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)

I was not sure what I was getting myself into

Having seen the horrible movie, as it turns out, not taken much from the book one was pleasantly surprised. The narration was brilliant. The story was fast moving with ample twists and turns to keep one interested. The humor was plentiful without taking over the story. We have some fun characters some are cliché but still fun.

One thing which kept it from being 5 all the way across was the horrible side effects. One finds these distracting form the story. One's imagination is better suited for this than having overdone electronic effects plastered over the story.

This is a worthwhile book and I am looking forward to more from the Pendergast series.

Great narration, unexpected story!

Taking place in the mid-90’s, a new “Superstition” exhibition is days away from opening at the New York Museum of Natural History when visitors are being murdered in the dark hallways. Agent Pendergast of the FBI comes to NYC from New Orleans to help Lieutenant D’Agosta (NYPD) to find out what is killing people. They get assistance from museum staff, Margo Green, Dr. Frock, and journalist William Smithback.

Off the bat, I loved the narration. They did some sound effects for when people were talking over the phone, intercom or down long corridors; I felt that it added an extra dimension to the story. I didn’t think that the plot was easy to predict, but in retrospect I think certain parts should have been more obvious to me. In the beginning I found Margo to be a bit boring and I wish there was more of Pendergast. I found all of the characters a little bit difficult to suss out in the beginning but sorted it out over time. Agent Coffee became very trying; I know his character was intended to annoy me but I think the combination of the voice the narrator gave him along with his character made him too over the top.

I really enjoyed this book, I think that if you enjoy sci-fi you will enjoy this book; it’s not too fantastical, at least not for the most part. I will be continuing on in this series, I look forward to enjoying more of Agent Pendergast.

Ready for a visit to the Museum of Natural History

I love the Pendergast mysteries. This is my second trip through the whole series. Pendergast is such a weird yet utterly likable, dare I say, believable, protagonist. The set of characters and situations that will appear in later books are nicely set up here.

I was not a fan of the style of performance.

I felt that the accents were over the top and it took away from my ability to stay with the story. Also the dramatization of phone and walkie-talkie type conditions turned me off.

Tippy

I travel by car long distances,
"The Relic" passed the 5 hr drives with ease

Thriller!

I started these books way out of order and became hooked so decided to start from the beginning. Not disappointed! I love scientific thrillers and I am really enjoying this series. Highly recommend.

love it!

It kept me listening into the night. It made me late for work one morning.

Loved it

I'd already read the book but I really enjoyed listening to this as well. The narrator did a really great job changing up the voices of each character.

Best performance in a longtime

No spoilers.

Story was exciting and held me throughout. A little tense and creepy at times, but a good plot nonetheless. The performance was spectacular! Love the audio changes like voices over a radio or echos in a tunnel. Made it such an immersive experience. Wish more books were produced this way. This was my first read of these authors. Looking forward to reading more!

Cool concept, a bit tediously delivered

I normally enjoy thrillers with unlikely or impossible science, and I'm not super picky about them. This one, I enjoyed the premise, but poor characterization left me wishing it would just end. The authors relied a bit too heavily on prototypes, I think, especially for the less likeable characters, of which there are many. The reading made almost all of the characters annoying-to-obnoxious with overblown accents and women's voices that sounded weak and whiny, even the heroine's. Consequently, what should have been a suspenseful final third of the novel just seemed interminable because I didn't really care about or care to spend any more time with any of the characters. The production added some cool things like echo and a couple of other subtle sound effects, but it wasn't enough to overshadow my desire to tell almost every single character, even the one's we're supposed to like, to shut up at one point or another.