Perched like a black crow on a crag in the most hostile depths of the Himalayas stands a monastery. For a thousand years the monks have kept guard. Now their sanctum has been violated, the secret carried off. After a millennium of hiding from the world, the guardians of the treasure will have to turn to an outsider for help. Luckily Special Agent Aloysius Pendergast is no stranger. Having trained body and mind in Tibet, he knows the land well. But neither he nor his ward, Constance, are prepared for the truth about what the monks have been protecting. The pursuit of the stolen artefact takes Pendergast and Constance far from the snowy wastes, to where the largest-ever ocean liner is preparing for her maiden voyage. As Pendergast and Constance board, they know they are joined by a cargo of secrets and murderers. As the ship slips into the night, it becomes a deadly race to recover the secret of the monks, or blackness to threaten to fall not just over the ship, but the wider world...A stunning dance of death and mystery, THE WHEEL OF DARKNESS takes the most unusual investigator around on his most thrilling case yet...
Loved this book! To be honest, it's my first foray into Preston and Child's Pendergast. Yeah, I know. I mean, I always knew I'd love their books, but I just never had time to read them. Well after The Wheel of Darkness, I'm hooked and intend to read them all ASAP.
The story reads like a classic whodunnit in the Agathy Christie tradition. Yet the hero, Pendergast, seems to be a cross between Sherlock Holmes, James Bond, and a southern Dr. Strange. In the story, Pendergast is asked by a group of buddhist monks to track down the their that stole a very dangerous artifact from their monestary. Pendergast easily follows through, only to discover...well, let's just say this is only the beginning. This artifcat is bad news and it's currently in the wrong hands and on board a luxury Ocean Liner leaving England and on a course for New York City. Pendergast and his ward manage to secure passage on the boat and all Hell literarlly breaks loose. A serial killer is stalking the passengers of the boat. A mutiny of the crew seems almost a certainty. And a spectral nightmare is seen wandering the ship by passengers and crew. And all the while, Pendergast is diligently searching for the one who has the artifact...an artifact that could well lead to the end of the world.
Yeah, I highly recommend this book. If you haven't read it, do so as soon possible!
Reading updates
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Started reading
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8 December, 2010:
Finished reading
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8 December, 2010:
Reviewed