Extinction Peak

by Lucas Mangum

When the raptors come out of sinkholes across the United States, Deandra Antigone Merriweather's elder brother Johnny sees the chaos as opportunity. Overrun by prehistoric beasts of increasing size and savagery, the world has completely gone to hell, but he doesn't suspect it will stay that way, and he wants to be a rich man by the time things get back to normal.Though less optimistic about the future, Deandra thinks it might be a good idea to have some money stashed away just in case, if only so she can one day get away from the abusive Johnny for good. Together, they embark on a perilous journey across the wasteland to rob the mountain home of a corrupt California senator. But the home isn't empty.The senator has stayed behind to live like a king in this post-apocalypse world. With specially trained raptors, his sadistic wife, and sexually stunted son, all manner of misery awaits Deandra within the house's walls.All the while, the outside world crumbles under the trampling feet of monsters long thought This book contains disturbing content.

Genres: Post Apocalyptic, Horror

165 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 22, 2020

About the author

Lucas Mangum is an author currently living in Austin, TX.

Reviews

[Peter Topside · Rating 4 out of 5]

So I went into this book thinking it was going to just be a mindless, wild, 90-page ride. And don’t get me wrong, there’s dinosaurs, morlocks, alternate dimensions, a bad ass posse of women riding around in a tank, crooked politicians running fight clubs in their fortresses, and just all sorts of crazy business happening. But beyond all the fun stuff, there is some genuinely solid writing behind all of the characters, namely Deandra. Some you hate, others you may be conflicted about, but they all make you want to keep reading and keep you fully engaged in the story. By the the time the story concludes, it seems like the start to an epic journey of an unsuspecting hero, which you want to see more of. And for such a quick book, the writing is superb and everything feels so complete by the end, too. This was just an honest-to-God, really fun, well done and enjoyable read.

[Daniel Volpe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great book by Lucas Mangum. Yes, this book has a bunch of dinosaurs, but this is a character driven story. He creates memorable scenes and characters, making the reader almost forget about the rampaging monsters. The kill scenes are blood and visceral and no character is safe.

[Alex | | findingmontauk1 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dino-mite fun (yea, my pun is awful!). Extinction Peak was a fun look at the apocalypse, where the world is engulfed with dinosaurs. There's lots of action, violence, and gore. There is a great cast of strong characters and the female survivors ruled. And you gotta love a whacked out politician at the helm of it all doing everything you know is wrong. Sean Duregger knocks another one out of the park with the narration keeping me even more engaged. His energy and voices really bring a different level of life to the story and I think he made it even better.

[Horror Bookworm Reviews · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dinosaurs along with prehistoric creatures have clawed their way from the depths of sinkholes discovered all over the planet causing a post-apocalyptic landscape. In the course of the monstrous mayhem that follows, a brother and sister have planned a daring getaway as part of their quest for survival and sanctuary.
Author Lucas Mangum wields an extreme Earth shaking writing style. He resurrects ancient beasts as well as unidentifiable species believed to be extinct for many years. Pterodactyl, raptors and prehistoric arachnids begin ravishing terrain and obliterating survivors by means of bloody carnage. Elements such as unusual predators, parallel dimensions and a picturesque view of what the world has become advances the plot with racing speed. Mangum’s ability to paint a color coded carnage canvas for the reader is impressive. A great example of this is a band of marauding women laying complete waste to anyone or anything that comes in contact with them resulting in a wake of rotted remains. Not since the pages of adult illustrated Heavy Metal Magazine has there been such female savagery. As the anarchy unfolds the reader receives the added bonus of never knowing a characters fate of salvation or damnation.
I would love to see a continuation or maybe the beginning of an on going mythos of this New Dark Age Lucas Mangum has created. His consistent fresh ideas and capability of keeping the reader engaged makes Extinction Peak a Horror Bookworm five star recommendation. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[Matt (TeamRedmon) · Rating 3 out of 5]

When sink holes open around the world it's disaster, when living dinosaurs crawl out of the holes, it's the apocalypse. Society collapses. Johnny and Deandra, the children of a doomsday prepped, decide the best way to set themselves up for the post apocalypse is to loot the home of a US Senator. Too bad for them, the senator is alive, well, and fully insane. He runs death matches in his yard and keeps dinos as pets.

I loved the first 2/3 of this book. It's a violent world with strong characters. I was a big fan of the crew of female survivors in a tank. They all were Interesting and believable. The last third of this book lost me. LOST ME. I'm not sure if I missed some grand allegory or critical plot point but the end of the book got very existential. I don't think that the last bit ruins the first bit though. I was left scratching my head and wondering what I read. The end doesn't feel like the same book as I started reading.

[Bob · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent Sci-Fi/action novella with interesting characters and a plot that includes dinosaurs, Morlocks and a band of women ready to kick ass. I wish Lucas would write more adventures of Deandra Merriweather. Highly recommended!

[Aaron McQuiston · Rating 4 out of 5]

What would you do if the earth was hollow, and when sinkholes started to appear around the globe, dinosaurs started to come out? I am pretty sure that I would be in the first wave of deaths, but if you were to survive, what would existence be like? This is where brother and sister, Johnny and Deandra find themselves at the beginning of the novella, “Extinction Peak.” They spend most of their life in the basement of their dad’s home (who also was a doomsday prepper), plotting a way to break into a corrupt California senator’s mansion to steal his riches. Of course they were also going to have to dodge raptors, pterodactyls, T-Rex, and even the large herbivores that are knocking down buildings and infrastructure. But this is just the beginning.

There is so much that happens in this short novella, but for something so short, there is a great deal of depth. The brother and sister on a mission is just one part of the plot that never loses it’s way, but follows more the philosophy written on page 57 (of the Kindle edition):

“This was no world for heroes. Perhaps it never had been. It was only a place for anarchists.”

Nobody in this book is really a nice guy; there are just characters that you are rooting for more than others. At the end of the day, the ones that succeed are the ones that can be the most ruthless. And there are times when the character conflict is so great that you almost forget that as soon as the victor in the fighting steps outside, they have to deal with being killed by dinosaurs. This makes for a great, cinematic story that should be read by anyone who loves dinosaur destruction and/or garbage people doing garbage things.

8.5/10

[Christina Eleanor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sinkholes, dinosaurs and savagery…yes please! You know that feeling when you are at the top of the first drop of a rollercoaster? Mangum masterfully puts the reader in that position from the start of the story! The story takes twists and turns that are an unexpected ride through an apocalyptic world where humans are not the top predators.

Sinkholes have opened all over the earth allowing dinosaurs and nightmarish creatures to invade and rule in our modern world. Deandra and Johnny are headed to a place where they know they can find enough cash to keep them financially set. Hel and her group of warrior women are looking for a place that offers safety too. A corrupt Senator has captured women for his own amusement and is certain he can do what he wants with no one to govern his actions.

Mangum gives us just enough information on his characters to understand where they all came from and what led them to this point in time. This is a fantastic story with awesome descriptors of gore, brutality, and sickening sounds. Humans fighting dinosaurs. Dinosaurs fighting dinosaurs. The carnage is real! I loved it so much that I read this in an afternoon! I think the book has a new cover now, but it’s definitely worth checking out!

[Dakota Dawe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Before I get into the book, you have to know that this story is flipping fun. It’s entertaining as hell and everything I could ever want. Extinction Peak is fast paced and exhilarating, full of killer dinosaurs, giant monsters, and firefights.

All across the US sinkholes open up and release dinosaurs of every variety, choosing mass chaos and hysteria. During the bloodshed the Dinos cause, siblings Deandra and Johnny Merriweather make their way towards a wealthy senator’s home to steal his cache of money so they can be rich when the world goes back to normal. Unfortunately for them, the senator has also survived the catastrophe and has already grabbed the world by the balls and made himself a sort of post-apocalyptic king.

Mangum has created the best thing to happen to dinosaurs in fiction since Michael Crichton. I cannot stress enough about how fun this book is. The action alone is worth at least a dozen rereads, but that may just be my biased towards awesome dinosaur fiction. Regardless, Lucas knows how to write a damn good book that will have you hoping for a sequel.

[Lisa Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lucas Mangum has exceeded his own mastery of horror with Extinction Peak, which is the tale of a cosmic dinosaur apocalypse and the basest side humanity. On par with classic Stephen King (yes, I said what I said), Lucas has written a story within a story, horrors within horror, the ultimate horror that is human action and reaction in times of terror set in an exquisite dinosaur ridden catastrophe.

As is his usual, Lucas has created and written vivid, complex characters who are as individual as you and I, yet they are also relatable as people (for good or ill). In all honesty, I related to some of the characters in ways I’d rather not give voice to. The characters are as engrossing as the story itself.

And the story is very engrossing. Extinction Peak is full of action, suspense, dinosaurs, and psychological horror. It is a brutal, captivating, shelf-worthy read that will make you exclaim out loud and cuss the writer for slapping you with the unexpected. Highly recommended!

[Kathleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extinction Peak isn't my usual fare for horror, but I'm glad I stepped out of my comfort zone for this one. Probably the most striking thing about this book was the femininity - a surprising number of characters were women, something I rarely see in horror, and it was very nice to experience! Women can be nurturing, hard, assholes, selfless, selfish, and broken just like the boys, and Mangum explores all of these states and more in a unique apocalypse. Gory, violent, ruthless, and hopeful. A good quick read.

[Todd Love · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jurassic Park meets Journey to the Centre of the Earth meets Mad Max meets Money Heist meets The Fog. Fun crazy ride!

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great story with Dinosaurs. It is filled with gore and action. A lot of characters for a novella. I really enjoyed this unique premise. I love Lucas Magnum's writing style.

[Reed Alexander · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd like to point out that I never finished Jurassic Park because the meat and potatoes of that book bored me to tears. I tried multiple times, but there was just something too dry, too clinical about it. Perhaps it was the wording or the plot format, but it always felt like far too long before raptors started eating people. As I've stated that I'm a hard customer to please; being severely ADHD as well as being easily bucked from my reader's trance. If either issue arises in my readings, it's likely to stop my reading altogether.

Thus, as this book opened with raptors eating people, it automatically gets a chip on its shoulder to carry with it for the rest of my reading... Brava. However, I'll still complain as I did with Jurassic Park, they should have been Deinonychus. I digress, I'm just never going to get to see my favorite dinosaur in action in someone's literature.

The general tone of this book is not unlike many b-movies I so very much love. It's silly, balls-out brutal, pokes fun at itself, hints at a deeper message but doesn't labor on it, and doesn't have time to be bogged down by details. If you call this book out on its use of Valosaraptors, it will call you a nerd, then beat you up and take your lunch money. As a matter of fact, a lot of the plot feels like 'Escape from New York" or even "Barbarella" with its depiction of society long collapsed. This made it entertaining enough that I wanted to keep reading.

I do have to complain about the main character and how she drives the initial plot. With her level of disdain for her family, now long gone, and her brother who once tried to rape her, she seems far too willing a participant. The author does an okay job of showcasing her motivations, swept away in emotional shackles of her own making, but I just don't buy the conflict. She'd too independent of thought, directly contradicting her own confusion as to why she even WANTS to cooperate with her brother. I have to say, it labors on her internal conflicts too often. It might be a necessary backdrop, but comes up enough where it can't easily coincide with her motivations. Because it's such a LARGE portion of her motivation, it makes her initial actions in the plot seem unrealistic.

I also have to question the brother's motivation as they set the whole plot in motion. Certainly, in a society that has collapsed, even a man as dumb as the bother would understand that money is now meaningless. He might be a hot-headed dullard, but he has enough sense to know what really matters under a full-scale collapse; food, bullets, medicine, certain material compounds. Shit, even creature comforts like a store of liquor, but definitely not a vault of money. His character is simultaneously presented as clever enough to be a part of a criminal organization, with matching survival instincts, and dumb enough to risk being eaten for money in a world where it's worthless. I'd sooner believed he'd go after a weapons cache, it would have made just as much sense given the setting, and it'd easily patch this inconsistency.

In any case, if "Rednecks and Amazon Women fighting dinosaurs" sounds like your kinda book, then I suggest, at the very least, giving this a chance. To be sure, it's a lot like a literary revisitation of critters and is bound to please some people, just by the very concept.

It's also fairly well written, even if a bit blue in tongue. I'm okay with simplicity, so long as the story is good. This story is both good and brutal. I'm not going to include spoilers in this review, definitely give this book a chance.

[Kelby Losack · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not only the perfect entry point into Mangum's intimidatingly eclectic ouevre, it's the perfect encapsulation of what makes Mangum stand out in the horror genre. Extinction Peak embraces the pulp and gore of its bizarre concept instead of transcending it, and that's a good thing. It's an insanely fun, wildly violent read with great, tight prose and vivid, grimy descriptions of the gnarly stuff. The pacing is on point, one of the most rhythmic of all of Mangum's books, which maybe comes from how much fun the author was having writing this. It's dark and fun, which is usually a cop-out for lesser books, which I can't emphasize enough that this is not. So well-written, so brutal and imaginative, and yes, so much fun.

[Nikolas Robinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lucas Mangum's Extinction Peak borrows heavily from themes familiar to fans of Jurassic Park/World franchise, Dino Crisis, and Land Of The Lost while painting a dizzying portrait of an apocalypse no one could have seen coming (except for those who made it happen, but that's a bit of a spoiler, so I'll leave it at that).
We're first introduced to Deandra and her brother, Johnny, as they plan to leave the basement they've been sheltering in as the world outside descends into a carnage-filled nightmare Michael Crichton wouldn't have dared explore, even in writing. Children of a deceased drug lord, neither Deandra nor Johnny are well adjusted or particularly sympathetic characters, particularly Johnny. I found myself wanting both of them to be devoured by dinosaurs almost immediately but knowing there wouldn't be much of a story to tell if that were how it played out.
As we follow those two (and other characters we encounter along the way, many of them equally flawed and broken), we see far more detail of just how terrible and dangerous the world has become as these beasts emerged, seemingly from Hell, through the sinkholes around the world. As with most monster-themed horror, we soon find that the worst monsters aren't the obvious ones, that it's other people we really need to worry about. Fueled by greed, contempt derived from old world biases, and sadistic impulses that shouldn't surprise any of us (but somehow always do), the story continues its fast-paced and character-driven journey through an increasingly unreal end to the world as we know it.
In all honesty, I would love to see Mangum explore this particular apocalypse in greater depth and detail, through the struggles of other people in other places, but this book is so detailed as to make it simple to close our eyes and imagine precisely what it might be like for others, even ourselves when the holes in the Earth begin opening up.
This book is filled with graphic violence, gruesome deaths, and subject matter that absolutely nudges it into splatterpunk territory...be warned that this is not a book for your dinosaur-loving children...unless you parent the way I would...and did.

[Michael Louis Dixon · Rating 5 out of 5]

What more can one ask for? Welcome to the Dinosaur Apocalypse! Mangum delivers another hard hitting and emotional read. Loved it!

[Ryan Pascall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dinosaurs are cool, they're majestic, beautiful and....eating my guts?

When sinkholes opened across the globe, the last thing manking expected was raptors and other dinosaurs to come pouring out from the hollow earth. But come they did and the world's military was powerless to quell the bloody massacre that occurred.

We follow Deandra and Johnny Merriweather, children of a criminal family who have their eyes set on the home of a Senator and his apparent hoard of money. suffice as to say, things do not go well and I was hot with my first big surprise less than an hour into the book and from there the story never lets up. This book really deserves a movie adaptation. With awesome action scenes, fantastically graphic horror and over-the-top characters it would really well as a horror movie.

While we currently only have the audio to keep us going, it's lucky that this is brilliantly narrated by Sean Durregar who throws his all into the large cast of characters and does a great job of giving each a distinctive personality and (regardless of race or sex) voice.

As for the ending, this blew me away and really teases at what book two may bring to the (dinner) table.

[Tammy Bulcao · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kill or be eaten!!

Well this was certainly an interesting story. I loved the whole dinosaur return as well as the “life on the run” storyline.
That said, I was surprised at all the side storylines that, IMO, didn’t really contribute to the overall story. It was like several stories combined into one without any back story. I feel like this could have been a bit longer with some more information on characters and circumstances such as, the girls in the tank, and the crazy senator etc.
We are also left wondering “what the heck?” So, I’m thinking another book in this series may be in order? Or we can just use our imagination and call it a day. Either way, although it sounds like I didn’t like this book, I actually enjoyed it quite a bit. I just needed more content I suppose.
The narration was absolutely fantastic. Sean Duregger’s performance was wonderful.
I recommend this book but the HEA is left to your interpretation lol.

Sisters Spotlight 💜

[Mandy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked up Extinction Peak with Bookstagram's TeamRedmon for a quick buddy read this November. This novella is a fast paced, dinosaur-themed, end of the world roller coaster with a strong female presence.

I felt this had promise for the first half, but too many ideas come crashing through in the latter. I had fun for a bit, but lost my interest toward the end. For that, I give this 2 stars. Extinction Peak is readable, and kind of fun, and an absolutely wild ride.

Find my full review on CharmandaReads.com!

[Chris Mccormick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lucas really brought it with this story. I've enjoyed everything I've read from him. He's a fan of a lot of things, and he showcases that love in this book.

This is the best Midnight Grindhouse movie you have never seen. This is apocalypses, instead of zombies it's dinosaurs, women in prison and more. You need to experience this story. That's for sure. Don't sleep on this one, tons of fun and worth your time.

Two Thumbs Up 5 Stars.

[H.V. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really fun apocalyptic novella featuring dinosaurs!