Fever Dream

I was turned on to the Agent Pendergast series by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child a few years ago after I saw a really bad movie for the first book in the series called Relic.  As an avid movie buff, I am painfully aware that Hollywood will often take creative license in order to create a movie script which was true in this case.  The first two books in the series Relic and Reliquary feature a fictional South American creature that preys on the people of New York and specifically the Natural History Museum. 

I typically tend to shy away from the horror genre both in books and film, not because I fear they will produce nightmares, but because they tend to be a bit predictable.  Oooh, the girl is by herself in the woods, will she be safe?  Let's just say, I would rather spend my time on something else.  What kept me reading this series, was not the plot, but the characters.  Special Agent Aloysius Pendergast and Lt. Vincent D'Agosta reminded me of Scully and Mulder from the X-Files.  Pendergast always searching (and finding) odd cases that involved the often unexplainable.  To counter Pendergast, there is Vinnie D'Agosta who is level headed, very New York cop who has to see it to believe it, but still somehow seems to follow Pendergast into the great unknown.  Come to find out, this is not a horror series at all, but a "what if" series that lets the reader try to decide what is real and what isn't.

The newest book in the series is Fever Dream due May 11 from Grand Central publishing.  It delves into the little known marriage of Pendergast that ended in his wife's tragic death on safari 12 years before.  While visiting his family home, Pendergast makes the alarming discovery that his wife Helen did not die in an accidental death as he always believed but was murdered.  With Vinnie by his side, he begins the investigation that will ultimately uncover a larger corporate cover up.

We see a very different side to Pendergast in this newest book.  While he has always worked outside the boundaries in the previous books in the series, he takes on a more ruthless and at times, more sadistic personality that gives his character even more added dimension.  At these times, you see that he is not so different from his criminally insane family members.

If you have not read the Pendergast series, I urge you to do so.  While Relic and Reliquary are the first two books in the series, they are very different than the remainder of the series as far as content.  Also, make sure that you read the non-Pendergast books Mount Dragon, Thunderhead and Ice Limit as they deal with characters that will have a bearing in later books.  Happy reading.

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