Book Review: "Two Graves"

Before you read this review, if you haven't ever read any of Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child's books, start with "Relic" It's not necessary to start there, but the later Pendergast books refer sometimes to characters from the earlier titles, and it's well worth reading them all. They are excellent mystery/thrillers. Enjoy!!

Ah, Aloysius Pendergast is back. I missed him. In the last book he was a bit too... normal? Um... human, maybe. I adored the Pendergast of "Relic" and "Cabinet of Curiosities"-- enigmatic, mysterious; Holmesian with a Southern charm-- refined, incredibly intelligent and physically skilled... an intriguing character. But in the second "Helen" book, "Cold Vengeance", we began to see a different side of Pendergast. That continues into this book, but after a startling turn of events, and some very good Preston/Child twists, Pendergast returns to the hero we know and love. And the getting there is much better in "Two Graves" than "Cold Vengeance" implied it would be. Thank goodness.

I won't give you plot points, you can read the Goodreads summary for that, but I will say I loved this book. I read the bulk of it in one day (Christmas day-- I'm allowed to lounge in my PJs and read all day!)  It did take a while to really draw me in, but once hooked, I truly couldn't put it down. 

After my disappointment at the Preston/Child Gideon series, I was thrilled to see that they're still able to give me a satisfying Pendergast story, featuring, of course, all our favorite players: Corrie, D'Agosta, Constance and Proctor. I enjoyed the parallel sub-plots involving these old friends almost as much as Pendergast's storyline.

Good, good stuff. If you've kept up with Pendergast for this many books (12! Really!) you don't need me to tell you to read it. Go read it. It's well worth the journey through the first 2 "Helen" titles to get to "Two Graves".