Author: Preston & Child
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Genre: Dark Mystery
Unique Elements: Super resourceful modern sleuth and brilliant protégé deal with dark and occult murders.
Series: Agent Pendergast series, #16
Release Date: October 18, 2016
Number of Pages: 416 pages
MSRP: $28.00 Hardcover/Audio ; $14.99 eBook
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Purchase Site: Click Here
Reviewed by: J.T. Hanke
Final Score: 5 Moons (out of 5)
After the events of Crimson Shore, Agent Pendergast is lost at sea and presumed dead. A grieving Constance returns to the Riverside mansion in NYC to the care of loyal housekeeper Mrs. Trask and resourceful bodyguard Proctor.
Unable to deal with her guilt and sorrow in the topside world, she retreats to the underground catacombs that she knows best.
But when a shadowy spectre from the past knocks out Proctor and kidnaps Constance, he’ll have to go on a global chase to rescue her before she ends up dead—or worse.
Story
The story arc of The Obsidian Chamber is rather unique within the Pendergast books, because, in some ways, it feels like the film, Pulp Fiction, exploring different stories following connected people in different timelines, rather than interweaving them all together. While there is definitely some interweaving as time goes on, this bifurcation of the early stories works quite well in a cinematic way—driving home the suspense. Literally “a gripping page turner”, I found myself compulsively pulled along, having to know what happened next, long after I knew I SHOULD go to bed.
Due to the dynamics (which I’ll discuss more in depth later), the ending is actually quite logical and fairly cathartic, while still leaving a hanging thread that whispers that this book is in fact book two of a trilogy. As the book is directly tied with Crimson Shore, the trilogy assumption seems safe to make—and the strength of this novel upholds that notion. (While there are a few standalone books in this series that haven’t been as strong as the rest of the books, the two trilogies they’ve done—Diogenes and Helen—have been dynamite.)
Dynamics
I’ve had some issues with Preston and Child’s Gideon Crew books in regards to their dynamics because, frankly, Gideon Crew needs a team—and doesn’t interact believably by himself. When it comes to Pendergast, however, they understand his need of both solitary work and elite team dynamics quite well. This allows him to ply his trade as a social engineer, but also to see how he must rely on his friends and associates. In the last few books, the dynamics involving Constance have ramped up, not just between Constance and Pendergast, but also between Constance and the outside world.
In this book, dynamics are explored in a somewhat new way, as each of three main characters has his/her own story and dynamic relationships within that story, staying largely separated from the other main characters. These main three protagonists are Proctor, Constance, and Pendergast. (The kidnapper also has a dynamic relationship that reveals a lot, but that relationship is connected directly to Constance so that they’re not listed separately.) Each of these dynamic arrangements within the story show more of these characters’ strengths, flaws, and areas of growth.
Although there were a lot of places I really wanted them to explore in this book in terms of possible dynamic arrangements, I never felt terribly frustrated when they didn’t because the interpersonal dynamics and revelations justified the outcomes as they happened.
Gothic Fit
In a series that we’ve called one of the most Gothic modern mystery series, it’s possible that The Obsidian Chamber might be one of THE most Gothic. (Even the revelation of what the Obsidian Chamber actually is should connect with anyone who’s ever felt outcast and disconnected from others.) The extremely complex emotions that this book delves into, from rage and hate to forgiveness and redemption, exemplify the dark romanticism of our community.
Further, Preston & Child’s continued exploration of women being just as brilliant, deadly, and capable of dealing damage as men (if not more) also reflects our worldview and sentiments well. (If you enjoyed the concepts explored within the first season of the Netflix show, Jessica Jones, then you will definitely enjoy the twists in this book.)
Closing Thoughts
Fellow fans of the previous Pendergast books will definitely want to snatch this up as soon as possible. Newcomers to the series are advised to start with Cabinet of Curiosities and work their way up to this one, as major plot points in most of the preceding books are touched on in this book. (At the very least, read The Crimson Shore before this.)
Additionally, we all have something to be excited for in the world of Pendergast beyond the books, as the ‘Pendergast’ TV show has finally been greenlit. In development by Walking Dead Producer Gale Ann Hurd, and her Valhalla Entertainment company for release through SpikeTV. Season 1 of the show is rumored to explore the events of Cabinet of Curiosities, which is a pretty smart move, in my opinion. We have reached out to Spike TV to get more information about when the expected premiere air date may be and what actors have been cast, but that information isn’t currently available. With the lack of available information, I would imagine the soonest we could be seeing a show would be Fall of 2017, but more likely sometime in 2018, but that’s just a guess. We’ll update you as we have more info in the future!
Story: 5.0 Moons (out of 5)
Dynamics: 5.0 Moons (out of 5)
Gothic Fit: 5.0 Moons (out of 5)
Final Score (not an average): 5.0 Moons (out of 5)
