Tag: Douglas Preston

Dance of Death – Preston & Child

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Dance of Death – Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child

Book 6 of Pendergast Series Books 2 of Diogenes

 

So I am not sick that often so when I am I really hate it!! The last two days have been spent nursing a bad cold. Yesterday I flt like I had been run over by a Mack Truck, Today I was better and the damage was done  by a pesky little Mini-Cooper which I believe just keeps circling the block and running me over just about the time that I think that I have this thing knocked!!

The only good thing about yesterday was that I finished Book 21 of 2015 Dance of Death by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. Dance of Death is Book # 6 of t  the Aloysius Pendergast series and the second book to feature his twisted  sibling Diogenes. Dance of Death, along with The Book of Death and Cemetery Dance. I thought were the books in the trilogy that features Diogenes Pendergrast. Aloysus’ evil sibling.. Not!! In actuality, while Dance of Death is Book 6 and The Book of Death is Book 7, Cemetery Dance is Book 9!!

About Dance of Death

It didn’t take long  while I was reading Dance of Death to realize that it was the second book in the sub-series, but by the time I did figure it out, I was engrossed enough in the book that I just kept reading!! Actually Book 5 of the Pendergast series and Book 1 of the Diogenes series, Brimstone is also on my TBR pile. Needless to say it is one of the books that I plan to read in May. In fact I am already on page 74!! Dance of Death is only the third book in the Pendergast series that began with Relic which is the first Preston & Child book that I have read. I read it back in 1997 ,when it was only two years old!!  The last one I read was Still Life with Crows (Book 4). Both books were great!

Other Books I’ve read By Preston and Child

But while I have not kept up with the Pendergast series, through the years, I have read other works by these authors. One of the books is Book 1 of the Gideon Crew series Gideon’s Sword, which they co-authored. The other three books that I read were all from Douglas Preston two novels Mount Dragon and The Codex and one nonfiction work The Monster Florence which chronicles Preston’s real life adventures with a serial killer in Italy, which even resulted in his arrest!! (Note to self- there are no Lincoln Child books on your Goodreads bookshelf, get cracking!)

The inside flap of Dance of Death describes the book perfectly

Two Brothers,
One a top FBI agent,
the other a brilliant,
twisted criminal

An  undying hatred
between them,

Now, a perfect crime.

And the
ultimate challenge:
stop me if you can….

Bottom line:

Dance of Death is certainly a four star plus book (out of five)  for me. Aloysius Pendergast is certainly one of the most original and well-drawn characters in the mystery genre! Why I have let these books sit on my TBR pile for so long is beyond me!! I think I say that every time I read one of these books! Let’s see there are 14 books in the series. I have read 3 of the books that leaves 11 unread. At the rate of one book a month, I should be almost a year catching up on the series!, at which time, I’m sure there will be a new book or two!

Links for Further Explorations of Preston & Child

The Official Website of Preston & Child
Facebook
Amazon: Preston & Child<
Amazon: Lincoln Child
Goodreads: Douglas Preston 

Book 16 – Gideon’s Sword – Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

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Book 16 is the latest book from the writing team of Douglas Preston and Lee Child Gideon’s Sword.The book is the first book in a proposed series featuring Gideon Crew. I go back a long way with Preston and Child to the first book in the Pendergrast series Relic published in 1995! Unfortunately, I only read the first book and parts of the second Reliquary. That series is now up to book ten and I have several on my Mount to Be Read pile! Anyway rather than go back and catch up I thought I move forward with the new series! At twelve years old Gideon sees his father killed in a hostage stand-off involving his work for the government. On her death bed his mother his mother reveals that his father was a scapegoat concerning a failed project that left twenty six CIA agent s dead! Gideon sets out to clear his father’s name and does that rather quickly in the book. After revenging his father’s death Gideon returns to his favorite fishing hole and thinks he will just resume his normal life. Soon he is contacted by a subcontractor for the Department of Homeland security and offered an assignment to steal the plans for a new weapon from a Chinese scientist who is entering the country. This plunges Gideon into a whole new world, but he may have the talents for it because along the way the reader discovers that he is a master of disguises and a former Art Museum thief. The action is fast paced with several twists and turns. I enjoyed the read but in places found some events very implausible, but sometimes that in these types of books, so you just suspend belief and go along for the ride. The ride is pretty damn good so check it out! I enjoyed the character of Gideon Crew and along the way I learned a few things particularly about the Falun Gong and the Potter’s Field at Hart Island in Long Island Sound. So again check it out as for me I guess I need to go back and read some of those Pendergrast books!

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Book 32 – The Codex

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So last night I didn’t do whole lot of music listening rather I was caught up in the jungles of southern Honduras finishing Douglas Preston’s latest solo book (Preston being one-half of the writing team of Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child) The Codex. Some once asked why read fiction well aside from being exciting and mysterious it also takes me places I’ll never go and then sometimes teaches me about the culture.  This book takes you to the jungles of Honduras and a lost Mayan city.

The story revolves around the family of Max Broadbent, an Indiana Jones type Tomb raider whose life has been spent collecting rare artifacts legally and illegally. The story opens when his three sons, Phillip a professor at an east coast college, Tom a veterinarian in Utah and Vernon, a hippie living in a commune in California with “The Teacher” are called to their family home.  When the sons arrive they find the house a shambles and all the artifacts gone having been packed up and taken somewhere. They find a tape from their father which opens with “Greeting from the Dead” and tells them that he has taken his stuff and had himself buried somewhere in the world with their inheritance and because he really thinks they are failures and never worked for anything, if they want the inheritance they have to find it. One of his treasures is a Mayan Codex containing thousands of pages listing all the medicinal uses of the jungle plants. Soon others are interested in The Codex because of the money making potential and historic significance. The rest of the story is the quest to find their father and maybe themselves in the process! The action and suspense on the quest are good and I liked the characters. I read this morning that Tom Broadbent had appeared in Tyrannosaur Canyon Preston’s previous solo novel and that he has future plans for the character.

All in all it was a good read and maybe will make me read some of the other Preston and Child books that are on my Mount to Be Read!

The Codex – Douglas Preston

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The Codex - Douglas Preston

So last night I didn’t do whole lot of music listening rather I was caught up in the jungles of southern Honduras finishing Douglas Preston’s latest solo book (Preston being one-half of the writing team of Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child) The Codex.

Some once asked why read fiction well aside from being exciting and mysterious it also takes me places I’ll never go and then sometimes teaches me about the culture.  This book takes you to the jungles of Honduras and a lost Mayan city.

The Story

The story revolves around the family of Max Broadbent, an Indiana Jones type Tomb raider whose life has been spent collecting rare artifacts legally and illegally.

The story opens when his three sons, Phillip a professor at an east coast college, Tom a veterinarian in Utah and Vernon, a hippie living in a commune in California with “The Teacher” are called to their family home.  When the sons arrive they find the house a shambles and all the artifacts gone having been packed up and taken somewhere.

They find a tape from their father which opens with “Greeting from the Dead” and tells them that he has taken his stuff and had himself buried somewhere in the world with their inheritance and because he really thinks they are failures and never worked for anything, if they want the inheritance they have to find it.

One of his treasures is a Mayan Codex containing thousands of pages listing all the medicinal uses of the jungle plants. Soon others are interested in The Codex because of the money making potential and historic significance. The rest of the story is the quest to find their father and maybe themselves in the process!

My Thoughts

The action and suspense on the quest are good and I liked the characters. I read this morning that Tom Broadbent had appeared in Tyrannosaur Canyon Preston’s previous solo novel and that he has future plans for the character.

All in all it was a good read and maybe will make me read some of the other Preston and Child books that are on my Mount to Be Read!

Douglas Preston

Links

Author’s Website
Facebook
Instagram
Goodreads
Amazon

About Douglas Preston

Douglas Jerome Preston (born May 31, 1956) is an American journalist and author. Although he is best known for his thrillers in collaboration with Lincoln Child (including the Agent Pendergast series and Gideon Crew series), he has also written six solo novels, including the Wyman Ford series and a novel entitled Jennie, which was made into a movie by Disney. He has authored a half-dozen nonfiction books on science and exploration and writes occasionally for The New Yorker, Smithsonian, and other magazines. Wikipedia