Book Review--Fever Dream

Fever Dream
by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child
ISBN 978-0-446-55496-1
© 2010

Fans of Aloysius Pendergast and Vincent D'Agosta (and a host of other interesting characters) will welcome them back. Readers new to this series (don't worry, the authors do a decent job of reminding us all of the backstory whenever it's necessary, but not so much that it bogs down the action) will enjoy the story.

It turns out that the aloof and guarded FBI agent Pendergast was actually married to a vivacious and intelligent red-head, Helen Esterhazy. Unfortunately, she died several years before the series started in a tragic accident. We get to see what Agent Pendergast might have been like if he and Helen had been able to continue their happy relationship. Sadly, that was not to be and the main character of the series suffers a major, traumatic loss and now lives in a state of grief. But, several years after Helen's death he discovers that what he thought was a horrible, unlikely accident was actually murder (most foul!). It also turns out that much of what he knew about his wife was…incomplete, at best.

What follows is a tense journey through such wildly dissimilar locales as the sweltering veldt of Zimbabwe, the jungles of New York City and the swamps and bayous of Louisiana (perhaps they're not so dissimilar after all). Pendergast dragoons NYPD Detective Vinnie D'Agosta to work with him and the pair travel the globe uncovering clues but also learning of a string of seemingly unrelated deaths along the way.

We are introduced to a John James Audubon whom most of us have never met, an indifferent artist who suffered a grievous illness, recovered to become a fabulous naturalist and artist but died (in this story, rather mad) with much of his work incomplete. And, along the way, a bit of the veil, that shrouds the life of Pendergast's "ward" Constance Greene, is lifted to give us some notion of just how bizarre the life of this long-time character in the series really has been.

The writing team of Preston and Child propel the crime-solving team of Pendergast and D'Agosta and a host of other memorable characters through a fast-paced mystery with as many twists and turns as the Mississippi river that flows past Pendergast's childhood home in New Orleans. Along the way some of the terrifying science brought to us by Preston's brother Richard in the Hot Zone adds to the drama. And, of course, the tension between "traditional" detective work and Pendergast's "unique" justice-finding methodologies adds to the interest level. This is one of the better books in the series and should not be missed.