ALL PULP REVIEWS by Ron Fortier
TWO GRAVES
By Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child
Grand Central Publishing
484 pages
Several years ago a very good friend gave me two paperback
novels for Christmas. They were
“The Cabinet of Curiosities” and “Still Life with Crows,” both by Douglas
Preston & Lincoln Child. They were my first introduction to Special FBI
Agent Aloysius Pendergast and one I’ve been most grateful for ever since.
The Pendergast books are the epitome of modern pulp
thrillers harkening back to the grand old hero magazines of the 1930s and they
clearly evoke the same escapist fare prevalent in those series. Upon becoming a fan of the tall, gaunt
Southern bred Pendergast, it soon became clear to me that he was the true heir
to famous pulp avenger of old. For
if Clive Cussler’s sea-going hero, Dirk Pitt, can be called the modern day Doc
Savage, something many of his ardent followers still claim, then Pendergast is
our new Shadow. Like that black
clad nemesis of evil who “knew what lurked in the hearts of men,” Agent
Pendergast is a most unique and extraordinary character. He is wealthy and thus his career is an
avocation of personal interest. He
is learned with several degrees, skilled in both philosophical and martial arts
while a crack shot with most weapons.
Add to this the fact he also has knowledge of obscure and ancient arcane
practices and rituals while possessing certain uncanny abilities which border
on the supernatural and you have a genuine pulp hero for our times.
Since discovering this series, I’ve relished each new entry
and have never once been disappointed by authors’ efforts. Along with such an unforgettable main
character, the books feature many truly amazing supporting characters from
Pendergast’s allies ala New York Lt. Detective Vincent D’Agosta to his exotic young
ward, Constance Greene who, though she appears to be in her early twenties, is
actually over a hundred years old because of a strange elixir that has
prolonged her youth. The genius of Preston and Lincoln is how they make the
fantastic elements of each book as believable as the normal ones.
Now “Two Graves” ends a trilogy story arc begun in “Fever
Dream” and continued in “Cold Vengeance.”
For twelve years, Agent Pendergast believed his beloved wife, Helen, had
been killed by a lion on their honeymoon safari in Africa. When evidence surfaces that proves her
death was faked and that she might still be among the living, it propels
Pendergast on the most important case he has ever confronted. To say the story has been a roller
coaster of action and suspense would be a truly gross understatement and the
revelations in this final chapter are mind-boggling. From a psychotic serial killer in Manhattan to a hidden
Nazis eugenics camp in the jungles of Brazil, “Two Graves” is hands down the
best Agent Pendergast novel ever written and this fan would never make that
claim lightly. Were the series to
end at this point, I would hazard most readers would be content with the
established canon as it now stands.
Of course, being fans, we will always want more; lots
more. But being a somewhat
discriminating reviewer, it is difficult for me to imagine Preston and Child
topping this book. It is clearly
their Agent Pendergast masterpiece.
