Copyright 2010 by Splendide Mendax Inc and Preston Child. Published by Grand Central Publishing.
This is #10 in the series of mysteries featuring Aloysius Pendergast, effete FBI special agent extraordinaire. It is only the second Pendergast mystery that I have read and that first one for me was #14 in the series, so some of the references that made little sense to me in that book came into focus a bit more while reading this one. In a series like this, with some continuity between books, it is probably best to start at the beginning. I may go back and do that.
Pendergast is an interesting if somewhat unbelievable character. Preston and Child want us to believe that an active FBI agent could investigate cases while driving a Rolls Royce. And that he is perfectly free to investigate cases on his own, as in this volume, without an extended leave from the FBI. Or that he can use “unconventional” methods, like destroying a bar by exploding a propane tank, without encountering some serious official blowback.
I try to be tolerant of all of this nonsense because I do, after all, enjoy the writings of Clive Cussler, a guy who pens the most ridiculous plots this side of sci-fi. Cussler’s main guy, Dirk Pitt, is similar to Pendergast in that he is capable of superhuman feats. You can’t enjoy a Cussler story without checking your disbelief at the door.
So why do I have difficulty giving the Pendergast character a similar pass? I think it is because with Cussler/Pitt the plots are so over-the-top and Cussler is so clearly pulling my leg that I feel that I am just along for the ride. With Preston and Child I don’t get the same sense of a shared joke. They want me to take Pendergast seriously. I have a very hard time doing that.
So, beyond my problem with the believability of the character, what do we have here? An intricate plot spanning over 12 years, starting with the death of Pendergast’s wife in the mouth of a lion. Yes, she was attacked by a lion while they were on safari. Pendergast found only her disembodied hand, with its distinctive ring still intact.
Twelve years later he happens to look at the gun she was using when she was killed and finds evidence that she had been shooting blanks. He realizes that rather than a tragic accident, her death was murder by lion. The rest of the book is a non-stop chase to find the murderer. It is fun, if unbelievable.
The endgame takes place in a swamp where he and a colleague are first attacked by a group of murderous local yahoos, bitten by an alligator, shot and nearly set on fire. But despite being outnumbered and outgunned, they prevail and find the murderer. Or one of two murderers. The other, at the end of the book, remains alive and undiscovered.
I can guess the plot for the Pendergast #11 book.
Another plot complaint: throughout the book there is a major subplot involving a young woman – Pendergast’s ward – who is arrested for infanticide. I was curious, as the plot unfolded, how this plot line was going to tie in to the death by lion and the battle in the swamp. Answer: it doesn’t. Apparently this was all one big “coming attractions” subplot for #11.
So despite being entertained by the main plot and the superhuman exploits of Pendergast, I found myself annoyed at being manipulated by Preston and Child.
6.5 out of 10.