Relic

Pendergast, Book 1

By: Douglas Preston, Lincoln Child

Narrated by: David Colacci

Length: 13 hrs and 1 min

Publisher's summary

Relic, a Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child thriller that introduces FBI Special Agent Pendergast

Just days before a massive exhibition opens at the popular New York Museum of Natural History, visitors are being savagely murdered in the museum's dark hallways and secret rooms. Autopsies indicate that the killer cannot be human....

But the museum's directors plan to go ahead with a big bash to celebrate the new exhibition, in spite of the murders.

Museum researcher Margo Green must find out who - or what - is doing the killing. But can she do it in time to stop the massacre?

Prolong the suspense: listen to the sequel, Reliquary.

©1994 by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. (P)1995 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.

Critic reviews

"With its close-up view of museum life and politics, plausible scientific background, sharply drawn characters and a plot line that's blissfully free of gratuitous romance, this well-crafted novel offers first-rate thrills and chills." ( Publishers Weekly)

"Wildly cool....Thrill hounds couldn't ask for a creepier environment....a thriller staged in the world's scariest building, with no room for the squeamish." ( Kirkus Reviews)

Suspence, thriller, sci-fi

This book has it all. Relic was published in 1995 but it has not aged. The premise is that potential chaos looms for a gala hosted by the New York Museum of Natural History while a killer lurks in the labyrinthine building.

There are multiple protagonists that are all well-drawn characters. I am used to reading books with one, possibly two, so having three or four (depending on how you look at it) was a little distracting until I found myself being drawn into the characters' individual stories. As the plot builds, jumping from character to character was therefore no problem.

This was the first Pendergast book I read, and I am glad I started with it. Otherwise, I probably would have been disappointed that he did not have a more prominent role in it.

David Colacci did a great job with narration. Clear - never tripped up, even with scientific terms. Well done!

Bit weird for first time audio book user.

I love the Pendergast series. Doug Preston and Lincoln Child are amazing in their writings, together and individually. I wanted to give audio books a try I figured a book I have read before would work for my first. it was a little awkward at first, but David Colacci's performance pulls you in, its a great book with a very good performance.

Rather than reread thought I would listen

Read Relic after the movie which I thought was terrible. My adult daughter was distraught after the movie. She kept saying, the main character was cut out and she tried to describe this tall, southern, cosmopolitan gentleman who was a FBI agent. It wasn’t possible for his character to be left out of the movie. I moved on ... However I happened to read “Still Life of Crows” not too long after and I recognized Pendergast as soon as the text started describing him. Then I understood why my child could be so upset and I was hooked. I read Relic next. It isn’t often I can become so caught up in a book that the story will frighten me but Relic did that and I enjoyed! Ten years later, I decide to listen. I had forgotten everything except the basic plot so I enjoyed it immensely. I enjoyed Colacci’s interpretation of the characters, I followed along better instead of getting lost in the tunnels along with the Lieutenant, the Mayor and the others, and the ending; along with the prologue, was great.

Brilliant

It’s an amazing book, I want to read the next part and then the next and the next,..

The book is always better

The book totally kept me engaged from start to finish. Mystery thriller and the epilogue makes it mandatory to read the 2nd book!

Good story, long execution

The story contained a lot of personal interactions and build up that seemed unnecessary to the complete story. I think the last third of the book was the best part of the whole book.

Great Book

I’ve seen the movie and had always wanted to read the book in case there were details it only could answer. The Scottish accent was terrible but I loved the guy’s voice. Great story. Very exciting and filling with cool scientific information.

Enjoyed this story

Well written, enjoyed storyline. Very suspenseful through the many twists and turns. Recommend this book.

one of my scary favorites

I have loved this book since I first stumbled on it and the audio version is no different. It’s delightfully scary. Pendergast's accent is different than I'd always imagined when reading but I don't think it detracts in anyway.

Great

I saw the movie way back when, but just decided to read the book and the book is so much better (even though I enjoyed the movie as well) the nuances of the characters and the creature are so overtly and subtly written it’s fantastic to see it come alive fully in the book.