Pendergast

Awhile ago, must have been at around 1999, there was an excerpt from a book in Readers Digest.  My mom read it and then I did and we both thought it sounded really good.  A bit later my mom got her hands on a copy of the book, 'Thunderhead' by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child.  Let me just say I LOVE that book.  I've read it multiple times.  Their writing style just brings me into the world they are writing about.


The other day I was wandering around in the bookstore.  I went there to get this book:

I read about 'Incognito' on one of the book websites that I frequent.  It sounded very interesting and I needed something to read besides articles on Bythotrephes. I always look at the bargain books at B&N because once in a great while they will have one that I really want for a great price - and in hardcover.  I saw a book by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child and read the description on the inside cover.  The characters from 'Thunderhead' were both in it and something horrible had happened.  I had to buy it.  Unbeknownst to me this was the 9th book in the Pendergast series.  I read it and eventually realized there was much that had happened prior to this book.  In the back the authors had listed their books in order and I decided that I had to read them.

I got a copy of 'Relic' and started to read.  'Relic' is also a movie and as I read I realized it was based on this book.  Even though I knew the basic premise of the story the book was so much better than the movie.  I love Agent Pendergast.  I got my hands on the next two books and I will guiltily admit that much of Monday and Tuesday was spend reading.  I read in the lab, I read while walking, I read while eating.  If I could read in my sleep I would have.  I couldn't put them down.  I ended up staying up until 2 in the morning multiple days in a row.  I hadn't meant to get sucked into the 'Cabinet of Curiosities' but while I was waiting for my coffee to brew I read the first few pages and....I was stuck.  I'm not letting myself start #4 in the series, 'Still Life with Crows' until this weekend.  I'm interested to see if there is a return of a stock character that has popped up in all four of the Pendergast books I've read so far - there is always one arrogant s.o.b. that thinks he knows best, that everyone else is a screwup, and they always seem to get their comeuppance.  There are some similarities in the books so far, but they've managed to make me want to check the locks on my windows and doors and inspect the closet and under the bed for boogie monsters with each story. :)

I'm in the middle of two other books right now: 'Incognito' and 'The Dead Deceiver', the first a pop-science book and the second a Loon Lake mystery book.  The Pendergast series grabbed my attention so fully that I've only been back to 'Incognito' and only after I had read the first three books.  The Loon Lake series is good, but it doesn't have the intensity that I've been looking for.  I'll finish it eventually.

Now I have to make up for lost time on my thesis.  I've been making okay time, but now I want to put my foot on the gas. :)