Introducing Special Agent Pendergast.

books:


	• Relic Douglas Preston, Lincoln Child Tor Books, 2007 - 480 pages average customer review:based on 283 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Relic has a Surprise Ending

Forgot when I bought this one, I had already read it years ago. I remembered nothing about it as I read it, however, until the surprise ending, which was indeed memorable.

Beware Beasties

We open in the Amazon with Whittlesey admiring a carved figurine of a beast and his use of an indigenous fibrous plant to pack it into a crate for shipment to New York. He accepts this artifact as proof that the Kothoga exist and that the Mbwun legend is true. Flash forward to present day New York when two errant little boys wander into a deserted stairwell and meet their bloody death. We're introduced to Lieutenant Vincent D'Agosta the first to take charge of the crime scene and soon joined by Special Agent Pendergast. Meanwhile, with only a week to go Cuthbert prepares for the Superstition Exhibit and the display of the Mbwun figurine while Margo continues to work on her dissertation. As the investigation ensues more deaths occur and museum security is tightened. We arrive at Opening Night of the Superstition Exhibit, beastie still at large. In short order a guest discovers a mutilated corpse setting off a high-heeled and lace-up-oxford stampede. When people become trapped in the exhibition it comes down to egos defining survival. D'Agosta followed by the Mayor and a group of elegantly dressed patrons descend the stairwell to the basement and hopeful escape while Wright, Rickman, and Cuthbert ascend to the 4th floor to await SWAT team extraction.
Personal Comment: First and foremost I immensely enjoyed the Museum display descriptions. It really invoked a desire to visit these institutions. Second, even though I didn't understand a tenth of it, I thoroughly enjoyed the scientific genetic extrapolation data and resultant analysis. The story depicts very well human nature as being so subjective as to be truly obtuse, imperceptive, thick-headed; dare I say stupid?
Negative/Disappointment: Coffee, the NY FBI Agent was so far out there that, for me, he really wasn't a believable character.
Noteworthy/Surprise: I liked the Pendergast character, very suave and gentlemanly. I also liked Lt. D'Agosta. Having a cop for a dad I have some reality on what makes up a policeman's character and I thought the Lieutenant was believable.
Tilly Award: Best Monster Story

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Fantastic

Doug Preston & Lincoln Child are fantastic writers.
I own and have read all of their books.
Exceptional mystery and suspense with high tech information thrown in.
I recomend all of their books.

Out-Frigging -Standing!

I felt as if I was actually in the jungle. I found myself looking into the subtleties of conversations in the book, trying to catch a glimpse of what might be happening later in the story, and I saw the movie first! I really recommend this read.

Introducing Special Agent Pendergast.

A few years ago I rented the movie THE RELIC. I found the film to be entertaining and enjoyable, but thought it would have been better if it had been written better. At the time I didn't realize the movie had been based upon a novel by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child. Not long ago I discovered this and decided to pick up the original novel and read it. Had the filmmakers stuck with some of the finer points of the novel, the movie would have been much better.

The book moves at a very fast pace and is highly engrossing. There is quite a bit of scientific jargon that sometimes slows one down (after reading THE RELIC, I did some research and learned some things I didn't know or had forgotten about biology), but I was able to read the entire novel (468 pages, 474 if you include the preview for THE RELIQUARY) in two days.

The story takes place in the New York Museum of Natural History. The Museum has seen declining numbers in recent years and is in need of new funds. The people in charge decide to open a major exhibit entitled "Superstition" to build public interest and support. Days before the exhibit opens a brutal murder is committed. The body has been mutilated in a very peculiar way that suggests the killer isn't human. Leading the police investigation is Lt. Vincent D'Agosta. D'Agosta wants to shut the museum down, but his superiors and museum officials oppose the idea. Instead things proceed as though nothing is wrong until another murder occurs. Some wish the exhibit to be closed until the killer is captured, but museum officials continue to push to allow the exhibit to open as planned. A special FBI agent from out of state, Pendergast, arrives on the scene and begins working with museum researcher Margo Green and Lt. D'Agosta in an attempt to uncover the real killer and decipher what their motive is.

As interesting as I found THE RELIC to be there are points in the novel that are quite predictable. For instance, when learning about the museum's security doors, it is obvious how they will come into play later on in the story. Nevertheless, unlike some novels that I have read, THE RELIC is written in such a way that these predictable outcomes did not detour my enjoyment in reading the story.

Some of the events of the novel might seem far fetched, but this is a work of fiction. Preston & Child are popular fiction authors, but they are known to do a great deal of research before writing their books. As unbelievable as some of the ideas and events might seem, they are nevertheless grounded in science.

THE RELIC was the first novel by Preston and Child and they use it to introduce one of the more fascinating characters of current pop fiction, Aloysius X. L. Pendergast, a modern-day American version of Sherlock Holmes. I found the character of Pendergast to be fascinating and look forward to reading more Pendergast adventures in other Preston & Child novels.

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reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, page 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16

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