The Cabinet of Curiosities

A Novel

By: Douglas Preston, Lincoln Child

Narrated by: Jonathan Marosz

Length: 17 hrs and 4 mins

Publisher's summary

Book 3 in the series. In an ancient tunnel underneath New York City a charnel house is discovered. Inside are 36 bodies all murdered and mutilated more than a century ago. While FBI agent Pendergast investigates the old crimes, identical killings start to terrorize the city. The nightmare has begun. Again.

©2012 Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child (P)2012 Hachette Audio

Pendergast at His Finest

We are back with Pendergast as we learn a little bit about his dark family history in The Cabinet of Curiosities. Great story that leads into the following books in the series and gives us new and intriguing characters to enjoy.

I'm hooked on Pendergast

I hesitated to start this series for several years thinking it was horror genre which I don't go for. In a sense I suppose it is "horror". But the unique character of Agent Pendergast is so entertaining I am now going thru the entire series. This was my 3rd.

Pendergast is a modern-day "Sherlock" for sure but with some Dirk Pitt and maybe even some Doc Savage mixed in. Definitely NOT "Reacher". There is no sex in this series, that I've found. Pendergast's eccentricities have carried each of the books I've read. P&C do go in for the ghoulish with regularity.

My narrator preference is Rene but the others are fine. There is some chronological order to the series but it is not critical. P&C treat each book as if the reader is just meeting "the man in the black suit" for the first time.

Pendergast is so unique I cannot imagine who might play him in as movie. You really should get to know him.... as much as anyone "gets to know Pendergast". :-)

A Background of Pendergast

What made the experience of listening to The Cabinet of Curiosities the most enjoyable?

I really enjoyed learning a little more about who Pendergast is and where he came from. His origins are still mysterious and I'm guessing more will be revealed over time. I found there was a nice balance of a focus on the individual story as well as some development of Pendergast as a character.

Who was your favorite character and why?

My favorite was O'Shannessy. Although he was somehow the only NYPD officer who had some common sense, I enjoyed his quick retorts and sense of humor. He was probably the only NYPD character that you could really like so perhaps I was cornered into it but gladly so.

What aspect of Jonathan Marosz’s performance would you have changed?

I'm not sure what it was, but I wasn't a huge fan. He was not bad by any means, but he wasn't amazing. Books like these need a strong narrator, which the first two in the series had. This performance on it's own is good but compared to the first two it feel short.

Any additional comments?

A few others mentioned it but thought I would too. The editing in this book is poor. There were at least 5 occasions were a line was repeated. It often came at times where there was a long character narrative which really threw me off. I can forgive one or two, but it is a little frustrating to have half a dozen in there.

Great Book... performance, meh

The reader did a phenomenal job of giving voice and life to all of the characters of this book. That being said, the way he uses an upward inflection at the end of sentences when narrating, leads to a feeling of general boredom with the story. As a listener, this is quite distracting.

Love the suspense.

If you could sum up The Cabinet of Curiosities in three words, what would they be?

Superb scientific suspense!

What did you like best about this story?

Scene description and character development

What three words best describe Jonathan Marosz’s performance?

Good character transitions

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Living forever has a price. Murder and madness.

excellent story

great stand alone entry in the Pendergast series. I really enjoyed it. Pendergast is a excellent detective/special agent.

Yet another chilling Pendergast novel.

Riveting and hard to put down. This one answers many of the Pendergast family backstory questions.

Bad editing

There were a lot of sections that included a sentence repeated. I doubt that's how it's written in the book. It was distracting.

Finally an unabridged audio version!

Preston, Child, Pendergast: always a winner.

The fun in this series is that the totally improbable fits nicely into the real world. Pendergast is unorthodox and the mysteries are weird, but it all seems to come together for an entertaining book.

This was the one missing piece in my Pendergast audible library. I look forward to each new installment.

Jonathan Marosz performed the narration well.

Great narration but technical repeats.

This narrator is just as good as Rene Aubergenois (sp?) with nuanced changes in vocal qualities for the different characters....Preston and Child tend to be a bit predictable, but the history and science introduced in each of the Pendergast novels make up for it...as in Dan Brown's work. The probably with this particular recording is that in at least seven instances there were 15-20 second segments that repeated themselves....Editors, pay attention!