Cold Vengeance – A Book Review
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As some of you may know, I am an avid reader – at least some of the time. There are periods when I go months without reading, but in the end, I always seem to pick up a book – and then I can’t stop reading again. My most recent read is the book Cold Vengeance by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. It is the eleventh book in the Special Agent Pendergast series, and the second in the trilogy about his wife, Helen. I almost always wait for books to come out in paperback before I buy them, but the third book, Two Graves, is already out it hard cover and I may just have to break down and buy it. I need to know what happens.
All of the books by Preston and Child suck you into them, keeping you up all night to find out what happens next. But for me, there’s something really special about Pendergast, and not just his Special Agent title. He’s one of those flawed heros, who even with all of the strange and impossible things in the novel, you want to be real. And you need him not to die.
That’s part of the reason, I always wait for the Pendergast books to come out in paperback. By the time that happens, I usually know if there is another new novel on the shelf – which means they won’t kill him. And I know that someday, they will. It’s the only way a character like Pendergast can go out. He won’t drive off into the sunset in his vintage Rolls Royce Phantom, and he certainly won’t just retire to a nice tropical isle somewhere. He needs truth, and the only thing that will ever stop Pendergast from reaching that truth is death.
If you haven’t read any of the Pendergast novels, I recommend that you start at the beginning. You certainly don’t have to – I didn’t. But not starting at the beginning with the Pendergast novels is like watching the new Star Wars movies. You already know what’s going to happen after. It takes away some of the suspense and thrill of the read.
Order of Books –
- RELIC (1995)
- RELIQUARY (1997)
- Cabinet of Curiosities (2002)
- Still Life with Crows (2003)
- Brimstone – Part One of the Diogenes Trilogy (2004)
- Dance of Death – Part Two of the Diogenes Trilogy (2005)
- Book of the Dead – The thrilling conclusion of the Diogenes Trilogy (2006)
- Wheel of Darkness (2007)
- Cemetery Dance (2009)
- Fever Dream – Part One of the Helen Trilogy (2010)
- Cold Vengeance – Part Two of the Helen Trilogy (2011)
- Two Graves – Part Three of the Helen Trilogy (2012)
- White Fire (will be published 11/12/2013)
About This Book –
In the previous novel, we learned a little about Pendergast’s wife Helen and her death – which it turns out wasn’t an accident. So aren’t we surprised in this novel to learn that his wife isn’t actually dead at all. And who should tell us, but his brother-in-law, the man who was supposed to be responsible for her murder. Needless to say, they get into it, and Pendergast nearly dies, several times. The entirety of this novel is Pendergast’s attempt to get to his wife – which he might just do, if you read the book.