Customer Reviews

The Wheel of Darkness (Special Agent Pendergast)

5 star:		(76)
4 star:		(61)
3 star:		(51)
2 star:		(23)
1 star:		(15)

 

 

For pure escapist adventure fiction with serial cliffhangers, and enough science and history to add, if not feasibility, at least a touch of credibility, it doesn't get much better than Preston and Childs. And for a unique and engaging protagonist, it doesn't get much better than Aloysius Pendergast, the eclectic and urbane the FBI special agent who seems to do just about everything except work on cases for the FBI.

Notwithstanding, I found this talented duo a bit off their game in "The Wheel of Darkness", a mildly interesting but less inspiring mystery than some of the Preston/Child classics like "Relic" or "Cabinet of Curiosities". To retrieve the mysterious "Agozyen", an ancient Eastern version of Pandora's box, the globetrotting Pendergast treks from a remote Tibetan monastery to a trip across the ocean on the Britannia, a mammoth-sized luxury ocean liner on her maiden trans-Atlantic voyage. Tagging along while helping to drag "Darkness" to a substandard effort is Constance Greene, who adds little to the story besides a dose of tedium and a bridge to the sequel. As the Holmes/Watson team of Pendergast/Greene sleuth this titanic love boat in search of their prey, they quickly find themselves facing down a serial killer and a ship's officer bent of revenge and self-destruction.

"The Wheel of Darkness" had its share of suspense, and enough intelligence to keep the pages turning. But the pace was uneven, and while the "Agozyen" and the consequences it wrought was a fresh idea, the incarnation of the Agozyen's demon was bizarre to the point of nearly being funny. Further bogging down the story was a slight overdose of eastern asceticism vs. western decadence, and the authors' standard rap against anything corporate. But I quibble. All in all, while not the best of the series, this is a fast and mostly enjoyable read, and more than adequate way to pass a lazy few evenings or a long plane ride.

I've been an Preston/Child fan for many years, ever since I picked a copy of "The Relic" up off my mom's coffee table and started thumbing through it.

Since that time, the books have gotten better and better, and I was both thrilled and saddened when the series seemingly came to a resounding and satisfying ending in "The Book of the Dead".

Imagine my joy when I came across "The Wheel of Darkness" while on vacation. I can't say it's a terrible book, it's not. It's just not as good as any of it's predecessors.

The plot feels rushed with minimal setup and little follow-through, and while there is a suspension of disbelief required in any work of fiction (especially fiction dealing with themes of the occult)"Wheel" asks too much of the reader.

While the majority of the Pendergast series deals with events and murders that seem supernatural but are ultimately revealed to be merely bizarre, "Wheel" asks us to believe in malevolent "thought forms" that can physically manifest and go out to do evil deeds. Scrolls that imbue those
who view them with inhuman abilities and avarice that drives them mad.

The story suffers from an anemic cast of characters, I miss police detective D'Agosta and many of the others I've come to know. Constance has always been, in my opinion, a relatively weak character, the authors don't seem to know what to do with her. Pendergast and Constance as a duo are less interesting than Pendergast by himself.

In the final analysis "Wheel" seems like weak tea, watered down and lacking the qualities that made previous books a bracing, refreshing read.

I've been eagerly awaiting the latest Preston/Child novel, but once again I was disappointed. Pendergast was at his best in "Cabinet of Curiosities" (perhaps my favorite Preston/Child book), but my interest in him has declined with each additional book.

This story breaks from past Preston/Child tales in that there is no gruesome and puzzling murder in the opening scene. Instead, Pendergast and his ward Constance travel to a Tibetan monestary for some meditation and study. The pacing is rather slow and I had to force myself to continue reading, which is unusual for a Preston/Child story. A mysterious artifact was recently stolen from the monestary, which provides a bit of intrigue and a mission for Pendergast.

But then the chase leads to an ocean liner at which point the story felt like an episode of "Murder She Wrote" and I couldn't help but picture Angela Lansbury as Pendergast. Pendergast breaks a card counting scheme in the casino, but not much else of interest occurs until the end of the book. The ship gets hijacked in order to ram it into some rocks and then I felt like I was reading the script to "Speed 2", which was a horrible movie not to be emulated in any fashion.

The monster was only briefly introduced and was not scary and created little tension or suspense. Constance was mostly a vehicle for Pendergast to explain his theories. She is very shallow and uninteresting now that we know her origin. Unfortunately, the authors are developing her to be Pendergast's crime solving assistant. I'm sorry, but I don't want another Batman and Robin. I wish Preston/Child would drop Pendergast and Constance, but the end of this book indicates they will be back.

Finally, the book seems short. There is a bit of description of the monestary, but most of the story takes place on the ship. The description of the ship and its workings was pretty thin-I learned more on my recent Disney cruise. Despite my disappointment, the book is still better than most of its ilk. I just think the authors can do better.

In "The Wheel of Darkness" authors Preston and Child attempt to please their multitude of fans with another Agent Pendergast / Constance Greene adventure pairing. Strange as this guardian/ward combination seems Preston and Child utilize the pair well allowing them to solve intricate crimes with a familiar Sherlock Holmes--Dr. Watson intensity but sadly without a requisite and believable human fallibility like Conan Doyle's concocted cocaine addiction. Delineating these characters from the norm remains this authoring duo's trademark; they imbue Aloysius and Constance with enough sideshow family baggage to open up a high-ticket luggage emporium and then allow them the clarity and presence of superior mind to practice intense Zen Buddhist exercises and Giordano Bruno memory palace techniques ala criminal genius Hannibal Lector. The question is---are Preston and Child grooming this crime-solving technically savvy union to rival their own obviously lucrative collaboration?

Possibly. But will this please or annoy their fans? Together Pendergast and Greene cast a freaky shadow that contains too many Addams family undertones for my taste. Preston and Child depict Pendergast as a mannerly well-dressed Southern gentleman of a pale albeit suave Billy Idol genre. Combine this image with your idea of some bizarrely eccentric old character caught in a melodramatic time warp straight out of Lillian Hellman's "The Little Foxes" or Tennessee Williams' "The Glass Menagerie." Then add the Constance sidekick---an oddly out-of-date flapper-bobbed pre-Raphaelite woman that intones stanzas from obscure poetry. Not a team with which one can easily relate. These characters work better with subplots depicting their emotional failings with regard to their own personal desires rather than foils for a dry detached mental calculus employed solely to reconstruct the criminal flavor of the month.

Plot-wise "Wheel of Darkness" contains a rather mundane disaster formula that may play like a rerun of the Poseidon Adventure, but offers little in terms of developing our two recurring players. After her ordeal with bad brother Diogenes (resulting in an unwanted pregnancy) and the evils of a world she barely knows, Constance sojourns with Pendergast to a Tibetan monastery for a well-deserved respite. After some spirit strengthening, the duo backs into a stand-alone crime that sadly excludes the usual Preston/Child suspects spilling in and out of New York's Museum of Natural History. I missed D'Agosta, Smithback and Co with their secondary stories that keep the subplots moving on a personal level. Although Preston and Child fashion an entire sub-community of additional characters, Pendergast and Greene deal with this standalone adventure set on a luxury ocean liner that puts Titanic to shame on their own.

As in this writing team's other offerings, "Wheel" revolves around some elements of the supernatural combined with technical wizardry that keeps the story grounded in some semblance of reality. However, the mystical element here wanes disappointingly due solely to a lack of explanation that which the authors could have nicely discussed in a factual afterward.

Bottom line? Preston and Child spotlight Pendergast and his ward Constance Greene in this standalone whodunit set on a world-class cruise ship. If this pairing meets with your approval most likely the story will provide some entertainment albeit of the mediocre variety. I am not sure that the Pendergast/Greene combination would entertain me a second time. In the next go around, authors please include some emotional release for both these characters. Recommended for die-hard Pendergast fans.
Diana Faillace Von Behren
"reneofc"

This Wheel book does not portray the Pendergast I know and admire. Pendergast's watered down portrayal was a let down, and come on, how can Pendergast know that much? Like he just learned to count cards last week and knows how "everything" works. Constance Green(e) was a puzzle to me. We know she has knowledge and intelligence from her confined and solitary education, but how did she become so worldly? And I don't mean with Diogenes. The overall plot was thin and predictable. I too was dissapointed in the language and sex. Bring back the real Pendergast with all his wit and reasoning to solve thrilling crimes committed by calculating and cunning foes. I miss D'gosto and the other characters as other reviewers have mentioned and I finished this book feeling that Preston/Child must have had other projects to distract them during its writing process and a deadline make. Preston and Douglas are awesome writers together and individually. They are my favorites! I hope I can either get into the direction they are taking Pendergast et al, or they'll bring him back from his glory days.

Wheel of Darkness was my first foray into the Pendergast series, and while I wasn't overly impressed, I am encouraged by other reviews that suggest this may be one of the weaker entries in the series. In light of this, and the fact that I found Wheel of Darkness reasonably entertaining, I'd consider reading other novels in the series.

Wheel of Darkness is a bit of a mixed bag (you might say it's a little psychotic). The novel starts out in `Raiders of the Lost Ark' mode but strangely evolves into an Agatha Christie / Murder She Wrote style murder mystery on an ocean liner before morphing into an action thriller (think, Speed 3) when the ocean liner is hijacked. The supernatural element seemed a little silly to me and wasn't sinister enough to generate real thrills, but overall the authors do a good job of keeping the plot moving along through all it's multiple personalities.

While Wheel of Darkness isn't a great novel, I think the series has some potential. I plan to try one of the earlier entries in the series.

As a big Preston/Childs (and Pendergast!)fan, I eagerly awaited this newest release. While still a page-turner, I thought it was nowhere near the caliber of some of their first collaborations like "Relic". I was literally rolling my eyes while reading about nefarious clouds of smoke and Tibetan paintings that make a person go insane upon viewing. Let's get back to some semblance of "reality", for example,a murderous man-beast prowling the NY Museum of Natural History! :p

Child and Preston continue the story of Pendergast and his ward, Constance Green, in "The Wheel of Darkness". While the past few books leading up to this story have been powerful, this one seems to stumble just a little. Don't get me wrong: the plot is good, the tension builds throughout, and turning Pendergast into an evil version of himself is genius. The problem is that they've spent a lot of time developing the Pendergast story, then the character virtually disappears about 2/3 into the book. The novel builds to a great climax, but Child and Preston jerk their hero out of the story and leave it up to someone else to handle. This wouldn't necessarily be a problem (Pendergast has been part of an ensemble cast since "Relic"), but the characters they try to move to center stage just aren't strong enough to keep the story moving. This would be the only fault in the story though. The villain is creepy, there's another wild "monster" on the loose again, the scenes are told in vivid detail...there's even a great last-page plot twist that throws everything in great direction for the next book. I just hope that next time Pendergast can stay for the whole story.

By the way, thanks for finally letting Rene Auberjonois read the unabridged version of the story! He IS the voice of Pendergast, and Rene keeps every character different so you can easily tell who is who throughout. I hope this is the beginning of a trend!

I have been a HUGE fan of Preston & Child ever since Relic first hit the book shelves back in the 90's. Virtually every novel has been fantastic (with the possible exception of 'Still Life With Crows') and yet this story left me with a similar feeling, even though I really enjoyed it all the way through. I'd like to explain further, but I am not entirely certain why it is I feel this way. The previous trilogy featuring Pendergast and his version of an arch-nemesis (his brother) was nothing short of brilliant. I just cannot think of a way to have improved upon it in almost any possible way.

I read in a post here that the idea of Pendergast and Constance together seemed a bit *creepy* and I have to echo that as well. Our thin and nearly transparent FBI Agent is easily one of the strangest protagonists in modern fiction, and when you add to that the strange relationship with a seemingly young woman (who is wise beyond her young appearance--but if you don't already know why, I won't bother to ruin it for you) and you have all the makings of a Romance right out of the Twilight Zone.

The Wheel of Darkness takes no time to get moving as the opening chapters start off along the slopes of a Himilayan Mountainside on the way to a Tibetan Monastery where Pendergast spent some time years before. While I wasn't 100% convinced that this is where he would have taken Constance immediately following her harrowing experience with Diogenes at the end of 'The Book of the Dead', I was willing to accept it based solely upon how good the authors are regularly. I just wasn't happy with the section that dealt with this monastery, and was quite happy when the story shifted elsewhere, in this case a cruise ship. On the search for a stolen relic which, in the wrong hands has the ability to really ruin your day (the end of humanity...). The story from on-board the ship is really where the rubber hits the pavement. Mysterious murders suggest that the hidden evil locked within the relic seems to be doing exactly what the Monastery's Abbot had warned them about. But as with all novels by Preston and Child, things aren't always as they seem...or ARE they? All I can say is this: before reading 'The Wheel of Darkness' I had always dreamed of going on a cruise with my wife...after finishing? Not so much. These authors definitely know how to describe a scene with the power to genuinely frighten you--and I thought that for the most part, I was immune from such things. Not so it would seem.

While my overall impression is that I really enjoyed it and found it head and shoulders above the vast majority of action/thriller novels being produced today, I still found it only slightly better than 'Still Life With Crows' which I maintain is the only book that hasn't been absolutely spectacular by this amazingly talented duo. Fans of Pendergast, no matter what, you really OUGHT to read this.

This is another great Pendergast tale in which the author's have taken him in a "fresh" direction. Pendergast charged with the care of Contance, takes her to a secret learning center for Tibetan monks. While there they learn that an ancient object has been stolen. What is more, it was an object that was to be used to "cleanse" the world from sin when the world becomes out of control. Pendergast is asked to track down the thief and bring the object back before it is unleashed on the world.

Pendergast and Constance follow the thief across Europe and the trail leads to an ocean liner making its maiden voyage (the Britannia) to the US. Mysterious things start happening aboard ship, including some grisly murders. Also, some other things happen that could make the Britannia the next Titanic.

This is an excellent follow-up to the recent trilogy and we learn more about Pendergast's life, what might have really happened to his brother and what really happened between his brother and Constance.

The book picks up momentum like a snowball and heads towards a tense climax!