The very basic premise (without spoiling anything) is that the human race was on the brink of extinction at one point in the past and somehow, for some unexplained reason, humans made a giant leap forward in the evolutionary ladder that allowed them to not only survive, but to take control of planet Earth. Dr. Kate Warner is a researcher and an expert on human evolution. She is living in Jakarta Indonesia studying and seeking a cure for autism. One day while working on a new treatment with a pair of her autistic children, hooded soldiers move in, ransack the facility, and steal the children. Shortly thereafter, agent David Vale shows up on the scene and he and Kate are sucked into a worldwide race against time to save not only themselves and the children, but quite possibly the whole world.
This book was recommended to me by a friend. He raved about it. Told me it was a "must read". After getting through the first half of the book, I found the story to be solid, but nothing necessarily different or special. As a matter of fact, I was a bit disappointed at how similar certain aspects of the plot were to Jeremy Robinson's "Second World" and James Rollins' "Black Order". And when I say similar, I really mean exactly the same. I even called my friend to tell him that I thought the book was average in every way and was a copy of these other books. I pressed on however and fortunately at about the halfway point, Riddle starts to separate his book from the others. The plot thickens, the characters start to develop, and the plot starts to turn.
The last 25% of this book is pretty fantastic. There are twists that I never saw coming, and characters that I thought were token players that emerge near the end to change everything. After spending much of the first half of the book at a jog, Riddle flips the switch towards the end and the pacing becomes very quick, and the action and story become intense. The book ends with a refreshingly satisfying cliffhanger - just the right balance of closure versus setup for the next book.
Riddle's first novel is not perfect. The first half of the book should have been cut down some. There are places where the story drags just a little bit. I'm certain that those are minor issues that Riddle will get worked out as he continues to write. All in all, he has given himself a very solid foundation to build from, and I feel certain that his popularity will only grow after this first very solid effort.