. government dossier revealing that “ancient humanoid cousins” existed along with the dinosaurs and were the dominant life form at the time. Before leaving the planet, they created a DNA time capsule that led to the evolution of homo sapiens. The Cooks, a married couple, alternate between the plot threads easily. Michael Crichton fans will look forward to the sequel. (Self-published)