Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child open their 9th book featuring FBI agent Aloysius Pendergast with a huge shocker. One of their more popular recurring characters, William Smithback, a New York Times reporter, has been brutally murdered.

Smithfield and has wife Nora Kelly, an anthropologist for the Smithsonian, have been attacked in their home by a knife-wielding neighbor who was then not only seen and identified by several neighborhood witnesses, but also recorded on the building security cameras. Why would Pendergast be needed in such an open and shut case? Another recurring character, Vincent D'Agosta, is shocked to learn that the killer everyone so readily identified is actually a dead man. He had been buried 10 days earlier.

As D'Agosta and Pendergast join forces, some of Manhattan’s stranger citizens come to light in the form of an age old cult and the possible involvement of vodou. Lincoln and Childs have a wonderful way of combining their talents to produce a page turning thriller with many twists and turns along the way. Perhaps this is why they consistently stay on the bestseller lists and on the top of my list of favorites.

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]