I have a weird fascination with locked in characters facing unimaginable horrors. This is probably why I love zombie movies so much. The battle of Helms Deep in Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers is my favorite part of the whole trilogy. You put a bunch of people in a structure planted firmly in the sediment at the bottom of the ocean? Yeah, I’m on board. Sphere was always my favorite Michael Crichton book for this reason, probably. Deep Storm is just such a […]
A diabolical and clever thriller
I write my reviews as I read. I’m sure most do it’s the only way to really express the nuances and little things you notice as you are reading, as opposed to trying to remember when the story is over. This partly explains why I’ve been mostly absent this year; my review file was lost when I moved computers and I can barely remember what I read this year, let alone what I thought about them. I had this review nearly ready to go with […]
Newest Pendergast thriller a small step up from recent outings
Even though it is better than recent offerings, Blue Labyrinth ultimately fails to break free from the established Preston & Child formula. It starts with a slow build up, the plot takes several shocking twists and turns, and then the last ¼ of the book is a race against time as the previously hidden adversaries reveal their identities and our various heroes fight tooth and nail to overcome and survive. It’s exciting and quite fun but ends up as not much more than a beach […]
Uneven story undermines new Pendergast thriller, White Fire
This is the 13th of the Preston & Child novels to feature the enigmatic, brilliant Special Agent Aloysius X.L. Pendergast and I think it’s time to give the man a well deserved break. Somewhere along the way, Preston & Child thrillers have become all about Pendergast to the detriment of the other characters in the series. After the harrowing and incredibly convoluted events of Two Graves, White Fire is a welcome break from the labyrinthine plotting that has plagued recent novels in the series. However […]