Crimson Shore

By: Douglas Preston, Lincoln Child

Narrated by: Rene Auberjonois

A secret chamber.
A mysterious shipwreck.
A murder in the desolate salt marshes.

A seemingly straightforward private case turns out to be much more complicated-and sinister-than Special Agent A.X.L. Pendergast ever could have anticipated.
Pendergast, together with his ward Constance Greene, travels to the quaint seaside village of Exmouth, Massachusetts, to investigate the theft of a priceless wine collection. But inside the wine cellar, they find something considerably more disturbing: a bricked-up niche that once held a crumbling skeleton.

Pendergast and Constance soon learn that Exmouth is a town with a very dark and troubled history, and this skeleton may be only the first hint of an ancient transgression, kept secret all these years. But they will discover that the sins of the past are still very much alive. Local legend holds that during the 1692 witch trials in Salem, the real witches escaped, fleeing north to Exmouth and settling deep in the surrounding salt marshes, where they continued to practice their wicked arts. Then, a murdered corpse turns up in the marshes. The only clue is a series of mysterious carvings. Could these demonic symbols bear some relation to the ancient witches' colony, long believed to be abandoned?

A terrible evil lurks beneath the surface of this sleepy seaside town-one with deep roots in Exmouth's grim history. And it may be that Constance, with her own troubled past, is the only one who truly comprehends the awful danger that she, Pendergast, and the residents of Exmouth must face . . .

My favorite series turns cliff-hanger?

Any additional comments?

This is by far my favorite book series. Two things that made me take off one star.

1) The ending seemed like a cliff-hanger that left the book unfinished in my opinion.
2) They brought back my least favorite of their characters at the ending, which mean he'll be prominent the the next book. Oh well...

Having said that, it was a great Pendergast book well worth reading!

NOOOOO! How can you do this to us?!?

Beware: you'll be left hanging until the next one comes out. If you're not into delayed gratification, have little patience, and can't stand prolonged suspense - if you're like me in other words, you might want to wait to read this one until the next one is already out. Every female, and some male, readers know _THEY_ would be the only perfect match for our beloved A.X.L., so how can the authors even hint at another possible interest?

solid offering

about what you expect from a pendergast book, low peripheral character development though entertaining in the usual manner.

Keeps you on the edge of your seat

Our favorite FBI agent returns when he agrees to take a private investigation into missing wine. Things are not what they seem and Pendergast soon finds much more than he bargained for. Constance is along to assist with the investigation and after the initial mystery is solved, a deeper mystery is revealed involving a coven of witches that fled Salem during the time of the witch trials. Preston and Child end the book on a cliff hanger and I for one can't wait for the continuation.

Classic Preston Child, always a good yarn!

Love the books in print, and hearing the story audibly makes for hours of great entertainment.