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Aloysius Pendergast is a featured character on the Pendergast series of novels by Lincoln Child and Douglas Preston. The first book in the series that familiarized the Pendergast character was Relic that was first published in 1995 followed by the sequel Reliquary in 1997. The series is in the detective crime thriller genre.
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Order of Pendergast Series By: Douglas Preston, Lincoln Child
| # | Read | Title | Published | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Relic | 1995 | Description / Buy | |
| 2 | Reliquary | 1997 | Description / Buy | |
| 3 | The Cabinet of Curiosities | 2001 | Description / Buy | |
| 4 | Still Life with Crows | 2003 | Description / Buy | |
| 5 | Brimstone | 2004 | Description / Buy | |
| 6 | Dance of Death | 2005 | Description / Buy | |
| 7 | The Book of the Dead | 2006 | Description / Buy | |
| 8 | The Wheel of Darkness | 2007 | Description / Buy | |
| 9 | Cemetery Dance | 2009 | Description / Buy | |
| 10 | Fever Dream | 2010 | Description / Buy | |
| 11 | Cold Vengeance | 2011 | Description / Buy | |
| 12 | Extraction | 2012 | Description / Buy | |
| 13 | Two Graves | 2012 | Description / Buy | |
| 14 | White Fire | 2013 | Description / Buy | |
| 15 | Blue Labyrinth | 2014 | Description / Buy | |
| 16 | Crimson Shore | 2015 | Description / Buy | |
| 17 | The Obsidian Chamber | 2016 | Description / Buy | |
| 18 | City of Endless Night | 2018 | Description / Buy | |
| 19 | Verses for the Dead | 2018 | Description / Buy | |
| 20 | The Strange Case of Monsieur Bertin (Short Story) | 2019 | Description / Buy | |
| 21 | Crooked River | 2020 | Description / Buy | |
| 22 | Bloodless | 2021 | Description / Buy | |
| 23 | The Cabinet of Dr. Leng | 2023 | Description / Buy | |
| 24 | Angel of Vengeance | 2024 | Description / Buy |
Pendergast works out of New Orleans as a Special Agent with the FBI (Federal Investigations Bureau of Investigation). He frequently travels out of Louisiana to investigate cases particularly those involving serial killers with whom he has a weird interest in.
The first book in the series, Relic’s story begins with savage murders at the New York Museum of Natural History, days before the opening of a massive exhibition. Pendergast is the detective tasked with finding out who is killing visitors in the museum’s secret rooms and dark hallways. What is even stranger is that the autopsies are showing that the killer is not human.
The museum directors decide to go ahead with the exhibition regardless. Pendergast has to work with Museum researcher Margo Green and reporters Vincent D’Agosta to find out what is who is behind the killings and stop the massacre before the launch. The incredible telling of Relic shows Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child at their best, highlighting why they won the Garden State Teen Award in 1998.
PENDERGAST AWARDS:
The first novel in the Pendergast series Relic won the Garden State Teen Award for Fiction in 1998.
PENDERGAST BOOKS INTO MOVIES:
Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child confirmed in February 2016 that Cabinet of Curiosities and Relic would be adapted into televisions series and produced Gale Anne Hurd. The adaptations that would go by the name Pendergast will be broadcast on Spike TV. The first series will be focusing on Pendergast as a modern day crime investigator, trying to unravel a contemporary crime with similarities to a century old crime mystery. The twist is that it links to Pendergast’s family dark past.
BEST PENDERGAST BOOKS:
The award winning flagship title, Relic is deemed the best book in the Pendergast series. Incorporating some of the best storytelling and character development in the depiction of Aloysius Pendergast, Child and Preston construct an enthralling tension-packed narrative that will keep the reader on edge from the start to the ultimate explosive finish.
The Cabinet of Curiosities, the third book in the Pendergast series, is one of its most popular. A gruesome discovery of dozens of bones of unknown victims is made in an underground charnel house in downtown Manhattan. Research indicates that a serial killer intent on lengthening his life through whichever means, once operated in the Five Points neighborhood in the 1880s – near the discovery. New York is thrown into a panic when a newspaper publishes an old story about the murders. Pendergast, an FBI agent, joins forces with archaeologist Nora Kelly and journalist Bill Smithback to investigate the deaths. Suddenly they find that they are targets having to protect themselves from a brutal exterminator.
Still Life with Crows, the fourth book in the Pendergast series is another remarkable novel that shows Child and Lincoln aptitude at portraying the dark and the unknown. After a gruesome murder in the tranquil small town of Medicine Creek Kansas, FBI Agent Pendergast is called in to try to unravel the mystery. He enlists the help of Corrie Swanson, the local teenage misfit and attempts to find the killer while more people fall victim to a deranged psychopath around them. Given the pattern of the killings, Pendergast believes that the killer could be a member of the community. However, he soon discovers that the land is also at the center of a centuries-old curse. Who could it be? Is it a dark force – the result of a curse on the small town or simply a serial killer with a thirst for blood? The blood-curdling revelations in a cornfield by Pendergast point to a ghastly conclusion.
OTHER BOOK SERIES YOU MAY LIKE:
If you are an aficionado of the Pendergast series particularly the action, then you will love the “Hannibal Lecter” series by Thomas Harris. These series of novels follows the exploits of Hannibal Lecter, a cannibal with Pendergast like temperament and character. You might also like the “Sigma Force” novels by James Rollins. These novels are more of a cross between Tom Clancy’s Op-Center and the Pendergast books.
What Is The Next Book in The Pendergast Series?
There doesn't seem to be an upcoming book in The Pendergast Series. The newest book is Angel of Vengeance and was released on August, 13th 2024.
I’m a big fan of the Pendergast series and will read whatever Douglas Preston chooses to feed to us. That said, the last book (Obsidian Chamber) was a bit of a disappointment for me. Where is the murder solving? Where is the resolution? Where is the character development? This book just felt like filler or like it was setting something up for later.
That said, I did get to preview a few chapters of City of Endless Night and, oh my god, I am so excited for it. This looks like vintage Pendergast and a really fast moving story. If the actual book can keep up that pace, this could be one of the best in the series. Can’t wait!