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Loading... The Cabinet of Curiosities (2002)by Douglas Preston, Lincoln Child
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. (2002)Pretty good thriller with some sci-fi & horror elements thrown in. In seven bestselling novels (from Relic to The Ice Limit), Preston and Child have delivered a body of science-based thrillers that for high excitement and robust scientific imaginings rival those of Michael Crichton. Their eighth outing is another richly entertaining tale, about the hunt for a seemingly immortal serial killer at work in New York City. Preston and Child revive characters and settings from earlier novels, often a red flag that authorial imagination is tiring; but in this case, all comes together with zing. There's FBI Special Agent Pendergast (from Relic), pale, refined and possessed of a Holmes-like brain; dogged New York Times reporter William Smithback Jr. and his fiery erstwhile girlfriend, Nora Kelly of the New York (read American, where Preston used to work) Museum of Natural History (both characters from Thunderhead with the museum the setting for Relic). The action begins when groundbreaking for an apartment tower in downtown Manhattan reveals a charnel house of murder victims from the late 19th century. Enter Pendergast, who for unexplained reasons taps Kelly to study the remains before the site is stripped by the building's developer, a Donald Trump-type who, with the mayor's backing, will accept no construction delays. As Kelly calls on Smithback for investigative help, the city is struck by killings that duplicate the earlier murders, with the victims' spinal cords ripped away and clues pointing to a 19th-century scientist who sought the secret of immortality. Featuring fabulous locales, colorful characters, pointed riffs on city and museum politics, cool forensic and paleontological speculation and several gripping set pieces including an extended white-knuckle climax, this a great beach novel, at times gruesome, always fun: Preston-Child at the top of their game. (Publishers Weekly) Even if this book was terrible, the subject matter was so interesting to me, that it still would have gotten an okay rating. Thing is, the book wasn't terrible, it was a pretty good book also. Agent Pendergast was an interesting character, a little too secretive to join my pantheon of favorite literary characters (John Corey, et al), but enough that I bought more of the Pendergast series to read more about him. My caveat here is that this book is the third in the series, so maybe we learned more about Pendergast in the first two books, or maybe not, I'll let you know after I read the first two. Anyway, in regards to this book, great plot, interesting subject matter, like I said, keeps you guessing about the identity of the "bad guy" til the end. A thoroughly well done book, if you ask me. no reviews | add a review
In an ancient tunnel underneath New York City a charnel house is discovered. Inside are thirty-six bodies all murdered and mutilated more than a century ago. While FBI agent Pendergast investigates the old crimes, identical killings start to terrorize the city. The nightmare has begun. Again. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.54Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1945-1999LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
Is this you?Become a LibraryThing Author. Hachette Book Group3 editions of this book were published by Hachette Book Group. Editions: 0446611239, 0446530220, 1600242138 |
I liked Relic quite a bit, it was different and Preston’s “insider” details on the museum added
To the atmosphere. ( highly recommend his non-fiction book, dinosaurs in the attic.)
There is an ingenious serial killer, an archeologist , a cop, an FBI agent and a reporter… what more could you ask for?
Unfortunately for me, it just felt a bit like they were trying too hard… one passenger pigeon won’t do, they throw a wholE flock at you…
Literally, at one point, and, for me, metaphorically,throughout the book
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