• Genome

  • The Extinction Files, Book 2
  • By: A. G. Riddle
  • Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini
  • Length: 13 hrs and 1 min
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (3,221 ratings)

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Genome  By  cover art

Genome

By: A. G. Riddle
Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini
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Publisher's summary

The thrilling conclusion to The Extinction Files is finally here!

A code hidden in the human genome...will reveal the ultimate secret of human existence.

And could hold humanity's only hope of survival.

In 2003, the first human genome was sequenced. But the secrets it held were never revealed.

The truth was discovered 30 years ago, almost by accident. Dr. Paul Kraus had spent his entire career searching for what he called humanity's lost tribes - human ancestors who had gone extinct. When Kraus compared the DNA samples of the lost tribes with our own, he found a pattern of changes: a code. At the time, the technology didn't exist to unravel what it meant. To protect the secret, Kraus hid his work and disappeared. Now the technology exists to finally understand the mysterious code buried in the human genome, but finding the pieces of Kraus' research is more dangerous than anyone imagined.

Dr. Peyton Shaw and her mother have obtained part of Kraus' research - and a cryptic message that could lead to the remaining pieces. They believe his work is the key to stopping a global conspiracy - and an event that will change humanity forever.

The ultimate secret, buried in the human genome, will change our very understanding of what it means to be human. For Peyton, finding it may come at an incredible price. She must weigh the lives of strangers against those she loves: Desmond Hughes and her mother. With time running out, Peyton makes a fateful choice - one that can never be undone.

©2017 A. G. Riddle (P)2017 Audible, Inc.

What listeners say about Genome

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Exciting and interesting, but confusing and weird

Although this is a pretty exciting and interesting story, there are several problems that get in the way of interest. First, there are the myriad chapter jumps from character to character and from time to time with no clues. It is very confusing trying to figure out if a given chapter is happening now or some time in the past. And there is a LOT of past here, more than 50 years of it, and we have to keep those pasts straight for so many people. Stalingrad, Australia, Oklahoma, Germany, Spain, the North Atlantic. Now, last year, 5 years ago, 50 years ago, a billion years ago. I lost my place in the book once when my phone kept playing after I had put it down. It took me over half an hour, and a lot of relistening to figure out where I had been. THAT is a confusing story.

This has sort of mixed up genres. Sometimes that works and sometimes it doesn't. This one started out (in book 1) as a biological pandemic which then turned out to be a Lex Luther bioterrorism theme but now there's Virtual Reality and computer-controlled everything. This current volume takes it even further into VR and super computers. It's already confusing trying to figure out how their computer programs can do what they say they can, and then you have to understand how the Neanderthal cave paintings fit in (?), and then it just keeps getting weirder. Something is hidden in the human genome and it is supposed to answer the deepest questions of Man's existence. What's that question again? And where in the story, or Lin Shaw's genetic research, was this answered? Not much is answered because the question isn't clear. Most of the themes have been dealt with anyway in Star Trek in far less time and with less confusion.

It's a bit sci-fi. Our hero has hidden his memory in some computer somewhere? He has to find it to save the world.

It's a bit romance. Two women love him. Unless one just shrugs it off, there are only two ways for that to resolve, either one dies, or one has her heart broken. Take your pick.

The people cleverly change from being good guys to being bad guys or visy-versy. Who's hiding something? Who can you trust? You'll start with the eye rolling.

There are some good action scenes, but even they are confusing chronologically.

The last conversation of the story is the most confusing of all. It's supposed to be all high-brow intellectual philosophical and just ends stultifying: Let's not call the highest peak of our world by the name we use, let's be sly and use the name of the first surveyor-general of India and call it..... wait for it......Mt. Everest. Yeah, that'll obfuscate things.

Even though the story can keep you entertained, it is not satisfying because there's not a real moral, or a real conclusion. It's just kind of woo-woo, aren't we mysteriously esoteric!

Mr. Ballerini does well with all the voices except Lin Shaw's. She has to be 50-60 years old, but sounds like her daughter's sister.




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27 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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a Masterp8ece

one of the best books I've ever read. the narrator could well be the best to bring emotion and authenticity ever in a book.Get it Now

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14 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Disappointing finish

I really enjoyed the first book in this series and was hoping we wouldn’t go there with the love triangle bit—totally unnecessary to the story AND a bit of a betrayal of Des one of our main characters. To me, it simply did not fit with his character. The triangle was so obnoxious and made so little sense to me that I had a hard time finishing the last 2.5 hours of the book. I kept arguing with the story teller, reminding him that this made absolutely no sense!!

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13 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Loved it!

Great story, can be a bit hard to follow at times, but stick with it, it proves to fill the gaps nicely. Very well read, Ballerini pulls you into the story and keeps you wanting more.

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9 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Good follow up

Went a very different route from when I started at the beginning of the first book. Not at all a bad thing but it was far from what I expected. Overall it was a good follow up to the first book and it wrapped the story up nicely.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Did not disappoint!

I enjoyed the series. There could be more, but if he doesn't write another book in the extinction files, that will be ok too, it ended with enough closure.

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5 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

interesting

took me forever to figure out what was going on in book 2. but the finish was well worth it

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4 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

I Loved it! I Can't wait for the next one!

I Loved it! I Can't wait for the next one! Hopefully we won't have to wait long!

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4 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Good reed

This was worth a listen. Not quite what I was looking for, all the same a good book. I will put it on the shelf for another go around later in life. I suspect when I lission to it agency it will seem like a old friend.

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3 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Classic Sci Fi

This is a good follow up to the first installment of the Extinction Files book 1. It offers imaginative and satisfying answers to big questions like why is mankind here, what is our purpose, what is our distiny, why did the aborigines stagnate after being the most advanced people of their time by being maybe the 1st seafaring people? Another answered question is why have we not seen probes from millions of others worlds that preceded earth by billions of years. These and others provocative questions are covered while telling an excellent story with interesting character with solid prose and a unique plot. I was intertained and my mind was expanded.

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3 people found this helpful