Crooked River

By: Douglas Preston, Lincoln Child

Narrated by: Jefferson Mays

Length: 13 hrs and 1 min

Publisher's Summary

Racing to uncover the mystery of several light green-shoe-clad severed feet found floating in the Atlantic, Agent Pendergast is faced with most inexplicable challenge of his career in this installment of the number one New York Times best-selling series.

A startling crime with dozens of victims.

Appearing out of nowhere to horrify the quiet resort town of Sanibel Island, Florida, dozens of identical, ordinary-looking shoes float in on the tide and are washed up on the tropical beach - each one with a crudely severed human foot inside. 

A ghastly enigma with no apparent solution.

Called away from vacation elsewhere in the state, Agent Pendergast reluctantly agrees to visit the crime scene - and, despite himself, is quickly drawn in by the incomprehensible puzzle. An early pathology report only adds to the mystery. With an ocean of possibilities confronting the investigation, no one is sure what happened, why, or from where the feet originated. And they desperately need to know: Are the victims still alive? 

A worthy challenge for a brilliant mind.

In short order, Pendergast finds himself facing the most complex and inexplicable challenge of his career: a tangled thread of evidence that spans seas and traverses continents, connected to one of the most baffling mysteries in modern medical science. Through shocking twists and turns, all trails lead back to a powerful adversary with a sadistic agenda and who - in a cruel irony - ultimately sees in Pendergast the ideal subject for their malevolent research.

©2020 Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child (P)2020 Grand Central Publishing

Critic Reviews

"Jefferson Mays gives a sensationally entertaining performance of this latest entry in Preston and Child's Pendergast mystery series. Mays's dry cultured elocution perfectly represents Pendergast's personality.... The real tour de force in Mays's performance is his utter attention and commitment to the plot. He is your perfect partner in suspending disbelief, the open sesame to the pleasures of this kind of high-voltage blam-pow adventure. Kudos." (AudioFile magazine)

Extremely Entertaining

Crooked River is book 19 in the addictive Pendergast series of Mystery Thrillers by best-selling duo of authors Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. I’ve been listening to these audiobooks since the beginning, when the narrators were Dick Hill and Scott Brick, both of them fantastic voiceover artists, but for the past decade the stories were brought to us by the extremely talented actor Rene Auberjonois. He ended up rerecording even a few previous novels and to date only the first three audiobooks in the series are not performed by him…

Sadly, Rene Auberjonois passed away recently and both Star Trek fans and Pendergast fans will miss him dearly. We are left with his stellar performances and he will live forever in our hearts!

Crooked River reminds me of the old-school Pendergast novels, like Still Life with Crows, which you can listen anytime performed by Rene… The story follows once again FBI Special Agent Aloysius Pendergast who after he reluctantly accepts to take a look at a truely disturbing crime scene is pulled into a dangerus investigation.

The action is fast paced and moves swiftly from a quiet beach resort to Asia, to Mexico and so on, but at the same time a new dilemma hunts Agent Pendergast and those helping him at every step of the way.

Filled with returning beloved characters and new ones, beautifully written and extremely addictive, Crooked River is another unputdownable, over the top adventure from a team that never disappoints. The only thing bad about it, if I can call it that, is that it ends…

I want to congratulate whoever is responsible for casting Jefferson Mays to record this audiobook! He does an unbelievable job in slipping seemlessly into this role. It’s clear that Mr. Mays has listened to Rene performing the other books in this series and that he is doing his best to emulate Rene’s acting style and is a huge sign of respect made towards us, the fans, the listeners.

What I dredded it could be a painful transition, from Rene to a new actor, has revealed to be a painless experience and for that I can only but congratulate and give a big thumbs up to Jefferson Mays for his passion and dedication in bringing us this such a great performance!

So, if you like Thrillers, Mysteries, Suspense or Crime stories, you can’t go wrong with Crooked River or with any other book in this series. Now, all we need to do is to wait another year for the next one, book 20!

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Thank you,
Victor

WOW!!!! This book is EXCELLENT!!!!

Less than one minute into this book and a child finds what he thinks is the prototype of a new shoe. This is followed by screaming and the realization that the shoe contains an amputated foot.
Scroll forward and there are over 100 shoes with feet still in them. The question is: where did they come from?
Pendergast is teamed up once again with the native America Agent Coldmoon. Coldmoon follows leads from the US to Guatemala to Mexico and back to the United States. By then Pendergast has been abducted and Roger Smithback (the journalist) has just escaped. Meanwhile in China another agent working another aspect of the case has been tortured and murdered. And then there’s Constance. What would Pendergast do without her?
This book is crazy fast paced.
Jefferson Mays does a fantastic job narrating.
This book has my HIGHEST RECOMMENDATION.
If you found this review helpful please indicate so.
Thank You.

Too Political

I have been a Pendergast fan for years. I was disappointed with the thinly veiled political views put forth in thins book. If you believe all Republicans are Nazi’s that believe illegal Aliens have no human value then this book is for you! I really wish the people involved in movies / books would simply involve themselves in entertainment rather than politics. This book is similar to prior Pendergast, but the author seems to be unable to avoid obvious Democratic views. The very large Republican View is respect the law, work hard and take advantage of what is available to all in America. I’m disappointed in the author’s obvious view that there is an underlying American View that genocide of central or South American people is acceptable. Fiction should be left to true fiction. I humbly request that Hollywood and all writers please focus on entertainment rather than their narrow view of current politics. We don’t all agree & that is absolutely OK and our inalienable right as Americans. The current status of all Americans beings concerned about expressing their real views, for any reason, is more concerning than authors personal political views. We don’t have to agree, however we only need to agree that we are all are absolutely entitled to our own opinion and to respect the opinions of all Americans! I hope the next novel is fiction rather than quasi-political BS.

Crooked River.

I was a fan of both Pendergast and Rene Auberjonios and was so pleased when they came together for so long. (I went effectively blind 7 years ago so audiobooks it is) Now mourning Rene’s passing I was faced with Crooked River.
Jefferson Mays reminds me of his predecessor (They have the same accent and similar cadences). The story is superb. Pendergast is on a wonderfully macabre case. I it seems like Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child have given us a phenomenal Pendergast book. Almost like one of the old ones (Still Life. Cabinet of Curiosities. Relic. Or pick your favorite three lol) The day flew by.
Rest In Peace Rene Auburjonion. Jefferson Mays thank you for accepting the torch. I hope you so stick around.

Very Disappointing

I look forward to the next Pendergast installment each year. I was a little concerned after the death of Rene Auberjonois. However, Jefferson Mays was OK. Although Mr. Mays is a genius with multi characters his talents were not used well for this book.
The main issue was that the story was weak and virtually none of the talents and uniqueness of Pendergast were used. He was just an OK detective in this story. I hope that Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child go back to the things that made the Pendergast series outstanding for future books.

No foot to stand on here.

First let me say this. Jefferson Mays did an awesome job. Awesome. I'm already looking for other books that he has narrated. Now, I will tell you why I am returning this book. I love Pendergast. I have either read or listened to every book that has his name in it. Some I totally liked and have listened to over and over again and some I just cannot get into no matter how hard I try.

Some people like Constance and some people don't. I like her well enough but not as a person of love interest where Pendergast is concerned. She seems to have an effect on any man she comes in contact with. I know it's because she is beautiful, and looks somewhat delicate but I think they are also attracted by her wealth of knowledge. Some people think she would be the perfect mate for Pendergast. I don't. Constance, to me, is in no way a weak person that needs protecting. She proved that with her interactions with Diogenes. Everything is supposed to be okay with her, Diogenes and Pendergast? Why?

I keep holding on wishing that D'Agosta and Hayward would come back. Or Corrie, Viola (Pendergast sent her away....why?) I'm still trying to understand why they killed Bill Smithback way back when. He and Dr. Nora were such a good team. Corrie was good in her own book. I'm hoping maybe Diogenes went away and is planning yet another diabolical action.

I'm half way thru this book and I have given up. There are two stories working here and somehow neither one is going anywhere. Would I purchase another book from these two men? You bet I would. I like them. I just don't like this story.

Welcome Jefferson Mays

I loved Rene Auberjonois & I will miss him.
Jefferson Mays is amazing. It is not jarring listening to him, he is very similar to Rene.
We listen because we enjoy Agent Pendergast & you will not be disappointed.

Not the usual

I was very disappointed with this story and the narrator. Every character sounded the same. The story seemed more a cops and robbers thing than his usual mysterious and sometimes occult and fantasy. Even the relationships seemed somewhat stilted. More of a James Bond then Sherlock Holmes only not as exciting. I hope they get some new ideas cause I really miss the old Pendergast, the mansion and New York.

BRAVO! BRAVO! BRAVO!

I love Pendergast, Constance and Moon - strong characters that have become real. The three prong plot made it extremely interesting. Mays is an excellent reader. I can’t wait for the next book to come out.

These have gotten boring

I think this'll have to be my last Pendergast book. This was so boring. I didnt care about anything that was happening. I stayed around hoping something interesting would happen. It never did. Sigh.