Verses for the Dead (Pendergast Book 18)
Verses for the Dead (Pendergast Book 18) book cover

Verses for the Dead (Pendergast Book 18)

Kindle Edition

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Price
$9.99
Publisher
Grand Central Publishing
Publication Date

Description

Preston, Child, and their well-known characters are always sheer perfection! -- "Suspense, praise for the series" Pendergast continues to be one of thrillerdom's most exciting and intriguing series leads. -- "Booklist, praise for the series" --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition. "Multifaceted and complex. Legendary. Working together, Preston and Child are masters at crafting a story that goes beyond a simple mystery or thriller ... Readers unfamiliar with Pendergast will find this novel a fantastic launch point. He's a modern-day Sherlock Holmes, and the story reads like classic literature."― Associated Press "Doug Preston and Lincoln Child's master detective A.X.L. Pendergast is every bit the modern equivalent of Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot. And his investigative skills have never been sharper than in the altogether brilliant VERSES FOR THE DEAD.... A throwback to classic crime fiction while maintaining a sharp, postmodern edge."― Providence Journal "The 18th installment in the Pendergast series by Preston and Child gives the hero a partner in the hunt for a strange killer... Pendergast is highly successful in closing cases on his own but 'was about as rogue as they came,' and suspects tend not to survive his investigations. Agent Coldmoon's secret assignment is to keep a close eye on his partner, 'a bomb waiting to go off' ... [VERSES FOR THE DEAD has] a nerve-wracking finish. Readers will love the quirky characters in this clever yarn. Pendergast and Coldmoon make an excellent pair. "― Kirkus (starred review) "This is mystery thriller writing of the highest order."― Providence Journal, on CITY OF ENDLESS NIGHT --This text refers to the hardcover edition. The thrillers of Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child "stand head and shoulders above their rivals" ( Publishers Weekly ). Preston and Child's Relic and The Cabinet of Curiosities were chosen by readers in a National Public Radio poll as being among the one hundred greatest thrillers ever written, and Relic was made into a number-one box office hit movie. They are coauthors of the famed Pendergast series and their recent novels include Fever Dream , Cold Vengeance , Two Graves , and Gideon's Corpse . In addition to his novels, Preston writes about archaeology for the New Yorker and Smithsonian magazines. Lincoln Child is a former book editor who has published five novels of his own, including the huge bestseller Deep Storm . Readers can sign up for The Pendergast File, a monthly "strangely entertaining note" from the authors, at their website, www.PrestonChild.com . The authors welcome visitors to their alarmingly active Facebook page, where they post regularly. --This text refers to the hardcover edition. Read more

Features & Highlights

  • In this #1
  • New York Times
  • bestseller, FBI Agent Pendergast reluctantly teams up with a new partner to investigate a rash of Miami Beach murders . . . only to uncover a deadly conspiracy that spans decades.
  • After an overhaul of leadership at the FBI's New York field office, A. X. L. Pendergast is abruptly forced to accept an unthinkable condition of continued employment: the famously rogue agent must now work with a partner.Pendergast and his new colleague, junior agent Coldmoon, are assigned to investigate a rash of killings in Miami Beach, where a bloodthirsty psychopath is cutting out the hearts of his victims and leaving them with cryptic handwritten letters at local gravestones. The graves are unconnected save in one bizarre way: all belong to women who committed suicide.But the seeming lack of connection between the old suicides and the new murders is soon the least of Pendergast's worries. Because as he digs deeper, he realizes the brutal new crimes may be just the tip of the iceberg: a conspiracy of death that reaches back decades.

Customer Reviews

Rating Breakdown

★★★★★
60%
(6.1K)
★★★★
25%
(2.6K)
★★★
15%
(1.5K)
★★
7%
(716)
★
-7%
(-716)

Most Helpful Reviews

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Predictable and formulaic

I have followed Agent Pendergast since his adventures in Relic. I've read almost every book that Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child have written - as partners and individually. Their capacity for originality, suspense, erudition, and playfulness kept me glued to every page... until recently.

I hate to say this, but they "jumped the shark" in The Obsidian Chamber and have now stopped putting effort into characters that deserve more. Verses for the Dead contained stock characters, a predictable serial killer plot, and a complete lack of suspense.

I would much rather they stop writing Pendergast novels until they are ready to give him back the time and effort they put into his earlier adventures. Feel free to take a break and explore other series, but please, don't put out a book with a beloved character if your heart isn't in it. Readers can tell.
199 people found this helpful
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Starts great, then goes off a cliff

I really wanted to like this, I have been eagerly waiting for a new standalone Pendergast book for a long time. It initially seemed promising, gruesome unsolved case, interesting supporting characters, especially Coldmoon and Pickett, with the promise of more to be revealed about them. But about halfway through, it's like they lost interest in the story and their characters and ran over the same old ground with Pendergast again. Coldmoon's character gets reduced to a running joke about bad coffee, and Pickett loses all focus, going from intelligent boundary-setter to another reluctant Pendergast fanboy. Plot threads are started then dropped, only to be dismissed with an after-the-fact aside. The denouement is howlingly bad, with a Hail Mary rescue that would be hard to buy in a fanfic, let alone from such seasoned authors. Then, as if to acknowledge the resolution makes no sense at all, we are treated to Pendergast giving an exposition dump to a reporter, something highly out of character for him, but not possible for any other character at that point. What on earth happened? Were they not given enough time to properly finish the book? Did their editor not bother to do their job and let them know it was going off the rails? It started out good, and set up some intriguing places to go, and then just starts falling apart about half way through. I have never before been conscious in the moment that it was 2 separate authors writing a story, but in this one, I could not help but notice the story going in completely different directions. Maybe it's time to give the series a rest for a while.
85 people found this helpful
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A miss by a favorite author and character

The 6 month anticipation of a new Pendergast adventure was a disappointment. The story seemed slow and uneventful until 75% through. At that point it looked like a new trilogy was being laid...but no..the last 25% seemed rushed (exciting but rushed) and then required a anticlimactic interview between Smithback and Pendergast to fill in the holes of the script. Mssrs. Preston and Childs were off their game.
25 people found this helpful
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Descent to the Ordinary

A series I've always enjoyed, in large part due to its quasi-mystical overtones and interesting characters; the plots, though convoluted, are always coherent. However, the old crew are largely gone along with the hint of the supernatural; this is just another serial killer procedural. The story held my attention but it was just...ordinary.
24 people found this helpful
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Boring Unimaginative Pendergast Story

I swear I don't believe Preston and Child are even writing this series anymore. The author doesn't seem to know the Pendergast character at all. He comes off as a prissy, ineffectual milksop. Not the Pendergast we have came to know and love in previous books. It began with the Obsidian Chamber which I did not finish. It was terrible. The series started to go wrong when Constance became a main character. I do not care much for the character and I feel making her the focus of several books started the downhill slide of the series.
Verses of the Dead is a bland and frankly uninteresting run of the mill cop story. There is none of the usual supernatural undertones usually present. None of the usual characters appear in this book. Instead we get Agent Coldmoon (someone was up all night thinking that one up) and a power hungry new FBI director Pickett. Neither are interesting in the least. I kept waiting for the story to begin and instead I found it was over.
This book has no spooky element, no suspense, no originality and no thrills. The authors should either go back to writing the books themselves or end the series entirely. I for one will not be purchasing another.
19 people found this helpful
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Don”t waste your time or money

This newest Pendergast book is a third rate story at best. It is a contrived story, lacking both interesting characters and any form of suspense. Pendergast would hate to see himself in such a poorly written book. However, he may have been amused by his superhero tactics in the final chapters. I am so disappointed with this book I can’t imagine ever wanting to read another by child’s and Preston. Don’t waste your time
18 people found this helpful
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Disappointing

It’s like the book was written by a different duo - absolutely disappointed. Love this series and my husband and I wait for each new installment with great anticipation. Pains me to say it. Lacked all of the complexity of the earlier work and felt totally ordinary and formulaic. Need to return to the wonderful settings and spooky storylines with which Pendergast began. Let’s have no more of this please.
13 people found this helpful
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Poor effort by Mr Preston

This book did not meet the expectations I had for a Pendergast novel. The book wasn’t exciting and the premise the book was written on can be found in numerous run of the mill detective novels. After paying $14.95 for this book, I felt cheated. I have all of the Pendergast books and found this one to be the worst of the lot.
13 people found this helpful
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A swing and a miss

Having been a fan of the Pendergast novels and having read all of them I was hoping for something more akin to the earlier stories. The majority of those were wonderfully conceived with fascinating plots and characters who were quirky, magical and mystical yet somehow believable. This book was simply a mediocre police procedural featuring Pendergast, a boring partner with whom he was forced to work, some other colorless characters and a plot so ill conceived that the last two chapters of the book were required to explain who, what and why. The story had a number of red herrings which did nothing but add bulk to what would otherwise have been a much shorter book. This would be a one star book except Agent Pendergast is just such a good character he is worth a star all by himself.
13 people found this helpful
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Disappointing

This stand alone Pendergast novel was just disappointing. The authors, as usual, do a good job starting out the book, but the last third simply disappoints. The guys who wrote Relic and Cabinet of Curiosities simply have floundered when it comes to finishing up a novel. No cliff hangers but no hints of things to come. No utilization of familiar loved characters like Proctor, Constance, DAgosta, etc. It's like Preston and Child have run out of steam (and enthusiasm) Certainly not worth the premium price they charge for their novels. Lots of better books from up and coming authors for a fraction of the price available today.
12 people found this helpful

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