Search - The Wheel of Darkness (Pendergast, Bk 8)

Another intriguing tale from Preston & Child. Pendergast and Constance Greene reappear on a journey of self-discovery in Tibet, when they are sent upon a mission to save the world from a mysterious artifact stolen from the Buddhist monastery. Another page turner as their "case" leads them onto the world's most glamorous ocean-liner, headed for disaster.

Well, I was right - 21st century pulp. Aloysius Pendergast is back in fine form - a cross between a fine southern gentleman, one of the Holmes brothers and Doc Savage. Also known as "That albino sonofabitch." The plot revolves around a mysterious artifact stolen from a secretive Tibetan monastary that ends up on a super passenger liner Brittania making its maiden voyage across the Atlantic. We wind up with a cast of characters and suspects and things rapidly going from tense to really bad.

All, in all, not too bad. Especially for a dollar at the local friends of the library book sale.

This one was just as good as all the others, but it WAS slightly different....for one, we find that Pendergast has a weakness. In all the other books, he seemed to be made of teflon. But in WOD, we find that his defenses can be breached (but no worries). Another difference is that the bogeyman in this book doesn't have a natural explanation. In Relic, the "monster" turned out to have a scientific explanation. Perhaps not completely likely (I'm no scientist), but there was a natural reason for its existence. But in WOD, the monster seemed to me to have supernatural origins.

Whatever the case may be, I wasn't disappointed in this book, and I'm looking forward to whatever may come next!

I am a big fan of the Special Agent Pendergast books but found this book to be a bore. Gone are the insightful historical and scientific references, gone are the interesting secondary characters, gone is the suspenseful plot, and --most disappointing--gone is Pendergast being Pendergast.

I won't give away the ending but found the Golum-like obsession comically annoying. I'm hoping this volume is a temporary lapse (all series have them) and that the next book brings back Pendergast in true form.

I didn't think this was the best book of the series so far, although there were moments of character development and insight that made it worthwhile, and saved it from being just another ocean liner crossing the Atlantic saga. It was nice to see some well-rounded secondary characters, and attention to the nautical details of the story. Overall, it had the feel of a book where the authors decided to take a breather, stop, and regroup before moving on with things.

This was another fantastic Pendergast book. Love it.