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171 of 182 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Getting back to form..., May 11, 2010
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 !
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56 of 61 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Best Pendergast Novel In Years--A True Return To Form., May 15, 2010
"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.
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Intelligent Thriller, June 3, 2010
Famed naturalist John James Audubon was a French-American ornithologist, hunter and painter. He was most famous for his paintings of North American birds that he also catalogued and wrote about throughout his life. It is the latter years of his life and his love of birds that are at the heart of FEVER DREAM, the latest thriller in Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child's continuing series featuring FBI Agent Aloysius Pendergast.
FEVER DREAM opens with an event that occurred 12 years previously. When word spread amongst their camp in Zambria that a German tourist had been dragged into the jungle by a large lion and feared slain, Pendergast and his wife, Helen, were called to action to see if any remains were to be found. What was most intriguing to Pendergast was the fact that the lion in question was described as being abnormally large and bearing a fire-red mane. The same such lion terrorized that area 40 years earlier and has become the subject of terrifying local legend.
During their journey into the jungle, Pendergast and Helen were both attacked by the very same lion. They bravely fought it off as best they could, but the beast was just too powerful for them. In the end, Pendergast awakened in a village hospital suffering from wounds he received. Most regrettably was the fact that Helen was dragged off and there was no sign of her. Pendergast hastened his recovery and stormed off after any trace of her or the lion. He was horrified when he located her remains and the lion that perpetrated the deed not far away. Little does he realize at the time that this deadly attack may have been a setup, and what appeared to be a hazard of the African wild may actually have been cold-blooded murder.
Pendergast discovers while going through the gun collection at his Louisiana residence that the rifle Helen had used during their excursion was actually filled with blanks. He quickly jumps to the conclusion that more was at play here and heads directly up to New York City to solicit the assistance of his frequent collaborator, Lieutenant Vincent D'Agosta. Offering to pay his wages and cover his benefits for how ever long their personal investigation takes, Pendergast persuades D'Agosta to take a leave of absence and join him in the search for the truth behind Helen's death.
The story moves at a fast pace, as do most of Preston and Child's works, and the reader is hurried along to Africa, Maine, and hidden areas of the American South as Pendergast and D'Agosta track every clue they uncover to build a compelling case. As with many mysteries of this type, Pendergast quickly discovers that he did not know everything about his wife. In particular, she was seemingly obsessed with John James Audubon. Specifically, she spent a great deal of time in a private search for a long-lost painting Audubon allegedly did in his last days known only as the Black Frame.
It would not be a Preston and Child novel if there were not intricate research and a Crichton-like medical and technological basis underlying their plot's foundation. Was Helen actually obsessed with the Black Frame painting itself, or could she have been looking for something altogether different that the style of the painting might represent? Pendergast and D'Agosta begin to realize that the ironic focus Audubon had on birds might have led to the illness that claimed his own life and also may be behind top-secret and deadly medical research perpetrated by a pharmaceutical research company with ties to both Audubon and Helen.
During the course of the novel, Pendergast must solicit the assistance of his former brother-in-law as well as D'Agosta's co-worker and love interest, Captain Laura Heyward. All of their lives are put at risk as the secrets behind Helen's death as well as a shocking violent incident that took place in the Louisiana bayou are the tip of the iceberg in a medical conspiracy that many influential people will kill to keep hidden. Preston and Child have created a top-notch mystery that still follows along with the formula of their previous classic thrillers.
A side-bar plotline involving Pendergast's mysterious "niece," Constance Greene, provides enough fodder for a novel of its own. With FEVER DREAM, Preston and Child are at the top of their game and create a mystery so compelling that fans of their prior work will be glued to their seats. The open ending lends itself to an obvious follow-up that I look forward to reading. This is the first novel in the series that does not rely on fantastical or supernatural themes and allows them to strut their talents as engaging writers of fast-paced, intelligent fiction that never ceases to entertain.
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