#douglas child

[kbookblurbs]

Pendergast: the Beginning - Preston & Child

3.5/5 - Very fun introduction to Pendergast; the timeline on this guy baffles me

I have made my peace with the fact that I will never understand the timeline of Pendergast's life. That said, this had a gorgeous setting and a fun villain, even if I (per usual) appreciate the miore horror-adjacent aspects than the fantastical. Even that, though, was a return to form for PReston & Child. It's much more grounded and has more magical realism to it than anything else.

I have to say I love that Pendergast is exactly as annoyingly unhinged as a younger man as he is older. It makes him much more of a full character and also quite funny as a scene partner.

[kbookblurbs]

Bloodless - Preston & Child

2.75 - WAY too much fantasy; I was actually kinda disappointed

Preston & Child seem to think I'm in this for the excessive sci-fi fantasy bit and I fear I am not. Best I can accept is light curses or mystical objects. This whole multi-layered reality nonsense and time travel is starting to piss me off (read: really piss me off).

As a certified vampire lover, I also was not happy about the crazy mosquito alternate dimension fake-out. I honestly would've preferred satanism.

[kbookblurbs]

Badlands - Lincoln Preston & Douglas Child

3.5/5 - classic FBI detective romp; very interesting "villain" set in the Four Corners area of the states

I really enjoy the Preston & Child books as reliably fun, generally well-researched, and well-written! This one is no exception. I love that these books can serve as standalones or as part of a greater character arc. I think Nora as an archaeologist researching the ancient Pueblans is something that's actually so interesting, and I really enjoy learning new things about the Navajo and Pueblan people in these books (especially because they fact-check themselves at the end).

I'm no big FBI lover, so one of the biggest challenges for me in these books are believing that the FBI would actually go so far to solve a series of missing persons cases. Beyond that, I find Nora's brother to be so unbelievably irritating - he is pinnacle idiot man and I just can't deal with it.

The other thing that knocks this down to the 3.5 mark for me is something that I consistently dislike about the more recent Pendergast books as well, which is what I find to be a relatively uninteresting dip into the fantastical. Overall good fun though and a very quick read.