Still Life with Crows

By: Douglas Preston, Lincoln Child

Narrated by: Scott Brick

Length: 15 hrs and 55 mins

Publisher's Summary

For the first time in unabridged audio!

A small Kansas town has turned into a killing ground. Is it a serial killer, a man with the need to destroy? Or is it a darker force, a curse upon the land? Amid golden cornfields, FBI Special Agent Pendergast discovers evil in the blood of America's heart.

©2004 Douglas Preston, Lincoln Child (P)2011 Hachette Audio

Critic Reviews

"As usual, Preston and Child deftly mix the real and the surreal, creating an atmosphere in which everything, for reasons we can't quite nail down, seems a tad off-kilter. Call it creeping paranoia, perhaps, or the dreadful certainty that something awful is about to happen. Whatever you call it, it's a recipe for success." ( Booklist)

SCARY, WEIRD, ENGAGING

Preston & Child know how to push my "creepy" buttons. Very good.

I would choose a different narrator. Narrator David Colacci did a much better job in "The Relic" - the first Pendergast novel.

14 of 15 people found this review helpful

Great escape

Still Life With Crows
by Preston & Child

WI/NWI-4 An old story well-told is always worth listening to again. The setting of the book, taking you into the corn, and the flawless and entertaining performance make this book definitely WI--worth it!

Plot-2 The plot of the book has been used a lot before, even from these authors themselves! It is predictable, and when the big "reveals" came up, I had known what was going to happen almost from the beginning.

Characterization-4 There were a lot of characters so it can be hard to remember the guy who just got eaten, but the main ones were developed well. Their super hero FBI agent was great, the sheriff is the small town hero and well done, and they have a character arc in the young girl who found herself. There is a bad guy and a monster. Gr8!

Violence-5 Huge, amazing, constant violence. Don't leave home without it.

Grossness-5 This is the main feature of this book. People and animals are killed, flayed, boiled, pulled limb-from limb and terrorized and tortured.

Sex-0 No sex, I'm afraid.

Supernatural Elements--2 They hint at supernatural abilities in the FBI agent Pendergast, that he can bring time up to the present. But they don't elaborate.

Crossing the Line-4 To me, crossing the line is brutal murdering animals (especially dogs), or children. Stephen King is the worst offender. Here, they hurt dogs and murder them, so they definitely cross the line of decency. If you are sensitive, skip this book.

Setting-5 This is so well done. I felt throughout the listen that I was in Kansas, in the deep corn, the caverns, in hot summer. A great escape.

Performance-5 Scott Brick is amazing. I can't get enough of him. He can change voices so fast that no mapping occurs--I can't hear the last voice in the new one. He never tires. What a pro!

23 of 27 people found this review helpful

Much more depth in the supporting characters.

I've been listening to the Pendergast books in order and except for the second one they've gotten better and better.

It's hard to say for sure how much better the story is because the narration on this book is so much better than the last two. But, what really made this one stand out form the earlier books is the depth of the characters. In previous novels I've been frustrated by the simple, stupid, bureaucratic top cop concept. In this book there are officers that do some not brilliant things but they aren't just motivated by glory or covering their own asses as in previous novels. The interactions feel more true to life and the storyline itself, while slightly gory, keeps you trying to figure out what's going on.

The setting is also unique in this book. Overall it was just much easier to get my head into it and it kept my attention throughout. I will be listening to the next book in the series.

7 of 8 people found this review helpful

Great Listen

This is the first Preston and Child book I have listened to and it is also the first time I found myself jumping at shadows and peeking around corners because of an odd sound. You are at the edge of your seat within minutes of listening and the characters became personal to me within a few chapters, a first key of great storywriting and Scott Brick ( not my first time listening to) brings the storywriting alive with the storytelling.
Creepy, eerie, funny and real, the story is easy to picture as it is being told wrapping you up in the puzzle ( if not trying to figure it out before being told) The only drawback is sometimes ( I have since read 2 other P and C books) the endings can get a little drawn out leaving the listener to roll their eyes and say outloud get on with it already.
BUT! This is a definate great book to listen to.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

great for most of the book

What made the experience of listening to Still Life with Crows the most enjoyable?

The scene was interestingly set with great characters

What did you like best about this story?

Pendergast. A classic Holmes-esque detective, with Amy being his Dr Watson

What about Scott Brick’s performance did you like?

He played the characters excellently.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

At first yes, but it struggled a bit in the last quarter

Any additional comments?

I really enjoyed the book, but when they were all running around in the caves at the end it became a bit incredible and farcical, and I was struggling to cope with all the new late introductions to the list of characters. The final unveiling of the villain was a bit hard to swallow. The epilogue was a nice return to form though

5 of 6 people found this review helpful

Finally the Whole Story

I have read and/or listened to every Preston/Child book. And Crows is one of my favorites, only out ranked by Cabinet of Curiosities. I was happy to see that they finally had an unabridged version available, and with Scott Brick you can't go wrong. Pendergast is the one of best characters in modern thrillers, here he shines. Great Read and Listen!!!!

29 of 38 people found this review helpful

Fairly Ridiculous

The premise for this entire story is rather silly. The set of circumstances that would allow such an event are far-fetched, to say the least. I had read a couple of the Pendergast novels prior to getting this one. I found those to be good, light tales for the purpose of diversion. I found myself unable to suspend belief with this one though. Its one saving grace was the narration by Scott Brick. I'm sure devotees of the series will love it...others may want to skip this one.

10 of 13 people found this review helpful

Not their best, not even in the top five

I wasn't very impressed with this one. Their books are starting to get a bit formulaic. It's like Scooby Doo: start the book with some intrigue and a hint that something paranormal is happening, then the good guys catch the bad guy and they realize the prosaic, pseudoscientific reality. A bit bland overall.

4 of 5 people found this review helpful

best suspense story of the year!

this novel was the best suspense audio book that I have listened to this year. If I could give it 6 stars, I would. The plot was well written, twisting and turning, keeping you on the edge of your seat...never boring...the characters were well developed and the descriptive powers of Preston and Childs brought everything to life for me....i.e. after the turkey packing plant description, I'm not sure if I'll ever eat turkey again! I had a clear picture in my mind of the whole setting and happenings. The narrator, Scott Brick was also excellent. I never got tired of his voice and he performed all the characters without flaw. If you are looking for a unique detective story that keeps you listening until the wee hours of the night, then this is the book for you. This is how all audio books should be!
enjoy!

19 of 27 people found this review helpful

It was a Miserable little Town of Miserable People

Once again all the cops are red neck idiots and they need Aleysius Xingu Leng Pendergast to set them straight. When push comes to shove the cops become sniveling little cry babies. (I sure hope Preston or Child get that parking ticket straightened out.)

If you are a die hard Pendergast or P/C fan, then you will not like this review so do yourself a favor, mark not helpful and move on.

This starts out slow like most P/C novels. At chapter 17 it gets real good and stays that way to chapter 38. Then like most P/C novels there is a four hour chase scene, to come to a conclusion that everyone, but an idiot from a small town in Kansas has figured out. That's if you go with the cliche way in which Kansas small town people are treated in this book. All the characters are miserable, not a happy person in the town.

From the way the small Kansas town is described, I do not believe Preston and Child have ever been in Kansas. The timeline is somewhere after 2002, yet everybody is driving AMC gremlins and Hornets. AMC went out of business in 1987. If you go to Kansas, as I do once a week, you will find they drive mostly Ford and Chevy pickup trucks, especially in farming communities as this is suppose to be. The town is surrounded by cornfields and they want this company to come in and plant evil genetically modified corn to provide more jobs. The main employer is a Turkey processing plant. Hello P&C, Turkey Processing Plants are built next to Turkey Farms, not cornfields. If you have a Turkey Processing Plant then you will also have a large Mexican American Community or Illegal Aliens. You might have a diner in town, which serves meat and potatoes as describe, but you will also have at least one Mexican Restaurant. It's sign will be hand painted in Green and Red. A girl who lives in a trailer park will not have a neighbor with built in lawn sprinklers. The church will not be Lutheran it will be Catholic.

Pendergast does his going back in time thing again. It is explained as a thing called Chongg Ran, which is taught in Tibet. Essentially if you do lots of research and study this Chongg Ran, you will be able to go into a trance and go back to any time and you will see what should have happened. According to Preston and Child, Chongg Ran has never been published it is a secret teaching and is only taught orally to other monks and Preston and Child. In other words they made it up. May be in the next book Pendergast will do some Remote Viewing.

I did give this three stars and it does have some great parts, it is just to bad it is surrounded by Cliches, Long Chase scenes and boring miniscule descriptions about law enforcement. No one cares about the politics they keep putting into these books.

About the narrator. I have made plain before how I feel about Scott Brick. It is hard to explain his style. You know how you have listened to some narrators who are monotone and every line is read the same boring way. Brick is exactly the opposite. Every sentence is read as it is the most exciting thing in the world. In one part he reads about Pendergast picking up a phone and putting it back in the cradle. It is read like The Eagle Has Landed!!!!. Sixteen hours of everything is stupendously exciting is draining. Having said that SB was probably the best person to read this, as he really captures the whole everyone is a miserable character aspect.

33 of 48 people found this review helpful

Most enjoyable Pendergast so far...

This is the fourth book in the Preston/Child Pendergast series. For me it has been the best and most enjoyable so far. The first two thirds are particularly gripping. Good dialogue, great characters and a nice portrayal of a small town in the middle of nowhere.

As things build towards a climax however, a few of the characters, sometimes start to behave in less convincing ways. For example (and without providing spoilers) - why would someone, already scared, in a large empty factory, at night, in the middle of a storm and knowing there's a particularly nasty murderer in town - decide that certain noises are kids larking about? Really? There's sometimes a little too much of that sort of thing which leaves me feeling unconvinced at times.

Another slight irritation - and this is something more prevalent in the earlier books at times - is how highly trained teams of people are so easily and repeatedly despatched by rather unsophisticated forces of darkness.

However, all said and done - it's a fun story with some great characters introduced who are pretty convincing and often very amusing. Pendergast, the character that ties all of the books together, is both entertaining and mysterious. Bit by bit we are seeing his back story unfold more with each story.

Scott Brick's narration was, for me, perfect for the story.

If you have found the earlier stories enjoyable - I think you'll definitely find this a great listen.

Excellent - the best Pendergast... So far

I loved the 'darkness' of the story. Pendergast was his usual mysterious self. Most of the series that I have listen to so far are good and this is one of the best.

great story, easier listen than previous books

it is easy to listen to this one, good plot and is still very entertaining

American history

A killer afoot with a complex modus operandi, a massive storm and Agent Pendergast!
This is the next in the series and puts Pendergast front and centre along with a bunch of very grisly murders.
The plot works for the most part, and it's fast paced and scary. However, the murderer reveal and end seemed a bit off, but doesn't spoil the story. Recommended for Pendergast fans and goths!

Greeeaaattttt!!!!!

A really good listen - the narrator Scott Brick is very good at the various voices and change of character, does Pendergast really well. All must read.

Great novel!

I read a bunch of reviews on line and this one seems like a fan favorite!
If this is what happens when Pendergast goes on vacation; I really wouldn't want to go on a cruise with him.
The endless quiet rural Kansas landscape becomes an isolating, terrifying place.

Corn fields are always scary!!!!

A small town is gradually dying, economically, and now, through its population. While the council try to bring money back in through a grant with the university genetic corn program, something freaky is stalking the populace, bumping them off in apparent ritualistic styles.