Still Life With Crows
Agent Pendergast Series, # 4
By Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child 

     Still Life With Crows is anything but the mild-mannered book about art that its title suggests. This is, instead, a murder/thriller that will leave you thinking about the book long after you finish.

     Sleepy Medicine Creek, Kansas, was drowsing in the summer sun when its small-town peace was shattered by a brutal murder. A woman was found dead in a corn field. Her naked and mutilated body was laid out in a circle of trampled corn. Arranged around her were twenty-four crows, each skewered with an arrow, which was then planted upright in the ground.

     Who could have done the horrible crime? Medicine Creek had fewer than four hundred people. Could one of them be the killer? Since everyone knew everyone else, it didn't seem likely, but it was obvious the killer knew the area well.

     To Special Agent Pendergast it was obvious this was no ordinary killer. Few men, let alone women, had the strength to do what had been done. Pendergast also thought it obvious the killer would strike again. And, so he did. Each time the body was found arranged in a different way. Each victim died in a different way. This was not the pattern of a serial killer, but Pendergast knew it was the same person. He had to find him, and fast.

    Still Life With Crows hurls you headlong through this wildly twisting plot. Then it slams you into a brick wall of shock when the thoughts behind the strange tableaus are revealed.

     For me, the audio version, though abridged, made a good story even better. Reader Rene Auberjonois has a gift for giving each character a different voice. From the sheriff's growl to the soft, southern drawl of Pendergast, each character becomes a distinct part of the whole. Pick up a copy of Still Life With Crows and enjoy!

Reviews of other titles in this series

The Cabinet of Curiosities, #3    [audio 1 ] [audio 2 ]
Still Life With Crows, #4     [book] [audio]
Brimstone, #5    [audio 1] [audio 2] [book]
Dance of Death, #6    [book]
Book of the Dead, #7    [audio]
Wheel Of Darkness, # 8    [book] [audio]
Cemetery Dance, #9    [book] [audio]
Fever Dream, #10    [book] [audio]
Cold Vengeance, # 11 [audio]