Relic

Three of my favourite genres---science fiction, horror, thriller---come together for this exciting beach read which kept me up way past my bedtime. Lots of dark claustrophobic spaces and just enough gore to make the monster all too real, and I appreciated the fact that the novel's main protagonist, special agent Pendergast, was not just another comic book know-it-all hero. It's a shame they made it into such a crappy movie.

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 show more 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.

"The Relic" was the first novel by Preston and Child and they use it to introduce one of the more fascinating characters I have ever encountered,, Aloysius X. L. Pendergast, a modern-day American version of Sherlock Holmes. I found the character of Pendergast to be fascinating. And the monster? Well you only need one good monster to sell a story and this book has a great one. show less

Fun. I'm not sure I'm entirely a fan of the supernatural predator sub-genre of crime, but it mostly worked quite well.

It's quite choppy jumping between a few characters with (my least favourite writing style) a few random short cut-aways to other people. Fortunately my favourite character remains the focus point, one agent Pendergast, FBI, up from the deep south following a hunch and a similar MO to New York Museum of natural history where a grand opening of Superstitions is due next week. However it's all in doubt after a body is found, and maybe there's a serial killer hiding in the deep storerooms. The police are not convinced the exhibition should go ahead. BUt the museum directors have a lot riding on it, and manage to call in show more enough favours to ensure it does so. The exhibition features many artifcats, but perhaps the stars, are some African relics from a doomed expedition that sent back only crates after many mysterious deaths.

The museum researchers and phD students of course care little about this, they just want to get on with their work. Margo is studying the evolution and change of some specific plants, under the supervision of a disabled professor (although given there's no lifts anywhere quite how he gets around all the different floors remains unexplained). As you can guess it all comes down to what was in those crates, and the author does a good job of laying red herrings before everyone works it out - on the opening night of course - and then the showdown hunt through the Museum.

Pendergast was fun enough that I'll try another and see how much more supernatural I can take. Some of the writing was distinctly clunky - characters noticing or picking up something without the reader knowing what it was. There was also a quite a lot of techno-dump exposition, which felt very dated especially regarding IT equipment. I don't know when this was set but a lot has changed since then, and the genetic understanding has changed quite a lot too!

Fun. show less

I have to put this up front, if you are not a fan of gory murders full of graphic detail in your book, or get bored with scientific theories in your fiction this may not be the book for you.

This book is the first collaborative work of Preston and Child, and also the first in the Pendergast series. Unlike most of the books in this series it cannot be read as a standalone and is followed on by Reliquary; the other two books that must be read in order in the series are Dance of Death/Book of the Dead. But I digress, I’m reviewing Relic not the entire, to date, 14 book series. I picked this up on the recommendation of a friend and, not knowing what to expect, was taken by surprise; it is the first book written by these two Authors I have show more read.

I found the characters both intriguing and infuriating at the same time, and was pleasantly surprised to see that the aforementioned Pendergast was not actually the main protagonist in this book, rather took a secondary place to another. I thought this was a great way of introducing a character that would eventually become the focus of a lengthy series, rather than having him leap out of the pages at the reader full bore and in your face. It actually is one of the reasons I will probably continue to read more in this series, he intrigued me and made me want to find out more about him. In creating the characters in this book, the Authors supplied enough details about them to allow the readers imagination to fill in the blanks or speculate as to what might follow. It is not only Pendergast that the Authors decided to just give ‘tasters’ to the character personality, they applied this to all the characters in the book and, while I found it an interesting way to lead into a series, I would have preferred to have more background on some of those characters who were probably not going to make it out of the end jacket alive, and this is the reasoning behind my 4 thumbs review.

It is a fast paced book, full of twists and turns that I really didn’t see coming. This edge of the seat action kept me turning the pages until to my surprise I had finished the book in a day. The idea of the entirety of the story line taking place in a Museum, and the suspense this brings with it makes this a book a would recommend to anyone who enjoys a book full of twists, turns and a little humour in places.


Originally reviewed on: http://catesbooknuthut.com/2015/07/13/review-relic-pendergast-1-douglas-preston-...





This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. show less

"My dear girl, there are more things in heaven and earth, as Hamlet pointed out. It isn't always for us to speculate. Sometimes we must simply observe."
-Dr. Frock
This is one scary, creepy monster story. The New York Museum of Natural History is getting ready to unveil the Superstition exhibition and with the recent killings, the staff are all on edge. The police & FBI are looking for a serial killer, but Margo (a graduate student) and Dr. Frock (her adviser) have found signs that the killer may not actually be human.

So, I have been trying to catch up on reading the ebooks that have been sitting on my kindle for months. This was one of them. I originally bought it because I read other books by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child that I show more really enjoyed. But I was so caught up in the world of Young Adult series that I forgot about some of the adult books I had.

This book had me up several nights until the wee hours of the morning. I was very anxious to see what would happen; who would live and who would die. What would D'Agosta (the hard boiled NYPD officer) and Pendergast (the composed FBI agent) do when they finally realized what was actually behind all the killings? And how were the administrators of the museum involved in this whole mess?

I was a bit disappointed by the ending. It ended too fast for me. I'm not sure how it could be done better. Maybe it couldn't. But I guess after all the suspense and build up, I was looking for a more satisfying ending. Overall, I found this book thrilling and scary and creepy. It was great.

Recommended to:
Anyone who enjoys creepy horror thrillers with monsters. show less

I was predisposed to like this book. It's set in New York City's Museum of Natural History. I'm a New York City native who lives within walking distance of the museum; it has been a favorite place since childhood--so I got a kick out of the descriptions of the museum's rooms and of the neighborhood. This one is also as much science fiction as horror. It doesn't have the mind-blowing or thought-provoking quality of the best of that genre, and I have no idea how plausible is the science in the book, but I did like that the underpinnings of the "museum beast" wasn't supernatural. The book ended with a good twist too. Don't look for depth here--the style and characters aren't anything special--I can't see this as a keeper I'd ever want to show more read again. But it was very entertaining and if you need to pass some hours on a plane or train this would make a good pick. I particularly liked the Sherlock Holmes-like Agent Pendergast who is a recurring character in other books by this author. There is a direct sequel to this book as well--Reliquary. show less

“What we have here is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.”

When I was a young horror-watching gal, I used to watch Relic. I didn’t know it was based on a book, but I enjoyed its fun monster movie gimmicks set in a conveniently too-dark museum. The past few years I’ve seen mention of these authors, and even had an unread book of theirs donning my shelves, yet I knew nothing about them. I wasn’t sure if they wrote horror, mystery, but knew I’d figure it out eventually. (edited to note – I still don’t know their genre really – horror/mystery/thriller??) Now fast forward to this year, after I bought a lot more of their books from a friend, where I was finally spurred on by a group read, where everyone was show more digging into Relic, and now here we finally are.

If you were like me and had seen the movie but not read the book, expect big differences. Murders occur at the New York Museum of Natural History before a major opening exhibit, prompting the arrival of the local detective D’Agosta. When more bodies pop up, enter the FBI agent Pendergast. It slowly becomes clear to the characters that more than a mere man is responsible for these monstrosities. Half the book is mystery trying to figure the culprit; the other half is figuring out how to best the beast and escape with their lives.

Despite being a fascinating story, the book does produce dull moments, especially in the first quarter. It keeps picking up, however, and proved to be a surprisingly quick read at 473 pages. The slightly sedate pace worked well to develop the right kind of atmosphere for a creepy tale. The close wraps up the book with a wallop ending I didn’t see coming.

I’d heard about what a great character Pendergast is – and he proved to be all that and more (except my misgivings about big game hunting stories). He takes a while to come on board, but meanwhile detective D’Agosta is an unexpected delight who steals the page-time just as hard. Margo as the main character is serviceable but nothing special.

Thanks to the characters we have humor, but thanks to the writers we have a dark book that’s hard to put down. You can almost feel the shadows closing in when reading this one. Tense scenes are riveting, I may have chewed a fingernail or two. The monster is a creepy villain who manages to stay creepy even when he’s not on scene. It’s not particularly bloody, but it’s violent when needed. Mystery is strong as I figured things out slowly along with the other characters. A good thing about intellectual mumbo-jumbo like this is I can’t fully pre-guess what’s going to happen since I can’t fully grasp it in the first place!

The ending leaves the book open for a sequel. Once you close the page you’re already ready for more. Despite some slower areas and a little academically dry dribble, this was an excellent start to a series I plan to continue. show less