empressbrooke
Written on May 22, 2010
I'm sure they can expect this book to stick at the top of the charts for a while, just like their previous books, but frankly I think it's the least deserving in the whole series. Yes, I even liked [b:The Wheel of Darkness|39028|The Wheel of Darkness (Pendergast, #8)|Douglas Preston|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1169235778s/39028.jpg|1383312] and [b:Cemetery Dance|2197227|Cemetery Dance (Pendergast, #9)|Douglas Preston|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255652630s/2197227.jpg|2262692] better than this one, and those two are generally regarded as less impressive than the rest of the series.
It's not terrible, mind you, and there were several things I liked about it. However, it just didn't have the same fast-paced, gripping drive that I'd come to expect. It unfolds very slowly, and it's not until very late in the game that it feels like anything is at stake. There were also many threads that were left untied, and while the Pendergast books have never been purely self-contained, I'm feeling like there are too many loose threads now. In my review of [b:Cemetery Dance|2197227|Cemetery Dance (Pendergast, #9)|Douglas Preston|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255652630s/2197227.jpg|2262692], I noted some things that I thought would be picked up in the next book, but they went completely untouched. So while I'd normally expect the Constance Greene plotline to lead somewhere, and for the big loose end regarding this story's villain to pick up again, I'm less confident now.
As far as things I did like, I thought that the mystery was interesting up to a point, and I certainly couldn't figure out where it was going. I think it hit its high point during the visit to the creepy Doane house, and I was really expecting the story to progress with more pizazz after that scene. I also liked seeing Pendergast from Laura Hayward's point of view. She's never approved of his tactics, and it was a nice change of pace to view his crazy antics from her skeptical perspective. It added some balance to Pendergast's larger-than-lifeness.
In good news, the authors slipped a note in at the end of the book announcing a new series that they'll be publishing in addition to their yearly Pendergast book. I'm pleased, because they're better writers together than they are apart, and I've felt for a while that they need to do something different to jump-start their creativity.