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Brimstone
: Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child score yet again--a rivetting, edge-of-your-seat thrill ride in their usual well-thought-out, thrilling style.
Jeremy Grove, a notorious art critic, has been found dead. Murdered. Charred. Burned from the inside out, with a demonic hoof print burned into the floor, and his crucifix melted. The work of the devil? Or an even greater evil?
Special Agent Pendergast (RELIC, RELIQUARY, THE CABINET OF CURIOSITIES, and STILL LIFE WITH CORWS) has taken up the case. A famous (some would say infamous) agent of the FBI, Pendergast's methods and manners are eccentric, dignified, mysterious...and almost always successful. His interest in unique cases has often placed his life in peril, but never has he had a case such as this, where he just may be up against the Devil Himself.
Also featuring former NYPD lieutenant Vincent D'Agosta (RELIC, RELIQUARY) and now-Captian Laura Hayward (RELIQUARY), and a ton of references to former Preston/Child novels, this is a suspense thriller that will intimidate and enthrall new fans, and delight old ones. You needn't have read any other of Pendergast's adventires (or other Preston/Child novels), although I suggest you do so, because they are all entertaining. Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child write great works on their own, but when they combine their talents they give us this: a thrilling, gripping, engrossing, delectible suspense novel that combines science/technology, police procedural, and good ol' fashion suspense into a book you won't soon forget. BRIMSTONE is a must-read for thriller fans.
 I agree with the reviewer who compared this to a superhero comicbook. I read all of it but couldn't wait to be done with it so I could move on to something else. This the first book I have read by these authors, and needless to say, it will be my last.
"Behind the gates of a fabulous Hamptons estate, FBI Special Agent Pendergast comes upon the carnage of a gruesome crime: one that recalls the legendary horrors that befall those who make a Faustian pact with the devil. Surrounded by the choking stench of brimstone, the smoldering remains of art critic Jeremy Grove are found in a locked, barricaded attic next to a hoofprint singed into the floorboards. Unable to resist a case that defies all but supernatural logic, Pendergast reunites with police officers Vincent D'Agosta (Relic) and Laura Hayward (Reliquary) to search for a more earthly explanation. But their investigation soon takes them from the luxury estates of Long Island and penthouses of New York City to the crumbling, legend-shrouded castles of the Italian countryside, where thirty years ago four men conjured up something unspeakable..."
This is one hell of a scary story. Murders commited by the devil. People burnining from the inside out. A worldwird compiracy and a web of relationships and pacts that go all the way back to Florence , the noble families of Italy and a summoning of Satan.
This is by far the best book in Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child carreer and possibly the best book written in 2004.
It surpasses, by far, "The Da Vinci Code". It's better researched, has more pace and action and it scares the hell out of the reader.
Pendergast is back at his best ever along with D'Agosta (Reliq) and Hayward (Reliquary). Even these two give outstanding perfomances.
Buy this book in hardcover now! If you a "constant reader" then you will know what to expect from this two writers. If you are not, this is a great place to start.
The ending is superb and leaves the author holding his breath for their next novel.
Six or seven stars at least.
 This book is one of those works that makes me wish Amazon reviewers could award half stars. I felt it was a good 3.5 star effort and I hesitated between giving it a 3 and a 4. Eventually I decided on the lower score, as Brimstone did not fully warp up all of its plot threads, instead leaving at least one critical one to be decided in an eventual sequel. But you can consider it a "strong 3" if that helps.
I had given Still Life with Crows, the authors' preceding novel featuring enigmatic FBI Special Agent Aloysius Pendergast, a very negative review. Therefore, I think it's only fair for me to give credit where it is due. Brimstone is far more entertaining than Crows, and the Pendergast character works much better in Manhattan than he did in Kansas.
Brimstone depends in part on characters introduced in Relic and Reliquary, and on events described in the Cabinet of Curiosities. Some of the mysteries left unresolved in Cabinet are revealed here. The setting is very evocative at times of old New York, especially those scenes that take place at Pendergast's old mansion on Riverside Drive.
Pendergast is reunited with his former collaborator and sidekick Vincent D'Agosta, who has come down in the world personally and professionally since he and Pendergast last worked together. Pendergast himself has had his freewheeling maverick style reined in somewhat by his FBI superiors. Of course, he is still impossibly independent, but the reader is more than willing to suspend disbelief for the sake of enjoying his antics.
The novel's central question is a simple though very interesting one: Is the devil coming to personally claim those who belong to him? And if not, what agency is in fact responsible for the fiery deaths that a group of acquaintances begin to experience? These questions will lead Pendergast and D'Agosta across the ocean.
Some of the personal details in the novels don't ring quite true. It doesn't seem likely that the very competent D'Agosta character would have undergone so many major reversals in such a short period of time - most of them self-inflicted. And the way in which D'Agosta's renewed association with Pendergast instantly begins to reverse his fortunes smacks more of magical good luck charms than of character development.
We receive more tantalizing hints about what Pendergast and his associate Wren found in the Cabinet of Curiosities and in the old mansion on the Upper West Side. More cryptic clues about Pendergast's relatives are dropped. There does however seem to be an end to at least that aspect of the Pendergast saga in sight. Some very definite predictions are made. If the writers play fair, at least we won't be subjected to an endless success of cliffhangers.
The writing is far from flawless. At times Child and Preston act as if they are the only two people in the world who have ever read a book. For instance, they seem to think that the name Aloysius is incredibly obscure and that nobody knows how to pronounce or spell it. They borrow the character of Count Fosco from writer Wilkie Collins (The Woman in White), but then they feel the need to patronizingly explain this in an afterward, as if no one but they has ever read Collins. Worse yet, their Fosco is said to be intended to be essentially the same character, but he lacks all of the Collins creation's wonderful charm and wit. He retains only the grosser half of the original Fosco's traits allied with a kind of teenage smirkiness.
I think the authors would be better served not to write down to their supposed audience but to instead assume that if they know how to pronounce a word, or if they're familiar with a literary work, then so is their audience. After all, in those cases where this is not true, the reader in question can always fill in the gaps for himself - that's what the Internet is for!
But the bottom line is that despite the one cliffhanger, the book wraps up fairly satisfactorily and the pages keep turning. The Pendergast character is not getting off as many quietly devastating one-liners and understated insults as he did when he was fresh, but he is still capable of dominating each scene he is in. I will definitely read the eventual sequel (hopefully the conclusion to at least one Pendergast family story arc).
In their first two novels together, "Relic" and "Reliquary", authors Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child created two very memorable characters: FBI Special Agent Pendergast & NYPD Lt. Vincent D'Agosta. While the books not involving these characters have been good, "Brimstone", which reunites them for the first time since "Reliquary", is the best book they have ever written and is certainly one of the best thriller/mysteries out there today.
Easily better researched and written than the curiously popular "DaVinci Code", "Brimstone" deals with several bizzare, suppernatural seeming deaths in New York. D'Agosta is back, now an angry, torn-up Seargant working in Southampton. Pendergast, who is quickly becoming a bit of a modern day Sherlock Holmes, is attracted to the odd aspects of the killings, as he usually is, but his character and past are fleshed out in ways that will delight long time readers and I dare not spoil them. Lets just say some threads are tied up, others opened. Pendergast has evolved over the years. The stand alone novel "Still Life With Crows", while rather pedestrain by Preston/Child standards, proved Pendergast could stand by himself. Now, on a much bigger case with a larger canvas, "Brimstone" will aternate make you laugh, creep you out, or flat out terrify you. It reads as fast as anything that's come out lately, and is far smarter than your average mystery.
"Brimstone" will be a delight for all Preston/Child fans, hopefully the book that puts them firmly on the map for all time. However, even a casual reader can appreciate it's scare factor, the excellent characterization, and the respect the authors show for their readers and their protaganists. It's been exactly a year since I first picked up "The Cabinet of Curiosities" by these two, and in that time I've read all they've written. "Brimstone" sets not just a high mark for them, but all thrillers to come.
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