It's ironic how my last post was also from this series, I read this one in 2012 and now I'm up to book #11 which is Cold Vengeance ( I cannot wait to dive in) so I can safely say that Book of the Dead is incredible and one of the best in this series especially in comparison to my favorite which is Cabinet of Curiosities ( book #3) so far those two were my personal favorites.
( Pendergast book #7)
Tombs, betrayals and non stop chases I feel like all my reviews for the Pendergast series are starting to sound the same, I'm gushing as if in love about how fantastic the books are but its still true, this story is phenomenal and it makes you want to read another and another, this could easily have thirty volumes and I would still want to read them all, as usual this book reads smooth as silk while the action cuts like a knife.
The Book of The Dead is the standard great stuff that one would expect from the insightful and intelligent duo, their stories breathe a life of their own and to me they feel different than other novels. Our world is filled with books, one can find them everywhere but whenever I read a Pendergast novel I feel as if I was holding something of heft and value, there is knowledge in these pages; ancient cultures, science, architecture, folklore and mysticism, curses, artifacts and it all sounds real enough to touch and some of it is but I especially adore all the breathtaking characters both good and bad and some in-between, in my opinion they are invaluable to the books. I guess they speak to me, true love haha... Pendergast lives in my mind beyond the pages of the book, that's how great he is.
The third in the Diogenes Pendergast trilogy and seventh in the Aloysius Pendergast series ( I highly recommend starting with Relic, Pendergast#1) story continues on the wild hunt to catch and expose the elusive Diogenes who is conveniently presumed to be dead by everyone but the small circle of our heroes. The Queen of Narnia, The Heart of Eternity, The Indigo Ghost, Ultima Thule, The Fourth of July, The Zanzibar Green and of course Lucifer's Heart, all precious diamonds that were stolen in the last installment are destroyed by Diogenes and arrive pulverized into a rainbow colored snow to the museum as a final act of madness and show of power. The previous book was simply fantastic and it exposed Diogenes' identity but only to the reader, the entire museum still has no idea that not only is Diogenes alive but his secret identity is walking right under their noses. To make matters worse, Aloysius Pendergast is in a top security prison and everyone that has always been jealous of him is gunning for the guy to go down, he deals with that brilliantly, boy that was fun! Even though Aloysius is locked up he is the only one who can match up against his evil and twisted genius of a brother, their journey takes them half way through the globe and back.
My personal favorite part of the tale was the prison sequence, well pretty much all of it, I don't want to spoil anything but what happens to Pendergast in the prison is nuts. I read all the parts while holding my breath, some I had to re-read because they were simply too good to only read once. Ingenious and stunning, no deus-ex machina way out of this puppy! Lots of stuff happens, there is also the museum exhibit with a tomb that appears to be cursed, madness and mayhem breaks out as usual, lovers of museum thrillers will have a ball with the Tomb of Senef and those who love Pendergast will gobble up everything he does and says. I was finally impressed with Constance, I never really gave her much thought before but through this book she became another strong contender for future stories and my dear Vincent D'Agosta, he was wonderful as was Laura Hayward. For some reason Laura Linney ( the actress) kept popping into my head when Hayward's scenes came up, she was something, the woman can hold her own.
This was such a tremendous journey with the two brothers that I'm not sad to see it over because I'm really looking forward to the next chapter, the next book sounds quite potent and meaty and I might need a bit of a break to let my brain prepare for another greatness of Preston and Child. I don't read them back to back on purpose as much as I really want to, after all it's not good to eat dessert three times a day, same with books, I save the good stuff to be savored when I'm really in the mood for greatness.
- Kasia S.
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