Fever Dream (Agent Pendergast Series, 10)

There are a lot of reviews here that look like they're written by authors. Set them aside. This is simply a great book. Couldn't put it down. Helps to have knowlegde of the series, but not entirely necessary.

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 an

I absolutely loved this book. It grabbed me at the get go and never let up. Tons of action,twists and turns and the cliffhanger ending we all love. Pendergast is one of those characters that is so brilliant and ruthless as to be unbelievable, yet he is believable and very entertaining. This book just proves to me what I've said all along. Mr Preston and Mr Child, please write all your books together. Your solo efforts are so lacking!

Out of all the Pendergast novels I've read so far, to me this is the best one. A very cool premise and setup is followed up by a thrilling adventure with imaginative backdrops and a lot of suspense - not to mention unexpected plot turns that took me quite by surprise. As always, Preston and Child have a wonderful way with language, creating phrases and evocative scenes that come to life in your head. Very cool read that is worth every penny - and that includes the Kindle version, which I read.

I have read all the Pendergast books and some are better than others. This one, in my opnion was one of the best. Pendergast was back! In his typical style. Preston & Child did a marvelous job with Pendergast as the sleuth with assistance from previous characters, D'Agosta and his girlfriend, Hayward. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and look forward to more. I was a little disappointed in the ending, however, and what happenend to Constance Greene.

"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 t