Sentient

Extinction Horizon meets Contagion in this sequel to 2025's sci-fi thriller Symbiote, where the biological threat has escaped the South Pole and is now wreaking havoc upon Antarctica.

The survivors of the South Pole massacre will find that getting off the Antarctic continent may cost them their lives...

Months after the events of Symbiote, sunrise has come to the ice continent, bringing with it the beginning of the annual tourist season. where 1,500 summer visitors will soon call the coastal McMurdo Station home. With them are the architects of the classified CIA program that unleashed the deadly microbes, who are determined to uncover what happened with their experiment and harvest samples of the mutation to turn into a biological weapon.

However, when Ben Jacobs returns from an impossible journey to the Pole and is reunited with Penny - an asymptomatic carrier of the symbiotic microbes - all hell breaks loose. When the sea ice surrounding the station becomes a fertile breeding ground for a new and more dangerous infestation, Rajan Chariya and his friends will have to join forces with the CIA to fight the onslaught of infected "sea people" roving the streets. With tensions high and stakes even higher, the question becomes when will the group stop being useful, and start becoming targets who know too much?

Worse, there may be more than one asymptomatic carrier....

With a heart-stopping pace and twists that will leave readers breathless, Sentient is a thrilling sequel that brilliantly combines all the best horror tropes with real world scenarios.

Author: Michael Nayak
Publisher: Angry Robot
Published: 02/24/2026
Pages: 336
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.65lbs
Size: 7.60h x 5.10w x 1.10d
ISBN: 9781915998446


Review Citation(s):
Booklist 12/04/2025
Library Journal 01/01/2026 pg. 42

About the Author
Michael Nayak was born in Los Angeles and now lives in Washington, DC. By day, he is Doctor/Major Nayak, working for DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency). He is a USAF Test Pilot School graduate, Rotary National Award for Space Achievement recipient, and has 1,000+ hours of flight time in 40+ aircraft including the F-16, T-38, EA500 and BE-76. His real-world experience in the science and intelligence communities adds next-level authentic details and a touch of hyper-realism to his work.