Dance of Death

Dance of Death is the 6th book in the Pendergast series written by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. I’ve read the earlier books and plan to read one per month until I’m caught up by the end of next year. I think they are in my top 5 series of all-time. I cannot emphasize how much the writing draws you in, keeps you floating in suspense, and shocks you with the unexpected twists and turns. Between people coming back from the dead and others who were hiding connections, it’s marvelous.

The series is also sub-divided into smaller collections, and this is part of the Diogenes arc. Diogenes is Pendergast’s younger brother, and they do NOT get along. Diogenes was also supposedly dead for the last several decades… but he intercedes to save his brother’s life only to clarify that he saved him so that he could torture him. Talk about family drama elements. Weaving together with this storyline are the various characters who work at the library, police precinct, and newspaper… each with their own focus points and parts connected to Pendergast’s tale. I think my favorite is Vinnie, and I sometimes like Laura, even though she can be ornery and difficult – in a bad way, not like Vinnie who exhibits those qualities in a good way!

In this installment, Diogenes hunts and tracks his brother’s closest friends and colleagues. One by one, he kills them off. When Pendergast realizes the true plan, he sprints into action so that he can protect them. Some listen. Some do not. The death toll is high, and I must admit, a few hit close to home… people we’ve met in past books and some who were mentioned but hadn’t actually appeared until now. And through the writing approach, we meet them in their death scene, not realizing who they are until the very last line and reveal. A fantastic story that’s left me highly motivated to jump directly into book 7 after the holidays.

I love and own almost all of the Preston and Child books in the Pendergast series.
Just exceptional writing with a touch of the magical and scary which keeps you reading about Pendergast and his ward and wondering what’s next.

Favorite characters and authors .

Preston and Childs always deliver. The series featuring Agent Pendergast are wonderful, but you absolutely must start at the very beginning with the first book in the series “The Relic” in order to get the full effect of this wonderful series of adventures. The characters are beautifully developed and in each book of the series you learn more and more about each of the main characters. My only problem is that it takes too long for each subsequent book to come out and then you can hardly put it down until you have finished it in short order and then you
are once again waiting for the next installment to be available. Please don’t ever stop writing these fantastic stories about the adventures of Agent Pendergast.

Beginning of a trilogy, I had to read the others to see how things would shake out..and they do, leaving us knowing that there is even more to come… while not my favorite Preston and Child, I always find them engaging and entertaining