Free Still Life With Crows (Pendergast, #4) Chronicled By Douglas Preston Available In EPub

book in the Pendergast series, Mysterious and intriguing. I am officially addicted to Pendergast, So much so that I didn't even feel like writing this quick review and want to jump straight into Brimstone Book.
The Pendergast series has so far been highly entertaining and full of creepy and chilling suspense, It is just what I wanted for the month of October without going fullblown horror,

The character of Pendergast continues to intrigue and delight me to no end, I love how his refined eccentricity throws everyone he encounters out of their comfort zone, So learned, competent and just so strange, he exudes a certain charm which I find very alluring, He still does not many pointofview chapters, which probably adds to the whole mysterious persona, And if even the cool cityslickers in New York can be unnerved by Pendergast, just imagine what it will do to a small corn farm community in Kansas.


While not as deeply atmospheric as the scenes in New York's museums, underground tunnels and cabinet of curiosities, the cornfields of Kansas can still conjure up some spinechilling images.
The main characters in the little town of Medicine Creek are well fleshed out and are less annoying than the some of those we've met in the city that never sleeps.
Finally, we do not have that most infuriating incompetent cop cliche that was present in the last three instalments.


As for the conclusion of this book, the climactic scenes were slightly less suspenseful than the previous volumes.
Notwithstanding, the final revelation of the plot was really quite sad, but at the same time disturbing as hell and chilled me to the bone.
Again, not wholly unpredictable but it is still one great ride that is hard to put down, I love several books in the Pendergast series, But, I think Still Lif with Crows is my personal favorite, It has an interesting and engrossing plot and best of it all we are introduced to Corrie Swanson, who besides Pendergast is my favorite character in the series!

We are all Cory Swanson.
Even if weve never had it that bad I feel like its true, I want to see her again in this series, she represents hope,

The story itself was pretty damn good with a dark fairytale ending, I will certainly be continuing the series, The book that introduces one of the most annoying secondary characters of all timeCorey Swanson
Lord I dread the next several books because of her.
I love this series Pendergast is all that, but please never bring her back,

The book is a steady stream of murder and mutilation, Of course Pendergast plays his Special Agent card throughout causing much conflict with the local law enforcement, But I think what makes this particular book book so singular in the series is the last five minutes of the endingthe big reveal, the “come to Jesus” moment.
Well worth the wait! As usual high quality writing but some might feel the ending was a tad below the previous books.
One always likes to have clues to the murderer before they're revealed and some might argue there were not enough but I thought there were enough once you got to a certain point in the novel.
This tale takes us away from NYC to a hamlet sized town named Medicine Creek which is suffering from economic depression.


Things even get worse as locals are murdered in the cornfields amidst peculiar ritual practices, Pendergast is there in fine form but most of the other active characters are new yet compelling, One of the real strengths of this novel is the focus upon the sweltering heat amidst the cornfields you truly get a feel for the setting and the small town folk values as their community spins out of control.


Contrary to what others have said in their reviews I found the cave finale to be fantastic and the points of view on the various locals was awesome.


CHARACTERS/DIALOGUE: B plus SETTING: A minus to A STORY/PLOTTING: B plus WHEN READ: January to Marchrevised review JanMY GRADE: B plus to A minus.
The first time I did a combo of listening and reading a book and have to say it made it a very enjoyable experience.
The characters were well written a bit stereotypical at times, I am finding with the Pendergast books there is a VERY LONG intro into the facts and laying out of the clues to the crimes and the history of where it took place.
This is part of the charm of the writing but also a bit drawn out at times, An interesting premise when all is solved, and the last few pages are a must, Noooo don't go into the cornfield! Nooooo!

What do you get when you combine the supercilious fastidiousness and overbearing punctiliousness of Hercule Poirot the intensity, pure logic and deductive power of Sherlock Holmes the austerity, speed, focus, lightning reflexes, innate strength and eastern mysticism of Kwai Chang Caine with the wealth and desire for secretive philanthropy of Michael Anthony, The Millionaire Well, this IS a review of Still Life With Crows, so you don't get any extra points for guessing that the answer is FBI Special Agent Pendergast! But it will give you an overview of a character that I reckon to be one of the most interesting, eccentric and curious sleuths ever created in fiction!

The wheels are certainly still firmly attached to the truck with Still Life With Crows and they're in no danger of falling off yet! But the Lincoln/Child truck has certainly turned a corner, changed direction and moved out of a thriller genre more firmly based in reality into something that is perhaps better labeled as pure horror or even fantasy horror!

Pendergast makes an ex officio visit to Medicine Creek,

Kansas, to investigate a bizarre series of ritual killings that seem somehow related to the town legend of the Curse of the FortyFives the eerie story of themassacre of a group of cowboys by the Indians they were hunting who stole into camp out of nowhere and disappeared just as completely.
The tension throughout the story is palpable as the killer strikes again and again, You'll read page after page with wide eyes, breath tightly held and a crawling set of goose bumps as even a corn field is turned into a very, very nasty place to be.
But the fact is, after all is said and done, the frenzied page turning ends with the realization that the "creature" revealed to be the insane culprit is not resolved.
Preternatural speed, strength and agility, for example, are simply evoked but never really explained,

With this, the fourth Pendergast outing, Preston and Child are proving themselves to be true masters of character development.
Sheriff Dent Hazen evolves from a red neck "Boss Hawg" style comedic stereotype midwest bully into a man of true courage, compassion and strength who is clearly devastated about his failures as a father.
Corrie Swanson, a spitefulyear old rebel goth is taken under Pendergast's wing as his "assistant" and shown to be a bright, intelligent motivated young lady dealing with the demons of a miserable home life and her mother's alcoholism.
This offthewall relationship is so engagingly painted with such loving detail that we can only cross our fingers and hope desperately that we're destined to see more of Corrie Swanson in future novels.


In passing, we're also treated to some very interesting discussion on the convoluted science, emotions and politics of the relationship between big business, farmers and genetically modified crops.


Not Lincoln and Child's best, but I reckon you'll still be flipping the pages wildly through to a magnificent surprise ending in the final paragraph!

Paul Weiss

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