The Wheel of Darkness by Douglas Preston, Lincoln Child
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Book Reviews of The Wheel of Darkness
Book Review: Pendergast Saves the Human Race
Summary: 5 Stars
Like all Preston and Child novels, The Wheel of Darkness takes the reader on an ever-escalating adventure, provides surprising twists, exhibits stellar writing skill, and elicits periodic trips to the dictionary. This book takes us on a wild ride on a new luxury liner through a North Atlantic storm as the passengers are beset with daily murders, runaway navigational technology, deranged captains, a dot.com mogul involved in mind-bending meditation, and a smoky demon-ghost. Yet the story is rooted at a remote Tibetan monastery, and serves another installment in the Pendergast series. The amazing FBI agent performs endless tasks of investigative brilliance, but needs last-minute help from a surprising source to save the liner from ruin.
The characters are vivid and memorable, the scenes (apparently) well researched, and some of the murders disgustingly gruesome. It is difficult to glean whether the authors have any viewpoint on the variety of Tibetan Buddhism they portray, or only borrow it to tell an adventure story. This is not the first book by these authors that strains credulity, but we know this was by design to create a fantasy as well as a good crime story with scientific accuracy.
Yes, it is escape literature at its best. I could divine no moral or message; no real higher purpose at all. But the book succeeds very well at what it is created to be - a fast-paced, exciting, intriguing, vivid, challenging, unique, and entertaining reading experience. Preston and Child books provide excellent examples to aspiring writers of how to tell a compelling story using a writing style that is seamless, invisible, and professional, allowing the action and suspense to command full attention.
Book Review: Outstanding!
Summary: 5 Stars
I had been eagerly anticipating this book all year, since I read the last book in the Agent Pendergast series, The Book of the Dead. Although this is obviously not a continuation of the Diogenes trilogy, there are some signs that Diogenes's evil legacy is alive and well, especially in the fragile character of Constance Greene. She keeps her secret until the very last page of the book, which leaves a very welcome opportunity for another sequel. This book is different from many in this series, as it does not take place in New York City, so many of the regular characters are missing. But, like Still Life With Crows, it remains very much connected to the overall story of Agent Pendergast and stands very well on its own. There is also a further exploration of the mind-bending meditation practices that Pendergast uses, and it becomes the central theme of this book: when you leave your mind open, what evil is allowed to enter? And once it's there, how can you conquer it?
In the "basics", this book has intriguing characters, some of whom I hope to see in future novels, and a climax that kept me riveted to each page. The setting on board the Britannia is wonderful and gives an eerie sense of how isolated the characters are. The Wheel of Darkness reads quickly (I read it in two days), which is a shame, because it's one story you wish would just go on and on. There are many surprises in store, even for readers experiencing the partnership of Preston and Child for the first time. For long-time fans, like myself, this books was a superb introduction to life after Diogenes. The only thing left to do now is wait impatiently for the next one!
Book Review: Action-packed and an oh so fun read
Summary: 5 Stars
The Wheel of Darkness is another beautifully crafted story. If you've read the Diogenes trilogy then you know that FBI Special Agent Aloysius Pendergast and his ward, Constance Green, are in sore need of a vacation, which they choose to spend at a monastery located high in the mountains of Tibet.
Close to the end of their stay, the monks approach Pendergast with a favor, to recover a precious relic that had been stolen from their inner sanctuary by a previous visitor. What follows is a suspenseful, harrowing tale as Pendergast pursues the thief halfway across the world to Venice and finally ending on the cruise liner The Brittania as she sails to New York on her maiden voyage.
Poseidon is one of my favorite movies and the panic and mayhem onboard the Brittania is reminiscent of that. There are several plotlines going on such as a mysterious force is controlling and corrupting people on the ship. That same force is also behind several murders and also the first officer has sealed off the bridge and is determined to run the ship onto the Carrion Rocks.
I think this is one of my more favorite installments of the Pendergast series. The story starts off a little slow until you get to the Brittania. After that, I couldn't put it down.
Book Review: The thrill ride continues....
Summary: 5 Stars
To my great surprise and wonder, my son was able to get me an advance copy of Preston and Child's newest book! What a treat! I had been eagerly waiting the release of the "Wheel of Darkness" since I finished The Book of the Dead. Its time for Pendergast and Constant Green to take a break so they travel to a Tibetan monastery in search of a peaceful recharge. But of course no peace awaits them as they are soon embroiled in another adventure! The abbot of the monastery asks them to try and recover a lost relic that could be used to wipe out humanity. I won't go further as I don't want to ruin the surprises. This may not have fear factor of the earlier books but there are plenty of thrills along with not to be missed subplots carried on from the earlier novels. Fans of these two great authors will be more than satisfied with this addition to the series!
Book Review: Horror on the High Seas
Summary: 5 Stars
Agent Pendergast and his sidekick, Constance, find themselves deep in a mystery that takes them from the mountains of Tibet to a dangerous rocky reef in the Atlantic ocean. They are aboard the world's largest passenger ship on its maiden voyage. While Pendergast searches for a strange object stollen from a monastery that could destroy all of mankind, the ship is plagued with horrific murders and strange personality changes in some of the crew and passengers. When Pendergast is possessed by the object he came to find, who can possibly save the ship and its 5000 passengers?
I have read all of the Pendergast novels and thought this was on of the best. It is more like the orginal stories where believable demons were all part of the fun.
Johnny's Jacket