The Extinction Trials

THE END… IS ONLY THE BEGINNING.

After a mysterious global event known only as “The Change,” six strangers wake up in an underground research facility. They soon learn that they’re part of the Extinction Trials—a scientific experiment to restart the human race.

But the Extinction Trials hides a very big secret.

And so does the world outside.


Welcome to The Extinction Trials, A.G. Riddle’s first new novel in two years. It’s an uplifting, standalone story about a group of people struggling against impossible odds to save their families in a world on the brink of collapse—with a surprise ending unlike anything you’ve ever read.


Selected Praise for A.G. Riddle

“...reads like a superior collaboration between Dan Brown and Michael Crichton.”
—The Guardian on Pandemic

“I finished the book fast because I just couldn’t wait...”
—WIRED GeekDad on Departure

“Riddle... keep(s) the focus on his characters... rather than the technological marvels”
—Publisher’s Weekly on Departure

“This is apocalyptic sci-fi at its best.”
—Daily Mail on The Solar War

“Well-constructed and tightly-wound as a fine Swiss watch—DEPARTURE has non-stop action, an engaging plot and, of course, wheels within wheels.”
—Diana Gabaldon, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Outlander


AN EXTENDED LOOK AT THE EXTINCTION TRIALS

Dr. Maya Young is successful, single, and completely unfulfilled. But she’s working on it. Until one morning when everything changes.

After a strenuous spin class, Maya begins coughing until blood comes up. At the hospital, she discovers that her symptoms are far more complicated than she realized. Her illness may be connected to a far-reaching global conspiracy. And she may hold the key to stopping it.

Owen Watts is a firefighter who is slowly losing his job. Not because he’s not good at it. And not because he doesn’t show up and work hard. On the contrary, he’s very good at his job—and hard working. His problem is that robots are increasingly doing the work he’s trained his whole life to do.

The robots aren’t Owen’s only problem. He has a limitation, a condition that has always held him back in life. Because of that, he’s not exactly sure what he’ll do next—when the robots take his job completely.

But one morning a call comes in that will change his life forever. With his team, Owen responds to a fire alarm at an apartment building. At first, it seems to be a false alarm. But it’s not. It’s the start of a global event known as “The Change”—a new era of human existence that will alter the future forever.

As The Change sweeps the world, Owen and Maya both end up in the hospital. With their injuries, it looks like the last stop for them. But the next time they wake up, they’re in an underground research facility along with four other strangers. The group is told very little, only that they’re part of the Extinction Trials, a scientific experiment aimed at finding a way for humanity to survive in the world after The Change.

What they don’t know is that the Extinction Trials hides one very big secret—and a few small ones. And so do several of the other participants.

With time running out to save the last human survivors, Owen, Maya, and the other participants venture out into the changed world. What they find there is beyond anything they imagined. And the key to their future—and humanity’s survival—is something no one expected.