Artifact: A Sci-Fi Thriller

by Jeremy Robinson, R.C. Bray (Narrator)

In an isolated Alaskan town, the local sheriff uncovers a secret lab where generative AI and bioprinting have unleashed something monstrous....

Sheriff Colton Graves prefers the quiet life in Raven's Rest, Alaska, a remote town accessible only by tunnel and home to a hardy mix of locals and secrets buried in the ice. But when a camel wanders down Main Street—its head grotesquely sprouting a dozen eyes—Colton knows his quiet days are over. The bizarre incident leads him to NovaGen, a nearby research facility constructed inside a Cold War bunker, buried in the mountains above town. There, a trail of blood and eerie silence hints at something far more sinister than an escaped animal experiment.

With his deputies—the sharp-witted Tali and rookie Ethan—Colton recruits a few trusted locals, including the unshakable Marit, Tali's sister; the intimidating "Grizz" Norval; and Edgar "Old Red" Rydell, an aging man plagued by demons from when he worked at the bunker during its covert days.

Together, they investigate the abandoned lab. What begins as a search for missing scientists soon reveals chilling pools of blood without bodies, cryptic warnings left behind, a bloody six-fingered handprint, and the revelation of a generative AI capable of printing living organisms. As they descend deeper into the lab, it becomes clear the answers they seek may come at a terrifying cost—and what was made in the dark may not be content to stay there.

New York Times and #1 Audible bestselling author, Jeremy Robinson reclaims his title as one of the best Michael Crichton successors with this harrowing blend of suspense, science, and survival. Artifact takes listeners into a frozen abyss where innovation and nightmares collide.

Genres: Horror, Science Fiction, Audiobook, Thriller, Fiction, Horror Thriller, Action

Audible Audio

First published August 26, 2025

About the author

Jeremy Robinson is the New York Times bestselling author of seventy novels and novellas, including Apocalypse Machine, Island 731, and SecondWorld, as well as the Jack Sigler thriller series and Project Nemesis, the highest selling, original (non-licensed) kaiju novel of all time. He’s known for mixing elements of science, history and mythology, which has earned him the #1 spot in Science Fiction and Action-Adventure, and secured him as the top creature feature author. Many of his novels have been adapted into comic books, optioned for film and TV, and translated into thirteen languages. He lives in New Hampshire with his wife and three children. Visit him at www.bewareofmonsters.com.

Reviews

[Alice · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is just something about J. Robinson putting emotions on paper: awkward and profoundly strange. And of course, the whole "monstrous hybrid experiments that spiraled out of control and killed people"-Great touch!

[John (JC) · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an outstanding book by Jeremy Robinson. This all begins with what appears to be a mutant camel walking through town. If that is not strange enough, the town is located in Alaska in mid winter. This story is centered around NovaGen and their usage of “bio printing” with AI. Their greed creates the next level of Hell. The Sheriff, Colton Graves, has the blessing/curse of being able to feel the emotions of others. This makes him a great sheriff but at the same time he suffers from sensory overload due to this gift. After seeing the results of NovaGen visit his town he enlists a group of special people to investigate and rescue if necessary.
There is never a dry moment in the literature. To say the emotions were like a rollercoaster would be understating their intensity. There is gore, aberrations, deceit, compassion, terror, distrust and a plethora of action. This is definitely a read that is hard to put down and has one incredible ending.

[Tracy P. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mr. Robinson's keeping it way to real in this mind bending Sci-Fi tale of horror. AI on steroids. RTC.

[Stitching Ghost]

I didn’t hate my time with this book. I appreciated the autism representation even though I thought it was harped on way too much, I get it sensory overload is a bitch, I’ve been living with the crippling migraines it induces, trust me I KNOW, but it got so repetitious. The whole AI is a double edged sword type of deal was also I reflection I could understand.

There were a few moments in the book that felt like they were a little forced and only there to make the characters relatable to younger people and they wouldn’t have made me question what I had read if the author hadn’t included a spiel about AI at the end of the book. A spiel in which he states that he tries to stay out of the AI debate and that he uses AI (specifically Chat GPT and Midjourney) supposedly only for covers, social media posting and organization, as the younglings say; press x to doubt.

[Julie Carter · Rating 5 out of 5]

You know when you start a book and you find a camel walking down the road in Alaska, that it is going to be a fun, interesting adventure. You also know that when that camel has twelve eyes, you are embarking on a wild ride like only Jeremy Robinson can provide. This story is so good! There is such a great cast of characters that are well portrayed and draw you into each of their lives. The action is intense and non-stop, and it makes you just want to keep reading so you can find out what happens.
So step up, hold on and enjoy the ride!

[Dee Haddrill · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are a fan of Michael Crichton, Artifact is a book that you will love! I actually think it’s better than anything Crichton wrote. Yes, I said what I said.

Artifact has all you expect from a Jeremy Robinson novel - fast paced action, brilliant insightful story, real characters with heaps of humour, and lots of gruesome moments. It also has deep introspective emotions that leave you thinking long after the moment has gone. I think this book would rate as one of his best!

In my humble opinion, of course 💙

[Wayne Fielding · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent…. I didn’t want this book to finish, I enjoyed every minute wish it had been a longer book.

[niamh · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5, a fun concept but im rly not convinced autism works like that, he's like a fucking X-Men character

[Cari · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story was great, characters not so much. For example, EVERYONE has autism, oh and it gives you special powers, but only when paired with a tick bite, or something? I found the injected love story unnecessary. Also, the part where he actually had to KILL HIS WIFE'S CLONE was totally glossed over. Just my humble opinion, of course. I still enjoyed most of it and learned to ignore the silly characters (oh, everyone is also a soldier).

[BookzBookzBookz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun read, Artifact created nightmares and placed them in the one place I’d never go to visit, let alone live!

The story carried an 80’s-like feel, but with various references of other movies and such. I don’t know many people on the spectrum, but this tale had a crew, making things slightly funny. And serious and emotional.

[vk chompooming · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the book I needed for my 7 book 1 star slump. Artifact deserved 5 stars, but I felt the action parts were weak despite the awesome plot and setting. This novel was perfect other than that. I too have no real opinion about AI, but LOVED the questions and situations brought up by the author I will l b reading more by Jeremy Robinson

[Kacy❁ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jeremy does it again. His books always hook me from start to finish with a well written creepy story. RC is the man and I love his narration.

[Linda Collins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Artifact

This book is really well written...Different from what Mr. Robinson generally writes, but all the same, really good...Hope this isn't a future of what's to come

[Rick Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid 4 stars. Reads like an awesome high suspense scifi action movie.

[Rachel Thomas · Rating 1 out of 5]

alternative title: forget spiderman, this is TICKMAN

you guys liked this lmao??? genuinely, again, a book that was so irritating that during a 30 hour cross country move it sent me into a diatribe that set the cats off from slumber to yowling. the autism depiction was about as accurate and flattering as dr. faketism in the good doctor, as usual an unnecessary shoehorned and extremely cringey romance subplot, humor and metaphors that felt like they were written by middle school fedora soy edgelords, the depictions of laboratory scientists as soulless evil demons proving that the author has never interacted with real scientists before. ugh!!!

oh and reading in the author's note that homeboy uses generative AI for cover art, audio, and music for his books and marketing sometimes? YUCK!
BOOOOOO 🍅🍅🍅

[Terry and dog · Rating 5 out of 5]

Now that's a story!
I loved everything about it, characters so interesting and cool, a great location, a mystery and lots of action, heart, and monsters, both human and other. I gobbled this up in big gulps.

[Ali]

DNF a little over 50% in. it's just not keeping my interest.

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

The New God Of Science Fiction Directly Challenges Crichton - And Wins. Michael Crichton was, without a shadow of a doubt, one of the best and most influential science fiction writers since the era of Phillip K Dick and Isaac Asimov, if not H.G. Wells and Jules Verne. While he may have (arguably) had a dud here or there, many of his works have gone on to become absolutely iconic, including perhaps most famously, Jurassic Park. Indeed, it was because I was a big fan of Crichton's Timeline - don't bother with the movie there, or at least go into the movie not expecting it to adhere to the book, which is far superior - that I originally picked up Robinson's Didymus Contingency, which had a similar back and forth time travel dynamic, though to a different period and location.

Here, Robinson takes at least one of the threats Crichton directly addressed - artificial intelligence and its ability to create life (though to be clear, the exact mechanism differs between Crichton and Robinson, in part based on two decades of technological difference when they wrote the books in question) - and to this fan of both books and authors... y'all, I daresay Robinson outdid even Crichton.

I know well that this is a bold claim, perhaps the boldest even I've ever made about a Robinson book - and let's face it, I've been known to hype Robinson's books perhaps higher than nearly anyone. But seriously? Better than Crichton, *head to head*?

I honestly think they are. And I read Prey when it first came out all those years ago. I liked it. Crichton did an excellent job with that tale, one of his better books since Jurassic Park.

I still think Robinson did it even better here.

Where Robinson *didn't* hit as hard here is actually another author, a women's fiction author who happened to use this exact same town as the setting for her book a few years ago - Melissa Payne's Memories In The Drift. If you're more in for an absolute emotional gut punch that will leave you weeping on the floor, go with Payne's book. If you're more in for some scifi action that will possibly make you think a bit (or not, if you don't want to), still leave you breathless, and still carry a bit of emotional heft to it... Robinson is where to go. Or really, read both and see how each author uses the same setting to tell wildly different tales - which to me is always fun. :)

One final point here before the summary: In this particular book, Robinson has one character in particular have a particular trait - and I'm being somewhat vague about it intentionally, as it is a spoiler since it isn't revealed in the description of the book, even as I write this review just a few weeks before publication. (I actually read the book a few months ago and forgot to write a review until now! Eeek!) Weeks before publication of this book - a couple of weeks or so before I wrote this review on July 6, 2025 - Robinson wrote a blog post on his website BewareOfMonsters.com titled "What's Up With My Brain" that actually reveals something about himself that plays directly into making this character as real as it really is. As someone with the same trait... Robinson did a truly phenomenal job with it in this book, and I *should* have picked up on why, knowing both him and this trait as well as I do.

Ultimately yet again one of Robinson's stronger tales in all that it does - strong enough to take on a globally recognized master of the field and win, at least to my own preferences.

Very much recommended.

[Unseen Library · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my very favourite authors of outrageous fiction, Jeremy Robinson, returns with another intense and horrifying science fiction thriller, Artifact, a captivating and powerful novel I couldn’t get enough of.

Plot Synopsis:

In an isolated Alaskan town, the local sheriff uncovers a secret lab where generative A.I. and bioprinting have unleashed grotesque, living anomalies—and now, something monstrous is loose.

Sheriff Colton Graves prefers the quiet life in Raven’s Rest, Alaska, a remote town accessible only by tunnel and home to a hardy mix of locals and secrets buried in the ice. But when a camel wanders down Main Street—its head grotesquely sprouting a dozen eyes—Colton knows his quiet days are over. The bizarre incident leads him to NovaGen, a nearby research facility constructed inside a Cold War bunker, buried in the mountains above town. There, a trail of blood and eerie silence hints at something far more sinister than an escaped animal experiment.

With his deputies—the sharp-witted Tali and rookie Ethan—Colton recruits a few trusted locals, including the unshakable Marit, Tali’s sister, the intimidating ‘Grizz’ Norval, and Edgar ‘Old Red’ Rydell, an aging man plagued by demons from when he worked at the bunker during its covert cold war days.

Together, they investigate the abandoned lab. What begins as a search for missing scientists soon reveals chilling evidence: pools of blood without bodies, cryptic warnings left behind, a bloody six-fingered handprint, and the revelation of a new technology: a generative A.I. capable of printing living organisms. As they descend deeper into the lab, it becomes clear that the answers they seek may come at a terrifying cost—and that what was made in the dark may not be content to stay there.

Jeremy Robinson once again greatly impresses with his new thriller Artifact. A complex and deeply clever read loaded with weird science, fantastic humour and incredible action, Artifact was an exceptional read that had me hooked very early on and kept my attention all the way to the end. A particularly intense novel with so many amazing elements to it, Artifact gets a full five-star rating from me, especially on audiobook, and I ended up powering through it so damn quickly.

To see the full review, click on the link below:
https://unseenlibrary.com/2025/10/06/...

For other exciting reviews and content, check out my blog at:
https://unseenlibrary.com/

[Lukasz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Artifact is fast, loud, and stuffed with gore, mutant oddities, and brutal action. There's also an Alaskan sheriff who barely gets to breathe between disasters.

I like the premise that plays with the idea of generative AI and bioprinting gone horribly wrong. To Robinson’s credit, the monsters are imaginative, the setting is cool, and the story never stops moving.

The protagonist, Colton, narrates in first person, and boy does he narrate. Every thought. Every emotional quirk. Every sensory issue. Then he explains it again, just in case you missed it two paragraphs ago. The book tells so much that it rarely gets a chance to show, and the portrayal of autism feels shallow.

Characterization in general is thin, though Colton at least has a distinct (if occasionally exhausting) voice. The supporting cast feels like they wandered in from a casting call for “Archetypes: The Movie,” and the romance subplot… well, it exists. And maybe it shouldn’t.

The action is frequent but uneven. Scenes start out strong, only for Colton’s internal monologue to smother the tension with exposition. Sometimes it feels too long in the wrong places and too short in the right ones. There is a good story tucked inside, but it’s buried beneath repetition and digressions that don’t trust the reader to remember basic facts.

Still, I can’t say Artifact is a bad time. The ideas are cool, the monsters are lethal and weird, and the setting has real atmosphere. It just needed tighter editing, stronger characters, and a subtler approach to its neurodivergent lead.

Overall, it’s a pulpy sci-fi horror romp with plenty of blood and little depth.

[Reader · Rating 2 out of 5]

I almost bought this book from a bookstore and then I saw it was free on kindle. I am so glad I did not pay for this book. The only saving grace of this book is the actual concept. It’s such a cool concept I had been thinking about this book all week until I had time yesterday to sit down and read it. I have never left a review but this is my first because this book genuinely enraged me with how bad these characters were.

The very first page I was taken out of my happy little reading bubble by the main character breaking into song after being shocked by cold water. I thought to myself “this isn’t how a real human being would react” I went on to say that to myself over and over and over throughout the entire book. I joked with my fiance the entire time that sounds like this author loaded up chat GPT and asked it to come up with 500 witty one liners to pepper through the book. Imagine my surprise when the authors note at the end said he does indeed use AI 🙄

This book feels like it was written by a gen-xer who spends his entire day on Facebook reposting memes about how tough and cool and edgy gen-x is compared to everyone else. I don’t know how else to explain the tone of this book. I’ve read so many bad books and I think this one upsets me the most because the bones were SO GOOD. But like every out of touch house flipper he came into a beautiful unique home with good bones and proceeded to strip it of every ounce of character and paint everything grey. So sad.

[Jess · Rating 3 out of 5]

I quite liked this, the setting is a small town in Alaska in the winter time.

It gets weird almost immediately, there is a camel walking down main and is pissed about, the camel is pissed because it is too cold and it is going to die out there. Which like..sad. I do not want to read anything with animals in pain, but I soldier through. We meet our main character the sheriff who seems like a good guy, a widower who moved here for his wife who has now passed.
We meet a lot of great characters, in the townspeople some nice, some not nice, but all entertaining. There is a lab up the mountain and the thought is the camel came from there and we are off and running. Exciting, fast paced, likeable characters, horrific villain but there were two things I didn't like.
1.The sheriff is autistic (not a problem), great representation, some one on the spectrum who is a well respected member of the community and has a very important job, great! He also has extreme empathy and can feel peoples emotions through the wall and ceilings.....he believes this is his autism exacerbated by a tick bite. What the fuck are we talking about here??? and it is brought up so much in his inner monologue. SO MUCH!!
2. there was a few bits where "animals" were hurt and scared and again I don't like that
Otherwise really great read!!!!

[Carla · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s a fascinating read. I haven’t read anything from this author before, and when the ARC opportunity showed up, I thought it would be a good book to read. And it’s interesting. I love the community dynamics, specially Ethan and Jimmy. The two misfits that somehow fit, and make things better. The only downside was how overwhelming it was. Colton feels too much, and it shows, and the reader ends up feeling too much. It’s so well portrayed, it leaks out of the book, and it was overall for me. The pace was great, the development of the story was awesome, and it felt like the author took the reader on the journey along with the characters, so nobody is missing anything, but Colton’s overwhelming senses leaked a bit much for me. I don’t know if there’s any different way to write the book, because it’s very well written, it’s just a tad much at times, and it makes me feel certain kinship and connection with Colton, and I’m not sure how to feel about that. But I want to read more by this author, it was really interesting.

I received a free copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Cassandra Kincaid · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve read a lot of Jeremy Robinson’s books, but Artifact caught me off guard in the best way. Colt isn’t the kind of main character I expected. He’s a small-town sheriff with flaws and vulnerabilities, but also a quiet strength that made him stand out from Robinson’s other leads. I found myself really drawn to him because he felt so real.

The people around him felt different too. They weren’t a group of specialists or superheroes, but regular folks pulled into something much bigger than themselves. That gave the story a weight I didn’t see coming and made the danger feel that much closer to home.

The Alaskan setting also pulled me in right away. I grew up in Alaska, so seeing that rugged, isolated environment used as the backdrop made the story even more appealing and believable. The science at the center of it all raises questions that linger long after the last page, and just when I thought I knew where it was going, the ending took a turn that left me thinking about it even more.

Artifact has all the action and intensity I expect from Robinson, but it also surprised me with how grounded and different it felt.

[Oliver Kitchen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I only really know this author from the Nemesis series so I was interested to see how their other writing is. That was complicated a bit by the fact that this story appears to be in the same world as the Nemesis series, if kept fairly separate. There's really only one reference, maybe two if how I'm picturing one of the creatures is accuarate to what the author intended.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. It had an interesting concept and the character interactions were solid. I did have some concerns that the main threat wasn't particularly well described, and I mean that in terms of what it looked like. I have a sense of what it's face is but not how big it is (the narrations really just says "bigger than this other thing" which is the only size description we have for that other thing too, by the way), how many limbs it has, how is it proportioned, etc. Which is a bit jarring considering how meticulously Nemesis and co are described. Also there's a few too many twist reveals on how things got bad and I'm not sure the last one makes a ton of sense.

Anyway, I had a good time with it.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun romp through... A.I. generated organisms territory! What a concept. It was well done. As with the other Jeremy Robinson books I've read so far, it moves quickly and is full of characters - some really likeable and some really hateable. There's a rogue organization way up in Alaska and they're printing a variety of created organisms, just because. Something about science, but it wasn't clear. They were just playin' I think.

The MC has autism and it's true what other reviewers have said: it's talked about much too often. He mentions it every few minutes of the audiobook and I'm not exaggerating. It became tedious. I appreciate all kinds of characters in books but - much as in life - I don't think most people want their entire personas to be about whatever condition they have because, let's face it, everyone is dealing with something. We're all different, let's just accept each other and move on.

Anyway, I enjoyed the book a lot and would recommend it to anyone who likes reading about sci-fi, technology and adventure.

[Cynthia Borden · Rating 3 out of 5]

This plot is imaginative and there’s plenty of bloody violence and suspense, but the story is lacking. Though this premise of science gone wrong is interesting enough in itself, the author somehow found the need to insert an icky love story into the mix, that offended, not that it doesn’t happen, but it’s definitely not something to romanticize or think your audience wants you wasting pages on. In fact the romance had me hoping both the characters involved met their ends in a brutal way. Spoiler alert, not such luck.

Also there were two reveals about the characters’ identities that were presented like plot twists, them not being voiced until near the climax. Why? Speaking probably not only for myself: neither one of these reveals was unexpected. I’d figured out the first by chapter three and the other before the band of characters made it into the lab.

Not only would this book had benefited from third person POV, but it would have also saved me from rolling my eyes multiple times, at the main character’s odd views about his diagnosis. If the author was trying to pull off a protagonist in the vein of Sherlock or the Good Doctor, he was way off the mark. The character doesn’t prove extremely resourceful, enlightened, or superhuman.

[Josh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent book from Jeremy Robinson, and RC Bray always does a fantastic job. Had many unexpected twists and turns and was definitely page-turner. Got a bit confusing to follow at times but overall a good story.

Was saddened to find it at the end that AI was used in the writing process, as well as for the cover artwork. As the spouse of traditional artist and illustrator it stings to see that algorithms have become so pervasive as to be commonplace now, passed off with a shrug. Jeremy, brother, if you ever read this you’re an AMAZING author and I’ve always enjoyed YOUR work! Don’t go down the AI path man, your work is AWESOME coming straight from the tap and doesn’t need to be diluted one drop by the work of a million other writers and cover artists. I much prefer my Jeremy Robinson books to be un-filtered! 🙌

[Grep · Rating 3 out of 5]

For the audiobook.

It's relatively cookie cutter, but a decent listen. Lots of Reddit cursing and reditisms - which I hate like "twat waffle" type humor. Childish and boring, makes me think of an obese nerd in a star wars shirt who knows everything about politics and is snarky for no reason.

THe sheriff basically has autism as his superpower, and it seems ridiculous, like he's some type of Star Trek Betazoid empath. Lo and behold, the author states he got diagnosed with autism at 40 or 50 - can't remember, I was laughing too hard. I wonder if someone in his life finally gaslit him enough to get the final verdict.

The women are all badasses and fine with their sexuality, of course, and one's even a LESBIAN keeping it a secret in a small town. WOW!!!

Glad it wasn't longer and even more glad it didn't have Will Wheaton in it.

[Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Manmade Disaster

Colton is the sheriff of a small town in Alaska that is separated from the rest of the world by a tunnel. He has a few good friends, but mostly stays to himself keeping the town’s issues in check. What kind of problems can a town like this have? Maybe a few crazy drunks?

After a camel with a dozen eyes on one side of its head comes strolling through town, Colton realizes that this is the mother of all issues, probably created by the lab on the mountain. Funny thing the geeks at the lab haven’t been to town in weeks.

Colton takes his friends, some of whom are as tough and crazy as they come to investigate NovaGen and see if there are survivors.

This was one of the best horror stories I have ever read. There are obviously parts that make no sense, but we suspend our disbelief for a good tale. This was a five star tale if ever there was one!