The Preston/Child Pendergast series is just one of those threads of stories you can’t get enough of. That is, if you like elusive and complex protagonists immersed in tales that are intertwined . I was first introduced to FBI Special Agent Aloysius Pendergast in ‘Relic’ , back in (good lord), 1995 and was immediately hooked….eleven books later, details regarding his eccentric(to say the least), personal and family history continue to be excruciatingly metered out by the authors…a good way to keep you wanting more– never mind that inquiring minds want to KNOW! Despite his profile (listed on Wikipedia), you still aren’t sure there isn’t some little morsel waiting in the wings of a future story that will shock you…Pendergast does have that way about him!
The latest yarn, Cold Vengeance gives us insight into prior events involving his wife’s murder which now fires Pendergast’s desire for revenge(and no one pursues this task better or more intensely). And then there is the small issue of shock(some would call it betrayal) when widower Pendergast discovers ‘Helen’ had secrets of her own, unknown to him while they were married! The plot thickens.
Could it be that my fondness for this particular story is that it opens on the Scottish moors in the proverbial mists (where I’m headed in a few weeks, by the way?), or just that I’m hopelessly hooked? Who cares?
If you love to read stories that will keep you guessing, with characters who will keep you guessing wrapped in page-turning high tension set in exotic and familiar locations, these are stories for you! The authors tell you that while the initial books, Relic, Reliquary, The Cabinet of Curiosities, Still Life With Crows and The Wheel of Darkness don’t necessarily have to be read in succession, the following trilogy, Brimstone, Dance of the Dead and The Book of the Dead, introducing Pendergast’s ‘interesting’ brother, Diogenes, is probably best read in sequence.
Fever Dream and now Cold Vengeance take us into the realm of Helen’s murder and Pendergast’s hunt for revenge that leaves him presumed dead…I can’t wait for the next one!
Photography©Gaye F. Mack, Inc.