The Book of the Dead

The Book of the Dead is a novel by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child published on July 1, 2007 by Warner Books. This is the seventh book in the Special Agent Pendergast series. Also, it is the third and final installment to the trilogy concentrating on Pendergast and his relationship with Lieutenant Vincent D'Agosta in their pursuit to stop Pendergast's brother, Diogenes. Preston and Child call these books the Diogenes trilogy. The three books in the trilogy start with Brimstone in 2004 and continue with Dance of Death in 2005. This final book was released on May 30, 2006 and has been on the New York Times Best Seller list, reaching as high as #4 on the list.

Special Agent Aloysius Pendergast is the focus of this novel as his evil brother Diogenes puts several plans into effect. One plan involves targeting Aloysius's dearest friends...and casual acquaintances.

Concurrently, the New York Museum of Natural History has re-opened an old tomb, closed down decades ago. There are hints of the tomb being cursed, but most tombs do have a curse on them as a matter of course, as a protection against grave robbers. Not much is thought of the curse until a lighting technician is found savagely murdered. Later, a British Egyptologist goes mad and attacks a colleague; security is forced to shoot and kill him. When a replacement Egyptian specialist turns out to be the one woman Pendergast is in love with, everyone becomes suspicious of this coincidence. Their fears are not unfounded.

By the end of the book the authors have, as expected, tied up all the loose ends. Like all their books, the pacing is fast, the plot far-fetched, and the the writing flows well. There is a lot to enjoy here. But as this was the final book in the Pendergast-Diogenes trilogy, some of the suspense was lost as the final outcome was pretty obvious. Thus only 4 stars not 5.

A must read for all Preston-Child fans, but not the one to start with.