Sunday 22 February 2015

Blue Labyrinth by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child

"Blue Labyrinth" by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child. This book is published by  Grand Central Publishing in 2014 and has 416 pages. This is 14th novel of Pendergast series.

FBI Special Agent Aloysius Pendergast is stoically aloof, eccentric, ineffably polite and unerringly intelligent. He is 5'6", has platinum blond hair & ice blue eyes. One night a corpse is left on his door step. The corpse of his estranged and vicious son. A technician is murdered in a museum. Pandergast is tricked and gassed.

Why was his son killed? Why was he left on Pendergast's doorstep? What is in his stomach? Is there a clue in Pandergast family history? Why is he gassed? Will he die?

Although the book is written as fiction, it appears more like a fantasy with elixir of life, rare aquatic plants, rare chemicals, super acids, extinct herbs and near death experience. Author states that Pandergast is master of a Thai art that allows a person to travel and see through minds eye, the things that happened in the past. Don't know if such an art really exists. But sounds far fetched.

Author has given detailed description of autopsy and reconstruction of bones to create skeletons. It's interesting.

It appears that Pendergast is a super hero who can do no wrong. The complete loyalty he commands is amazing. People are ready to sacrifice their career and life to save him. He has unorthodox ways of doing things. An interesting character.

Since this (14th book) was my first book of Pendergast series, I was lost on a few occasions when there was a reference to something in the past, until I caught up. If you don't start from first book, you will also face the same situation. I could not decipher till the end why the book is titled 'Blue labyrinth'? The epilogue appeared little too stretched, could have been concise.

Considering that it was an out of sequence read and that it was not very enjoyable, recommend to give it a miss.

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