Following on almost immediately from the Dinosaur Lake III, the rangers, armed forces, and families have holed up in the base by Crater Lake. Beset by dinosaurs of various types, knowing that there are now attacks across the country and the world, how will humanity survive?

Right upfront this book stamps its characters with a big declaration of “Anyone can die”. There is a change of tone, from monster horror to survival horror, rather like the difference between Alien and Aliens. It is good, just very different.

The characterisation, such as it is, remains largely consistent. I did get annoyed with one character, who’s wife had died, and almost immediately starts getting into a romance while insisting he isn’t. The line that he waited a long time before marrying again (and guess who he marries) in the epilogue made me laugh. I was actually disappointed that one character turned up alive after being graphically shown in a non-survivable situation. In book one, I think he’d have been munched.

It does pick up plot threads that I had thought abandoned early in the series and is very tightly plotted. Events may seem out of control but they are a logical progression to the events from earlier in the series. And (minor spoiler) Sasha and Miss Kitty Cat show up as part of the plot. I wasn’t as sure about the dinosaur POV chapters, a new device in this book compared to the earlier ones, but as the book goes on they fit in well and provide some additional information for the reader.

The only thing is that I’m not sure it works as a standar alone read. Too many of the things in it realy on Book three, Dinosaur Infestation, which happens immediately before, and it is definitely better to read that book first. As a conclusion to a series, events don’t have the same impact if you don’t already know the characters.

It’s a good ending to the series, and satisfying if not entirely conclusive (but what monster series would be without its post-credits scene?)