2018; 328 pages. Book 18 (out of 22) in the “Agent Pendergast” series. New Author? : No, and No. Genres : Police Procedural; Thriller; Serial
Killers. Overall Rating: 8½/10.
It’s a brand new day for Special Agent
Aloysius Pendergast of the FBI. For
starters, he’s got a new boss, Walter Pickett, who admires Pendergast’s
“successful investigation rate” but hates his attitude towards heeding authorities and working with
others.
So it’s no surprise that
Pendergast also finds he’s been assigned to a new area: Miami, Florida. Say goodbye to the Big Apple, Aloysius. Say hello to The Sunshine State.
That means Pendergast gets to
work with a new partner, a Native American named A.B. Coldmoon. Don’t ask him what the “A.B.” stands for;
those are white man’s appellations.
Oh well, it could be
worse. Some psycho killer could start
slashing the throats of Miamians, cutting out their hearts, and leaving them on
other graves.
And also leave excerpts from
classical works of literature, aka “Verses for the Dead”.
What’s To Like...
I enjoyed the setting change for Verses For the Dead, even if it did mean meeting a
whole slew of new characters and remembering which ones were Miami PD and which
ones were Miami FBI. Agent Coldmoon is developed into a worthy assistant for the quirky Pendergast. Instead of being cast as a bumbling rookie,
he impresses Aloysius with his investigative technique and shrewd deductions.
As always, the case rapidly
becomes more complex. There are clues aplenty, but how do they fit together? Road
trips are taken, and bodies are exhumed.
Is the killer right-handed or left-handed? Are some of the deaths suicides? Why does Agent Coldmoon have a “malodorous chemical refinery” (Pendergast’s
description, not mine) smell about him?
Verses For the Dead is
both a Medical Thriller and a Police Procedural, both of which are among my favorite literary
genres. It was a treat to also learn a few phrases in Latin, Spanish, and even in Coldmoon’s native Lakota tongue, including “Atanikili” and “Philamayaye”. Thank goodness for Google.
The ending is delightfully 50-pages long,
well thought-out, and filled with twists, thrills and nail-biting fights. In other words, it’s vintage
Preston & Child. It’s also quite
complicated, and the last two of the fifty chapters involve Pendergast answering
the questions a Miami Herald reporter had, and which had puzzled me as well. Verses For the Dead is both a
standalone novel and part of a series.
Ratings…
Amazon: 4.6*/5, based on 10,948 ratings
and 1,069 reviews.
Goodreads: 4.22*/5,
based on 18,296
ratings and 1,605 reviews.
Kewlest New Word ...
Empyrean (n.) : heaven; especially the highest
part of heaven.
Others: Diener (n.); Iconoclast (n.);
Persiflage (n.).
Excerpts...
Something even louder than the music
blasted one of her eardrums; she looked over to see a skinny, goateed guy in a
post-punk outfit yelling at her.
She turned to him. “What?”
“I said, are you a parking ticket?”
he yelled back.
“Parking ticket? What are you talking about?”
“Because you’ve got fine written all
over you!” He laughed wildly, eyes
wide. (pg. 85)
“Coffee, partner?”
Another, longer pause. Then Pendergast accepted the cup; took a
small, tentative sip. “The floral
bouquet of poison sumac blooms first on the palate,” he announced. “Followed by notes of diesel oil and a long
finish of battery acid.” And he handed
the cup back.
“Exactly the way I like it,” said Coldmoon,
closing his eyes contentedly and downing the lukewarm beverage in a single
gulp. (pg. 251)
“Of all the
would-be witnesses out last night, not one mentioned seeing a blood-spattered
man carrying a hatchet and a human heart.”
(pg. 101)
The profanity level in Verses For the Dead seemed lighter-than-usual for
a Pendergast novel. I counted just 13
instances in the first 20% of the book, four of which were f-bombs. Maybe Miamians cuss less than New Yorkers.
One reviewer was disappointed
that there was no “is it natural or
supernatural” aspect to the story, which is a much-loved Preston
& Child trademark literary device.
He has a point, but at least they didn't awkwardly force it into the plotline. Similarly, some of my favorite New York
characters, such as Constance Greene, Vincent
D’Agosta, and Proctor,
only get a brief mention, but I have a feeling they’ll make a dramatic comeback in the upcoming books.
Enough of the quibbling. I’ve now read 15 books in this series,
and have been hooked on it since Book One, Relic. The mystery storylines are always unique, well
crafted, twisty, and devoid of any slow spots.
The character development is always superb, especially Agent Pendergast. The endings are always surprising and plot
threads always get tied up. Verses
For the Dead is no exception.
8½ Stars. One last thing. As with any Police Procedural, acronyms are commonplace. Here OPR and ViCAP are encountered, but their full-length meanings are given. Not so for TBI, which shows up twice, and which I couldn’t suss out on my own. It stands for Traumatic Brain Injury. Now you know.
