Yesterday, Special Agent Pendergast still mourned the loss of his beloved wife, Helen, who died in a tragic accident in Africa twelve years ago. Today, he discovers she was murdered. Tomorrow, he will learn her most guarded secrets, leaving him to wonder: Who was the woman I married? Why was she murdered? And, above all . . . Who murdered her? FEVER DREAM Revenge is not sweet: It is essential.
Fever Dream (Pendergast)
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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Preston and Child up the emotional ante considerably in their 10th thriller featuring brilliant and eccentric FBI agent Aloysius Pendergast (after Cemetery Dance), one of the best in the series. For 12 years, Pendergast has believed that the death of his wife, Helen, in the jaws of a ferocious red-maned lion in Zambia was just a tragedy, but his chance examination of the gun she carried on the fateful day reveals that someone loaded it with blanks. Pendergast drags his longtime NYPD ally, Lt. Vincent D'Agosta, into a leave of absence that includes travel to Africa as well as the American South. The motive for Helen's murder appears to be linked to her fascination with John James Audubon and her quest for a mysterious lost Audubon painting. Once again, the bestselling authors show they have few peers at creating taut scenes of suspense. Their restraint in the book's early sections make the payoffs all the more compelling. (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Review
"René Auberjonois...lends the proper air of gravitas to his performance. With the underlying story featuring zombies and the undead, it takes the sober Auberjonois to help maintain the credibility of the plot. His sincere delivery is perfect for a strange story that is more than a little creepy." (AudioFile Magazine on CEMETERY DANCE )
"[A] suspenseful tale of urban terror...this taut page-turner can only add to the authors' growing fan base." (Publishers Weekly on CEMETERY DANCE )
"Narrator As Pendergast discovers that his beloved wife kept a myriad of secrets, Auberjonois's characterization dramatizes the special agent's confusion over his wife's loyalty." (AudioFile 2010) --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.
"[A] suspenseful tale of urban terror...this taut page-turner can only add to the authors' growing fan base." (Publishers Weekly on CEMETERY DANCE )
"Narrator As Pendergast discovers that his beloved wife kept a myriad of secrets, Auberjonois's characterization dramatizes the special agent's confusion over his wife's loyalty." (AudioFile 2010) --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
213 of 223 people found the following review helpful
By S. Bhat
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
After pre-ordering the book on kindle, I read the book in one sitting. I must say that Preston-Child are showing some love back to Prendergast series after the last couple of mis-haps ( yes, wheel of darkness quite ruined the series for me ). This book gets basic elements right and tells a compelling story set in the heart of American south.
In my humble opinion, there are three sets of Pendergast series. The first three belong to the great series, namely, Relic, Reliquary and Cabinet of curiosities. The second set is the "Diogenes" series ( Brimstone, Dance of death and Book of the dead ), which are quite good reads, but could get repetitive. The third set is purely commercial breaks between solo projects of each authors ( Still life..,Wheel of darkness and recent Cemetery dance ).
This book signals the return to form for the authors. Recurring characters are kept to a minimum and story is fast paced with thriller elements. Sherlockian style is quite visible here more than any other novels. Also the books seems to leave quite loose ends of the story for continuation in another book, but is not quite unwelcome. We would love another great story by the authors.
One nagging doubt for me is if the authors are getting themselves into a corner with Pendergast. Since the last 4-5 books dealt with similar theme around Pendergast's family, the series is getting quite contrite. A change of scenery may be good. Also, the pre-climax action sequence of the book is vaguely familiar to a recent book by one of the authors and if you were reading them back to back, similarities are hard to mess ( leverage the research, is not a bad idea, but might have been too soon ! ).
In summary, Fever Dream is quite worth the wait and signals a renewed comeback for our favorite FBI agent and loyal lieutenant. Go for it !
In my humble opinion, there are three sets of Pendergast series. The first three belong to the great series, namely, Relic, Reliquary and Cabinet of curiosities. The second set is the "Diogenes" series ( Brimstone, Dance of death and Book of the dead ), which are quite good reads, but could get repetitive. The third set is purely commercial breaks between solo projects of each authors ( Still life..,Wheel of darkness and recent Cemetery dance ).
This book signals the return to form for the authors. Recurring characters are kept to a minimum and story is fast paced with thriller elements. Sherlockian style is quite visible here more than any other novels. Also the books seems to leave quite loose ends of the story for continuation in another book, but is not quite unwelcome. We would love another great story by the authors.
One nagging doubt for me is if the authors are getting themselves into a corner with Pendergast. Since the last 4-5 books dealt with similar theme around Pendergast's family, the series is getting quite contrite. A change of scenery may be good. Also, the pre-climax action sequence of the book is vaguely familiar to a recent book by one of the authors and if you were reading them back to back, similarities are hard to mess ( leverage the research, is not a bad idea, but might have been too soon ! ).
In summary, Fever Dream is quite worth the wait and signals a renewed comeback for our favorite FBI agent and loyal lieutenant. Go for it !
81 of 88 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
"Fever Dream" is the 10th suspense thriller from Preston and Child built around Special Agent Aloysius Pendergast. Trust me when I say it is a return to form for the authors and for our favorite enigmatic Holmesian sleuth. This series was great from its inception with "Relic", "Reliquary" and "Cabinet Of Curiosities" until it began to slide into complacency, supernaturalness, and predictability. Even worse was the seeming decline of Pendergast's intuitive skills compunded by his sometimes long absences from subsequent books while his NYPD ally, Lt. Vincent D'Agosta, carried much of the load.
"Fever Dream" remarkably returns all focus on Agent Pendergast, fine tunes his logical, eccentric, and brilliant crime solving talent, and makes him more human and emotional than ever before in the series. Twelve years earlier, Pendergast and his wife, Helen Esterhazy Pendergast, had been hunting in Zambia, Africa when she was tragically devoured by a ferocious man-eating lion. A chance discovery 12 years later leads Pendergast to the certainty that his wife was murdered by an elaborately staged accident.
He enlists the aid of his old friend, Lt. Vinnie D'Agosta, to assist him in following the cold trail in an effort to find Helen's murderers. Of course, this time the investigation is personal and Pendergast reveals his emotional side as he fights to control his anger and his baser instincts for abject vengeance. He is also forced to rely more on his allies for assistance and perspective because some of his cool resolve has, understandably, melted. Captain Hayward, D'Agosta's love, also joins the hunt as the level of violence and suspense ratchets up several notches.
Pendergast has to reexamine all that he knew--and did not know---about his wife in order to make headway. He discovers so many mysteries and dead ends that cause him to reevaluate his whole experience with Helen. Who was she really? What was her fascination with John James Audubon and his missing masterpiece, The Black Frame? How was she able to hide her secretive life from him while they were married? Who from his past can he trust?
Despite some worldwide travel, most of the action occurs in the deep South where Preston and Child create a believable, right-on scene of distrusting rednecks and duplicitous white collars. The taciturn Pendergast employs his brilliant problem solving skills to great effect as he continues to see clues where others see nothing. He is much more emotional, edgy, and violent than usual which adds to the intrigue of this fine character. If you enjoyed the Pendergast of old and have become somewhat jaded by the recent Pendergast efforts, do yourself a favor and grab this one and rediscover the magnetism of this wonderfully developed character.
My only quibble regards the reappearance of Constance Greene, Pendergast's ward, who again is a distraction from the main storyline. The Constance Greene storyline has become laborious and distracting over time, yet I assume that there will be a major payoff in some future novel to compensate us for her whiny, unstable, distraction. Despite that minor concern, this is a great addition to the Pendergast legacy. He is "on-screen" almost the whole book, we see his fantastic talents in great detail, yet we also see a more vulnerable, human side to the character we grew to love so long ago. A highly recommended read.
"Fever Dream" remarkably returns all focus on Agent Pendergast, fine tunes his logical, eccentric, and brilliant crime solving talent, and makes him more human and emotional than ever before in the series. Twelve years earlier, Pendergast and his wife, Helen Esterhazy Pendergast, had been hunting in Zambia, Africa when she was tragically devoured by a ferocious man-eating lion. A chance discovery 12 years later leads Pendergast to the certainty that his wife was murdered by an elaborately staged accident.
He enlists the aid of his old friend, Lt. Vinnie D'Agosta, to assist him in following the cold trail in an effort to find Helen's murderers. Of course, this time the investigation is personal and Pendergast reveals his emotional side as he fights to control his anger and his baser instincts for abject vengeance. He is also forced to rely more on his allies for assistance and perspective because some of his cool resolve has, understandably, melted. Captain Hayward, D'Agosta's love, also joins the hunt as the level of violence and suspense ratchets up several notches.
Pendergast has to reexamine all that he knew--and did not know---about his wife in order to make headway. He discovers so many mysteries and dead ends that cause him to reevaluate his whole experience with Helen. Who was she really? What was her fascination with John James Audubon and his missing masterpiece, The Black Frame? How was she able to hide her secretive life from him while they were married? Who from his past can he trust?
Despite some worldwide travel, most of the action occurs in the deep South where Preston and Child create a believable, right-on scene of distrusting rednecks and duplicitous white collars. The taciturn Pendergast employs his brilliant problem solving skills to great effect as he continues to see clues where others see nothing. He is much more emotional, edgy, and violent than usual which adds to the intrigue of this fine character. If you enjoyed the Pendergast of old and have become somewhat jaded by the recent Pendergast efforts, do yourself a favor and grab this one and rediscover the magnetism of this wonderfully developed character.
My only quibble regards the reappearance of Constance Greene, Pendergast's ward, who again is a distraction from the main storyline. The Constance Greene storyline has become laborious and distracting over time, yet I assume that there will be a major payoff in some future novel to compensate us for her whiny, unstable, distraction. Despite that minor concern, this is a great addition to the Pendergast legacy. He is "on-screen" almost the whole book, we see his fantastic talents in great detail, yet we also see a more vulnerable, human side to the character we grew to love so long ago. A highly recommended read.
51 of 56 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Fever Dream is fast-paced, fairly entertaining, and will satisfy most of the avid Pendergast fans out there longing for their Aloysius fix. At the same time, it's not a very good novel. Let me be clear - I have enjoyed the Preston/Child novels, to various degrees, since Relic, and I am as intrigued by the enigmatic Special Agent as most readers out there. Over the years, however, Pendergast has grown less interesting and more . . . well, more predictable. I sometimes find myself speaking his lines in my head before I read them. He doesn't surprise me anymore. He has become a caricature of himself, which is disappointing.
Preston and Child have succumbed to two of the most egregious failings of recent popular fiction. First, Fever Dream has a plethora of mini-chapters (many are 2-3 pages in length), which work to push the plot forward but allow no time for character development or depth. This leads to the second failing - the novel is nothing more than its fairly absurd plot. I'm as willing as most to suspend my disbelief as mutated scientists wreak havoc on musty museums or crazed lunatics plot dastardly deeds against family members. But to make those stories work, we have to really care about the characters, the settings, and the world Preston/Child have so beautifully created. In Fever Dream, we get a bunch of the expected characters (Pendergast, D'Agosta, Laura Haywood) acting pretty much as we expect them to act. The central plot, however - about Pendergast's hunt for the people who murdered his wife twelve years earlier - doesn't make a whole lot of sense. I won't spoil it for those of you who haven't read it yet, but the "murder weapon" is patently absurd, as are the motives of the "bad guy" (whose identity I guessed the moment he was introduced, even though Pendergast, D'Agosta, and Haywood never seemed to get it, even in the end).
Which brings me to a third failing - Fever Dream is written as the first in another series of novels, meaning there IS no ending. I have nothing against sequels, but it does bother me when writers work harder to sucker a reader into their next book than they do making the current one worth reading. Relic worked on its own; Reliquary was a good sequel, but it wasn't NECESSARY to buy Reliquary to understand and enjoy Relic. If you want to know what happens at the end of Fever Dream, you'll have to buy the next book in the series (and maybe the next TWO books, if Preston/Child follow their established pattern). That's a cop-out, and it's a lazy cop-out.
I see that Preston/Child are beginning a new series of books with a new investigator (Gideon Crew, who they describe as "uncommon," meaning he'll be intriguing and enigmatic and probably very eccentric). I think they, as much as any of us, realize that their Pendergast novels can't go on forever. I only wish they would spend a bit more time writing good stories and a bit less time setting up their marketing plan. Their earlier work (Relic, Reliquary, Riptide, Thunderhead) remains their best. Fever Dream, while not bad for a beach read, is pretty much just fluff with some familiar names.
Preston and Child have succumbed to two of the most egregious failings of recent popular fiction. First, Fever Dream has a plethora of mini-chapters (many are 2-3 pages in length), which work to push the plot forward but allow no time for character development or depth. This leads to the second failing - the novel is nothing more than its fairly absurd plot. I'm as willing as most to suspend my disbelief as mutated scientists wreak havoc on musty museums or crazed lunatics plot dastardly deeds against family members. But to make those stories work, we have to really care about the characters, the settings, and the world Preston/Child have so beautifully created. In Fever Dream, we get a bunch of the expected characters (Pendergast, D'Agosta, Laura Haywood) acting pretty much as we expect them to act. The central plot, however - about Pendergast's hunt for the people who murdered his wife twelve years earlier - doesn't make a whole lot of sense. I won't spoil it for those of you who haven't read it yet, but the "murder weapon" is patently absurd, as are the motives of the "bad guy" (whose identity I guessed the moment he was introduced, even though Pendergast, D'Agosta, and Haywood never seemed to get it, even in the end).
Which brings me to a third failing - Fever Dream is written as the first in another series of novels, meaning there IS no ending. I have nothing against sequels, but it does bother me when writers work harder to sucker a reader into their next book than they do making the current one worth reading. Relic worked on its own; Reliquary was a good sequel, but it wasn't NECESSARY to buy Reliquary to understand and enjoy Relic. If you want to know what happens at the end of Fever Dream, you'll have to buy the next book in the series (and maybe the next TWO books, if Preston/Child follow their established pattern). That's a cop-out, and it's a lazy cop-out.
I see that Preston/Child are beginning a new series of books with a new investigator (Gideon Crew, who they describe as "uncommon," meaning he'll be intriguing and enigmatic and probably very eccentric). I think they, as much as any of us, realize that their Pendergast novels can't go on forever. I only wish they would spend a bit more time writing good stories and a bit less time setting up their marketing plan. Their earlier work (Relic, Reliquary, Riptide, Thunderhead) remains their best. Fever Dream, while not bad for a beach read, is pretty much just fluff with some familiar names.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Great read
This is my first Pendergast mystery & I loved it! A couple of times I thought I had it figured out, and then SURPRISE!
Published 6 days ago by Jajagu
4.0 out of 5 stars
The only Pendergast that I have read twice!
I didn't remember that I had read it before but once I realized it I was enjoying it too much to stop.
Published 9 days ago by banjo_picker
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fever Dream
Fever Dream, part 1 of another Child & Preston trilogy staring Detective Prendergast.
Riveting, exciting & wonderfully written.
I just love it.
Riveting, exciting & wonderfully written.
I just love it.
Published 15 days ago by J Fogarty
5.0 out of 5 stars
Foiled Again!!
I love Agent Pendergast, he is smart, cunning, manipulative, and always one step ahead of everyone else. Can't wait to continue another.
Published 20 days ago by FDFC
5.0 out of 5 stars
Helen's death
I love Preston & Child books esp. about Pendergast & his family. The story explains a lot can hardly wait to read the 2 following books which I got. Read more
Published 27 days ago by Vicky B. Parker
4.0 out of 5 stars
Fever dream
Really enjoyed the story. Concerned at first over the lion, wish the ending gave the reader the answers to Helen & her brother, capt Hayward, June Brodie. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Joan Loftin
5.0 out of 5 stars
Doesn't get any better
If you like mysteries and you like fine writing, nothing beats Preston & Child. This book is GREAT. It really rocks and kept me turning pages. Read more
Published 1 month ago by LissaKrueger
4.0 out of 5 stars
Get ready for plenty of plot twists.
Wow, is all I've got right now. Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child are masters at creating plot twists, making the reader second guess everything until the end. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Piper
4.0 out of 5 stars
Book great, contition of book not so great
The book, part of a trilogy, was a great read, the condition of the book was not. It seemed like it was 20 years old, had stains and was not in the perfect (new) condition as... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Lorraine Nuccio
4.0 out of 5 stars
Exciting and certaining holds your interest
Lincoin Child continute to keep me interested and always wanting more. As always, waiting to read the next Lincoin Child book.
Published 1 month ago by L. Bleier
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