If reading Relic was the literary equivalent of eating a hot dog, reading Reliquary is eating a chili cheese dog with extra onions—it’s more of everything that was good (and also heartburn-inducing) about its predecessor. Higher stakes, a more elaborate (and ridiculous) mystery, crazier science/pseudo-science…heck, it even threw in a Scooby-Doo-esque villain (“I’d have gotten away with it, too, if you meddling FBI geniuses with cloying southern accents hadn’t stopped me!”).

So, chances are, if you’re in the mood for a chili cheese dog with extra onions and are okay with the downside of planting that baby in your stomach (including the inevitable Ron Burgundy-style “Milk was a bad choice!” exclamations you’ll undoubtedly utter when the plot takes a few face-palming turns and/or our characters feast on a delicious roasted subway rat), you’re going to scarf this down and keep coming back for more. Because Preston and Child know how to craft an addictive thriller. They know how to keep pages turning. They know how to create a world within a world within a world in the storytelling play land that is Manhattan. (Bonus points for this story taking place (and having been written) in the nascent days of the interwebs and cell phone technology, when our sleuths couldn’t rely on handheld devices to give them all the answers they needed, which added a layer of delicious, um, relish to the proceedings (I’m running out of hot dog toppings, people).)

IÂ’m looking forward to continuing on with Pendergast and companyÂ’s adventures, though I understand from smart people (aka, Steven) that a detour into Thunderhead should be undertaken before opening up The Cabinet of CuriositiesÂ…

In the meantime, I’m going to go take some antacids. And brush my teeth. And maybe eat an entire mint plant. (Though I’m not sure if any of those things are powerful enough to offset the effects of the mighty chili cheese dog with extra onions and relish. Maybe I’ll just look into a stomach and mouth transplant.)165 s2 comments Jeffrey KeetenAuthor 6 books250k

”Aloysius Xingu Leng Pendergast is generally described as being stoically aloof and eccentric, though his ineffable politeness and unerring intellect imbue him with an irresistible charm or enigmatic sense of danger if the occasion should call for it. Well-learned in many subjects, he converses easily with doctors, scientists, intellectuals, vagabonds, highly specialized masters of specific disciplines, and people of a wide variety of language and culture a. He is a master of psychological manipulation, disguise, and improvisation.

Pendergast appreciates the finer things in life, including expensive cuisine and wines. Food and drink he enjoys include Château Pétrus wine, antipasto, green tea of only the purest and most spiritual kind, gelato, and steak tartare. He has a great distaste for opera.” Wikipedia

The survivors from the first book in the series, Relic, have returned in another monster mash adventure that will take them deep into the underground, beneath the streets of New York City. Pendergast is back, still in his supporting role, but for me he is always the star of the show. He is a man I could see myself spending some time with at his fabulous apartment, sipping a fine wine and discussing books and the theater. I might even convince him to give opera another chance. IÂ’d probably also try to get him to spend some time outdoors. His pale, corpse- appearance could use a healthy dose of natural vitamin D.

The monster from Relic may have perished, but due to the mad workings of a desperate scientist, there are these human hybrid creatures called Wrinklers who are growing in numbers deep in the bowels of the underground.

”’No! No!’ Waxie yelled in desperation, trying to kick away the grasping hands of the closest figure and knocking back its hood in the process. Smithback jerked his head back instinctively at the sight, but not before his brain had registered something out of his worst nightmare, worse for being vague in the dim light: narrow lizard’s pupils, thick wet lips, great creases and folds of extra skin. It suddenly dawned on him that these must be the Wrinklers….”

The Wrinklers crave the same plant life that was brought back from the Brazilian jungle to the National History Museum. This plant was the catalyst for the horrific events in the first book, Relic. Now, the problems have spread from the tunnels beneath the museum to the rest of New York. Homeless people, called moles, who have “elected” to live beneath the city, are starting to show up dead, but not only dead...the headless variety of dead. When Wrinklers can’t get enough of the plant they need, the next best source of food for them is the human hypothalamus.
Unfortunately, they have to go through the skull to get what they crave.

It will take all the powers of their combined intellects to quell this insidious invasion of the truly monstrous creatures concocted by an unexpected supervillain. This was lots of fun, not as tight and cool as the first book. It is just hard to beat a monster in the museum plot, but the writing is top notch, and the suspense keeps ratcheting up as our valiant characters do everything they can to derail the tragedy that is trying to unfold. IÂ’m looking forward to the third book, Cabinet of Curiosities, when Pendergast finally gets his first lead acting role in a novel. The wonderful thing about this series is there are currently seventeen entries and counting so I wonÂ’t have to worry about running out for a long time.

If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie , visit http://www.jeffreykeeten.com
I also have a Facebook blogger page at:https://www.facebook.com/JeffreyKeeten91 s Stephen1,516 11.7k

Oh the humanityÂ…the expectation-murdering ugh of the dreadful sequel to the quality original. Unfortunately they happen. Some are a menace to the phantoms of our youthful memories:


Â…others make us long for murderous Revenge on the studio that spawned it from their retched, greed-dripping Jaws.


Some sequels have plot/acting/directing so loaded with mockery- needed fail that we are transformed into staunch proponents of the virtues of franchise euthanasia:


Â…and some sequels are just big, bloated, ego-filled piles of worthless SHAT:


FinallyÂ…there are sequels for which this reviewer has no words:



*convulsive shudder*

Relic, the first book in the Pendergast series was a lot of fun and I thought did a great job of taking the murder/mystery thriller and accessorizing it was an “X-file” supernatural element grounded it plausible scientific explanation. It’s junk science but it completely allows for the suspension of disbelief.

That non-standard plot device and the introduction of a very engaging main character, Aloysius Pendergast, the brilliant Southern FBI agent with an open-mind for the bizarre. The story was engaging and I had a very good time with it.

Thus, I was really looking forward to this sequel.

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The story turned out to be a lifeless, potentially series-killing disappointed for me. It had none of the charm or attempted credibility of the first novel.

PLOT SUMMARY:

The story takes place about 18 months after the events of Relic and reunites the reader with many of the original players along with some new faces to solve a series a brutal murders being committed against the homeless population living under New York City. The condition of the bodies and the nature of the injuries leads to speculation that something unusual (i.e., non-human) may be committing the crimes.

so many pooch-screwing, shark-jumping sequels, this story suffers from trying to be so much bigger and louder than its predecessor. It fails and the result is simply a story that loses all sense of focus and narrative suspense. The characters are denied any opportunity to display any depth and become mere “caricatures” of the people I d so much in the original.

Now, on the positive side, Pendergast is still an engaging character and when he is on the page he makes the story better. However, heÂ’s not around enough to help out, let alone save, what is an otherwise very uninspired story.

Hopefully, this is just an anomaly and future stories in this series will get back to the formula that worked so well in the first book. It has made me cautious about continuing the series and I am certainly not going to jump right into book 3.

StillÂ…memories fadeÂ…pain lessensÂ…forgiveness is possible.
I may be back.

2.0 stars.
1990-1999 audiobook horror ...more80 s JamesAuthor 20 books4,027

Beneath Manhattan hides an elaborate maze of tunnels. Homeless have lived their for decades. More than a dozen different levels exist, and depending on how far you go, the evil that lurks increases. Headless corpses are found above ground near various subway stations. Did the museum team not kill the beast in the first book, Relic, by Douglas Preston and Lee Child? It seems something in their plans went awry, and what us readers thought happened is not the truth. In Reliquary, it all comes flooding forward, literally... when the water system in NYC is tainted with the same drug that formed the savage killer in Relic.

I enjoyed this book. It was a solid alternative to the cozy mysteries and archaeological thrillers I've been reading lately. Pendergast and Margo are back, as well as a few of the prior detectives and scientists. One or two of them have been keeping secrets. Figuring out the motive and the culprit is the focal point of this book, and it kept me intrigued the whole way through. When it finally came to light, I shook my head. Oh, sneaky sneaky!

I was shocked to learn about the NYC tunnels. I knew some existed but not that thousands of homeless lived down there. How does this happen? Seeing the gritty side of the NYC police department from the early 2000s is mind-altering too. I know there are other types of people out there, but how can people really behave the way they did? I'm not sure I'd survive... I'd walk away the first time someone tried to berate me in front of others. It's not that I don't know how to fight back, but it's a waste of my time. This book showcases different personality types and reminds readers that they sometimes live in a cloistered world.

Some of this is truly imagination. Other parts are treated with a heavy hand. But at the core is a story I can support and immerse myself in. I felt the slice of each throat. I guffawed at the potential disaster hitting my hometown. My very own block and building was named! Yikes, hitting close to home... in a good way. I enjoy the creativity and style in the books and can easily let them take me away to a world I don't quite know enough about. That's why I'll be reading the third book next month. I must catch up before the newest release, perhaps next year?1-fiction 3-multi-book-series67 s Ginger845 446

What a fun and suspenseful book to read! Fans of Relic will enjoy Reliquary. All the same characters from Pendergast, Margo to D'Agosta are in this sequel. You'll enjoy a few new characters such as Hayward (a badass woman cop for NYPD) to the chief of police that's the typical narcissistic politician that makes bad decisions. (Woah, sounds familiar, huh?)
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