Another helping of Pendergast

The Cabinet of Curiosities by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

In downtown Manhattan, a gruesome discovery has just been made-an underground charnel house containing the bones of dozens of murder victims. Research reveals that a serial killer was at work in New York's notorious Five Points neighborhood in the 1880s, bent on prolonging his lifespan by any means. When a newspaper story on the old murders appears to ignite a new series of horrifyingly similar killings, panic overtakes New York City. Now, FBI agent Pendergast, journalist Bill Smithback, and archaeologist Nora Kelly join forces to protect themselves from a vicious killer...before they become the next victims.

Rate & take

I don't think I will ever get enough of the enigmatic, agent Pendergast. Alas this may be my last foray into the series, however. I did something I should never do, I started reading reviews of future books and didn't like the picture that was forming. Seems in some books he's not present much at all and then in much later books the author's enact a really strange plot twist that I know I would not enjoy. So I end here, at book three in the series and consider it an amicable parting.

Now, about this particular read...it was a very good introduction to something I knew nothing about, Cabinets of Curiosities. Such an interesting concept with the potential for some very macabre collections, which I'm sure was the point in some cases to keep the patrons coming back for more. In the case of this book there were plenty of disturbing finds from long ago. While this book was quite the page turner, and the plot nicely rounded, I could not help to feel that some of the fullness of the first two books were absent in this one. I can't put my finger on it any better than that. This lack was also part of my decision to end here, on a high note, so I don't tarnish the memories of my time with agent Pendergast.