Fever Dream

Anyone who's read my other reviews will know that I thoroughly disliked Cemetery Dance. Fever Dream absolutely delivered on all the things that made me dislike the preceding story in the series. Whereas the preceding took me 6 long plane rides to finish, I plowed through this one in a single trip. It has an interesting story line, delivers more insight into AP's background, and I really enjoyed how LH was woven into the story after Vinnie's encounter. LH's character came alive out of love for Vin, AP's drive throughout driven by the same emotion. Their working together was a pleasant surprise indeed. The CG teaser would be my only complaint... interesting but added nothing although I'm interested in seeing where it goes. I also wish we could have gotten to know HEP a bit more--clearly had the makings of wonderful character suitable for a story line all her own. I fly again in a few days and will tackle the next in the trilogy. I seriously hope JE gets his due in a most torturous manner. The book ended with me feeling emotionally invested in AP's revenge---as well as leaving me profoundly disappointed and excited at the same time that I have to read the next book to get the satisfaction I now crave where this loathsome character is concerned! Really enjoyed it P&C! You've set the bar high for the rest of the trilogy!

Preston & Child are marvelous together. I loved Fever Dream and all the books which are part of their Pendergast series. When I first read them, I didn't realize they were a series and got out of sync. Now, I have purchased all of them and am re-reading them in order. Usually I don't read books twice, but these are still fascinating. The characters are very complex and interesting, not to mention the exciting and mysterious plots. The writing is superb without grammatical or other errors. It is truly a pleasure to read these books, and I can't wait for these writers to produce another one in the series.

Preston & Child are a must read. Their books are hard to put down, tell a great story, and leave you waiting for more. I love our FBI character, Pendergast, as this deals with his discovery that his wife had in fact not died by accident, but was murdered. This is an engrossing tale and the characters are great. I love the writing style. I HIGHLY recommend reading this series in order--and don't go by the copyright year. Characters come back in later novels and it'll get a tad confusing if you don't. Read them all.

For whatever reason I read this novel out of sequence and all through the book I had a vague feeling of having read it before. Of course, it was the next book that I had read that took up where this one left off. This book was incredible with interwoven plots and characters that were rich and complex. The swamp sequence and Pendergast's subsequent revenge were masterful. Very highly recommended but read 10 before 11.

I've always wondered about the mysterious wife, Helen. Decided to read the books in order (Fever Dream, Cold Vengeance, and Two Graves). This was a wonderful story. A bit gory, but worth mucking through the first portion. Pendergast longs to find and avenge his wife's death, which didn't happen exactly the way he thought. Traveling through his mind, his relationship with D'Agosta (which is always fun), and fighting off the dastardly villains was a joy. And there's a wonderful kicker at the end. Highly recommended!

Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child's 'Special Agent Pendergast' books have always been a geeky favorite of mine. Not every book has been in top-form but reading about the exploits of Agent Pendergast and his friends and comrades has kept me hooked. 'Fever Dream' is a strong entry in this gothic-series that answers a few questions about Pendergast's past while setting up a new story-arch for future entrys.The 'Pendergast' novels feature FBI Special Agent Aloysius Pendergast, a tall, pale-skinned detective out of New Orleans. In most of the books he's presented as an enigmatic character with a few things in common with Sherlock Holmes (his razor-sharp mind, martial-arts skills, and his ability to disguise himself). Usually he's seen from the point of view of the side characters in his stories and we once and while find out about his disturbing family history, which forms the basis of some of the later novels. In Fever Dream he's very much the central character.The plot of 'Fever Dream' centers around Agent Pendergast's investigation into the death of his wife, Helen (an element that was only touched on in the first book 'Relic'). As usual the case isn't what it seems and along with his friends Lt. D'Agosta and Captain Hayward of the NYPD, Pendergast gets caught up in a conspiracy surrounding a lost painting by naturalist John James Audubon. It's this mix of historical-fiction and modern-day adventure that has made the Pendergast novels so much fun to read and while the story takes it's time to build Preston and Child mix in a lot of suspense and action to compliment the novel. I also loved how Pendergast himself is becoming a more human character despite his cold and oddball mannerisms (we're even given some neat flashbacks into his past when his wife was still alive).While main plot of Pendergast's investigation in 'Fever Dream' had me hooked I was very disappointed with a side-story in the novel involving his ward, Constance Greene. 'Wheel of Darkness' (the last book she appeared in) was hardly my favorite of the series but I loved how it fleshed out Constance as a character. In 'Fever Dream' we're not only missing Constance's point of view, her actions are completely out of character from what we've seen in the previous books. I hope there's more to her story in the next entry but I was very disappointed with this sub-plot.While 'Fever Dream' has some issues it's overall a strong entry in this long-running series. While it stands alone quite well (despite an obvious hook for a sequel) I'm very eagerly looking forward to the next entry 'Cold Vengeance'.(if you're new to the series you'll probably want to start with one of the earlier books. It's not 100% necessary but the series is as follows: Relic, Reliquary, Cabinet of Curiosities, Still Life with Crows, Brimstone, Dance of Death, Book of the Dead, Wheel of Darkness, Cemetary Dance and Fever Dream)

If you like reading these Agent Pendergast books, then this one should not disappoint.Quite a surprise opening, as we start 12 years previous with Pendergast, before he joined the FBI, and his rarely mentioned wife on vacation in Africa. A terrible accident occurs and his wife is killed. Flick forward to the present day and we learn just why the family lawyer came to visit Pendergast at the end of Cemetery Dance. This leads to a quite remarkable "Pendergast moment", when the most trivial of observations results in the rapid deduction that his wife was actually murdered - and so with the help of ever faithful D'Agosta, the pair set out to hunt for the culprit(s) with Pendergast discovering that his wife kept a few secrets to herself... Expect lots of deaths and injuries, chases and puzzles as the mystery unfolds.Much of the story is played out within Louisiana, so we learn more about Pendergast's childhood home(s) in New Orleans and his extended family. We also advance Constance Greene's story, after she had returned to Tibet at the end of The Wheel Of Darkness.There's also a little teaser at the end, which presumably is where the next book will begin.

Thoroughly enjoyed this one, although I didn't think I would as it involved Pendergasts revenge for the murder of his wife, I thought it might be some sort of trip into his early romantic phase. However it wasn't at all like that, but instead was full of action, with a great plot, and I could hardly put it down. I have already started the next book in the series

I can never wait for a new Pendergast's novel by Lincoln & Child. This one is the first of the so-called Helen trilogy. You can read it and patiently wait for the second instalment, bearing in mind that the final one won't be out till the end of 2012! It slowly shows you the family of Agent Pendergast and tells you more about the people you have encountered in the privious stories, specially his ward, Constance Green. If you liked Relic and its sequels, you will love this one.

Preston and Child do it again, suspenseful as always

superb