2014;
520 pages. New Author? : No, and no. Book 14 (out of 17)
in the Agent Pendergast series.
Genre : Thriller; Murder-Mystery.
Overall Rating : 8½*/10.
Someone has delivered a message to FBI Special
Agent Aloysius Pendergast. It's kinda like a Halloween prank; They rang his doorbell, then ran away before he answered the door.
But instead a burning sack of poop, they left the body
of Alban, Pendergast’s most lethal enemy, trussed up, and oh, so dead.
Yet this is a bittersweet occurrence, because Alban also happens to be one of
Aloysius’s sons. And although they
are estranged – Alban has promised to kill his dad - the fact remains: this is, or was, his
flesh and blood. There’s no doubt that
the message has been delivered, and in a most unmistakably stunning manner. But there’s just one problem.
Special Agent Aloysius Pendergast has no idea what the message is.
What’s To Like...
Blue Labyrinth is the 14th book in
Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child’s immensely popular “Agent Pendergast” series, and definitely a
step up from the previous book in the series, White
Fire, reviewed here.
Aloysius Pendergast is back in the spotlight, and two of my favorite
supporting characters – Constance Greene and Margo Green - replace Corrie
Swanson as the female leads. Detective Vincent D’Agosta returns as a major player too, and that’s a plus. Also back is the New York Museum of Natural
History, which was the setting for Book 1 in this series, Relic, reviewed here, and was how I first
got hooked on this series.
The
book is mostly set in New York City, with a couple of side trips to the
California desert, upstate New York, Brazil, and Switzerland.
There are three murders to investigate: a.) Pendergast’s son, b.) a technician
at the Natural History Museum, and c.) the wife of a doctor from way back in the
1890’s. They seem unrelated, but if you're a veteran reader of this series, you know that three threads are intertwined, and will inevitably merge down the line.
As
usual, the action starts immediately (Alban’s body appears on page 5), and the pacing is lightning-fast. At long last, a lot more about the dark, dirty secrets of
the Pendergast family tree are revealed, and about the enigmatic Constance Greene as well. We are introduced to one of Aloysius’s forefathers, Hezekiah
Pendergast, and he's quite the character.
There
are a lot of references to earlier books in the series, including my favorite baddie, Diogenes, although if this is
your first Agent Pendergast book, you won’t be lost. I enjoyed learning some more phrases in French and Portuguese, the
latter of which included, if I'm not mistaken, a couple handy cuss phrases. I loved the quote from Aldous
Huxley’s Brave New World, as well as the nod
to Caravaggio, who’s probably my favorite painter this side of Salvador
Dali. I had my doubts about the
uber-powerful “Triflic Acid”, which figures into the storyline, but Wikipedia
confirmed its existence. I’m embarrassed
to say that as a chemist, I’d never heard of it.
As
always, there's a lot of violence and a fair amount of cussing in the
book. Blue Labyrinth is a standalone novel, despite being part of a
series. The chapters are Pattersonian in
length, 78 of them covering 520 pages. All
the main threads are resolved, and I look forward to learning even more about
the many skeletons in Aloysius’s closet.
Kewlest New Word ...
Diener (n.)
: a morgue worker responsible for handling, moving, and cleaning a corpse.
Others : Wicking
(a verb).
Excerpts...
“I’ve decided I
want that ticket, Goodman Lickspittle. I
am going to contest that ticket, in
court. And if I’m not mistaken, that
means you will have to appear in court, as well. And at such a time I will take the greatest
pleasure in pointing out to the judge, the lawyers, and everyone else assembled
what a disgraceful shadow of a man you are.
A shadow? Perhaps I exaggerate. A shadow, at least, can prove to be tall –
tall indeed. But you, you’re a
homunculus, a dried neat’s tongue, a carbuncle on the posterior of humanity.” (pg. 289)
“I’ve … been
having a nightmare. It seems never to
end.”
His voice was dry
and light, like a faint breeze over dead leaves, and she had to lean in closer
to catch the words.
“You were quoting
the libretto of Don Giovanni,” she
said.
“Yes. I … fancied myself at the Commendatore.”
“Dreaming of
Mozart doesn’t sound like a nightmare to me.”
I …” The mouth worked silently for a moment before
continuing. “I dislike opera.” (pg. 301)
“You just put your boot so far up his ass, he’ll have to eat his
dinner with a shoehorn.” (pg.
78)
The
quibbles are minor. One thing that
hasn’t returned for a long time is the “is it natural or supernatural?” mysteries
that made the early books in the series so captivating. Of course, there’s still the matter of
Constance Greene seemingly recalling her life in the 1800’s while not looking a day over
25 years old, and I can’t see that not having a this-worldly cause.
The ending, while certainly action-packed and
filled with tension, felt over-the-top to me.
I like unexpected turns as much as the next reader, but really now, a
pair of civilians taking out a whole squad of highly-trained mercenary goons? Good help is apparently hard to find these
days, especially “bad good help”.
It was too easy to figure out who would live and who would die, even among the minor characters. If you're rotten
to the core, don’t like Aloysius or Vinnie or Margo, or are just plain naturally obnoxious, you’re unlikely to be breathing by the end of the
book.
Finally, and sinking even deeper into the depths of
nitpicking, I have no idea what the book’s title refers to. I don’t recall any labyrinth, blue or otherwise.
8½ Stars. Pay no attention to my quibbles. Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child are a
top-notch writing team, and my expectations for their Agent Pendergast books
are sky high. I found Blue
Labyrinth to be a page-turner, and the next book in the series, Crimson Shore, is already loaded and waiting on my Kindle.
No comments:
Post a Comment