Once again all the cops are red neck idiots and they need Aleysius Xingu Leng Pendergast to set them straight. When push comes to shove the cops become sniveling little cry babies. (I sure hope Preston or Child get that parking ticket straightened out.)

If you are a die hard Pendergast or P/C fan, then you will not like this review so do yourself a favor, mark not helpful and move on.

This starts out slow like most P/C novels. At chapter 17 it gets real good and stays that way to chapter 38. Then like most P/C novels there is a four hour chase scene, to come to a conclusion that everyone, but an idiot from a small town in Kansas has figured out. That's if you go with the cliche way in which Kansas small town people are treated in this book. All the characters are miserable, not a happy person in the town.

From the way the small Kansas town is described, I do not believe Preston and Child have ever been in Kansas. The timeline is somewhere after 2002, yet everybody is driving AMC gremlins and Hornets. AMC went out of business in 1987. If you go to Kansas, as I do once a week, you will find they drive mostly Ford and Chevy pickup trucks, especially in farming communities as this is suppose to be. The town is surrounded by cornfields and they want this company to come in and plant evil genetically modified corn to provide more jobs. The main employer is a Turkey processing plant. Hello P&C, Turkey Processing Plants are built next to Turkey Farms, not cornfields. If you have a Turkey Processing Plant then you will also have a large Mexican American Community or Illegal Aliens. You might have a diner in town, which serves meat and potatoes as describe, but you will also have at least one Mexican Restaurant. It's sign will be hand painted in Green and Red. A girl who lives in a trailer park will not have a neighbor with built in lawn sprinklers. The church will not be Lutheran it will be Catholic.

Pendergast does his going back in time thing again. It is explained as a thing called Chongg Ran, which is taught in Tibet. Essentially if you do lots of research and study this Chongg Ran, you will be able to go into a trance and go back to any time and you will see what should have happened. According to Preston and Child, Chongg Ran has never been published it is a secret teaching and is only taught orally to other monks and Preston and Child. In other words they made it up. May be in the next book Pendergast will do some Remote Viewing.

I did give this three stars and it does have some great parts, it is just to bad it is surrounded by Cliches, Long Chase scenes and boring miniscule descriptions about law enforcement. No one cares about the politics they keep putting into these books.

About the narrator. I have made plain before how I feel about Scott Brick. It is hard to explain his style. You know how you have listened to some narrators who are monotone and every line is read the same boring way. Brick is exactly the opposite. Every sentence is read as it is the most exciting thing in the world. In one part he reads about Pendergast picking up a phone and putting it back in the cradle. It is read like The Eagle Has Landed!!!!. Sixteen hours of everything is stupendously exciting is draining. Having said that SB was probably the best person to read this, as he really captures the whole everyone is a miserable character aspect.

Yes. I am reading the whole series. As with series, some of the novels are very good, some passable and other fall very short. I felt that this one fell very short. The suspense of the plot was inordinately stretched at the front of the book and the inevitable chase scene was too long. During the last third of the novel, I had already guessed what the connections were and the final wound up was done in the epilog.

So far I like the series starting with Relic. But the first two book were much better than this one. Crows did leave a few questions open and I am hoping the this is not the decline of the series.

I dislike abridged books. Resulting from that I have been reduced to reading the Pendergast series out of order, shameful really. The release of this book leaves only two Pendergast novels remaining still abridged, "The Cabinet of Curiosities" and "Brimstone". Do try to rectify this situation soon Audible. I can't decided if I prefer Brick or Auberjonois , really either is more than satisfactory. Like any Pengergast novel you will not be disappointed by this volume, and the price what more could one want.

This is my favorite of this series so far. I think it is book four and I have been reading them in order. Unfortunately, the last one "The Cabinet of Curiosities" was abridged, which I really hate. Feel like I'm getting ripped off half a story.
Anyway, this one was a lot of fun, just wasn't so crazy about the narrator. Not the worst I've heard by any means, just not so hot.
Looking forward to the next book "Brimstone". Once again though, abridged. Grrrrr....

This is a great listen. Classic Pendergast. It reminds me of some of the previous books with him at the NY museum. Great excitement and great adventure. DeGost is not in this one which is a bummer but Pendergast is great. Narration is amazing as always.

Scott Brick IS FBI Agent Penderghast. As I listen to all my audible books in the car, I found my self making extra trips, driving around the block or sitting in the parking lot just to listen to what was going to happen next. Can't wait to find the next one!

The suspense is gripping -- with the tonal inflections and acents of the different characters -- brilliant.

Be afraid of the dark -- very afraid.

Gripping plot and endearing characters. Hope to see this as a movie some day.

I've been listening to the Pendergast books in order and except for the second one they've gotten better and better.

It's hard to say for sure how much better the story is because the narration on this book is so much better than the last two. But, what really made this one stand out form the earlier books is the depth of the characters. In previous novels I've been frustrated by the simple, stupid, bureaucratic top cop concept. In this book there are officers that do some not brilliant things but they aren't just motivated by glory or covering their own asses as in previous novels. The interactions feel more true to life and the storyline itself, while slightly gory, keeps you trying to figure out what's going on.

The setting is also unique in this book. Overall it was just much easier to get my head into it and it kept my attention throughout. I will be listening to the next book in the series.

Excellent presentation, very engaging performance of a great book!

Plot twists and turns making you question you view of the story.

Great expressive story teller with good diction and the ability to bring the various characters to life.

Yes I would listen to this all in one sitting if time allowed

The main character of the book is still entertaining but not as much as in the other books. The killer here gives you chills and is portrayed very well. It is a good book with a somewhat unexpected ending but satisfying all the same.