Review: ‘The Obsidian Chamber’

I thought Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child were off their game a bit in 'Crimson Shore” and said as much in a review in The Gazette. A couple of friends disagreed and let me know about it.

They shouldn't have to reach out with displeasure this time. All is well in 'The Obsidian Chamber,” (Grand Central Publishing, $28, 403 pages), which picks up right where 'Crimson Shore” left off.

FBI Special Agent A.X.L. Pendergast is missing off the coast of Massachusetts and presumed dead. His ward, Constance Greene, is grieving back in Manhattan when she's whisked away by a kidnapper. Pendergast's factotum, Proctor, is immediately off in a globe-trotting pursuit that goes everywhere and leads nowhere.

Well, it wouldn't be much of an Agent Pendergast novel without Pendergast would it? So I'm not revealing a major plot point when I report that he's back with a plausible-enough return to action, and he quickly sets about figuring out who did what and to whom.

What faithful readers of this 16-book series thrive on is very much in evidence in 'The Obsidian Chamber.” With the exception of an inexplicable and annoying exchange between Pendergast and a jewelry store executive, the authors deliver a captivating novel that fully engages with clever plotting and continued deft character development. The narrative builds suspensefully to a thrilling conclusion that gives way to a properly enigmatic setup to the next adventure.

A trail of previous characters are mentioned along the way, which lends a nice touch of nostalgia to this installment in the series, and a main Pendergast adversary is reintroduced and dispatched in a way that lets us believe we haven't witnessed the last of him. In doing so, Pendergast apparently burns a bridge between him and a character with whom he has had a relationship since they served together in the 'Ghost Company” of the U.S. Special Forces.

All of this enhances the web of mystery that surrounds Pendergast and endears him to his legion of fans in the thriller genre. And there's no end in sight to the interesting ways his creators can choose to engage him.