Posted By JT Hanke on Nov 11, 2013 | 1 comment

Author: Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing/Hachette Book Group
Genre: Noir/Suspense Mystery
Unique Elements: Independently wealthy FBI agent with a compulsion to solve brutal psychotic killings.
Series: Agent Pendergast
Release Date: November 12, 2013
Number of Page: 368 Pages
MSRP: $27.00 (Hard cover); $10.99 (Digital)
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Reviewed by: J.T. Hanke
Final Score: 3.5 out of 5 Moons

When Corrie Swanson–the Gothic protégé of the enigmatic FBI Agent, A.X.L. Pendergast–decides to dig into the mystery of a strange set of bodies dating back to the 1800’s in a high priced ski community in Colorado, things get tangled as soon as she steps into town.

A victim of small town politics in a town filled with billionaire developers and sharks, Corrie discovers that trying to delve into this town’s past may turn up more skeletons than the ones she’s looking for—and that there are those who are happy to make new corpses to keep the old ones buried!

Yet her problems are only just beginning, for not only will she have to free herself from the legal snares she’s unwittingly tripped, but she’ll have to survive a serial arsonist on the loose who’s turning the town into a tinder box! And, when her self-appointed guardian shows up on the scene, she finds that she’s anxious to free herself from his mechanations—as well as his strange theory that the killings may be connected to a lost Sherlock Holmes’ tale.

Story

As a longtime fan of the Pendergast series, I’ve been awaiting White Fire with eagerness since the last page of Two Graves was concluded. The cathartic conclusion of the last book finished off a lot of family drama, but left a lot of things open for the future. As such, when I heard that the new book actually featured his pupil, Corrie, I was very excited, since she was introduced in Still Life with Crows, which could be one of the best Pendergast tales to date, in my opinion. (I still think Fever Dream might have my favorite overall mix of chemistry, but Pendergast is much more readily in his element in that book, whereas he’s an underdog in Still Life with Crows.) When I had a chance to interview the authors and found out that part of the story was based on a real life conversation between Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Oscar Wilde in London, I was even more intrigued. (For new readers, the Pendergast saga has paid countless homages to Doyle’s mythical detective, Sherlock Holmes, going so far as to give character names—like Pendergast’s brother, Diogenes—based on places in the Holmes’ canon and to provide selected personalities who are very reflective of characters in the world of 221B Baker Street. As such, finally having more direct connections—especially ones signed off on by the estate of Conan Doyle—is really impressive.)

The exploration of Corrie in the lead on a case is very interesting, as it involved more proactive behavior on her part than she’s shown in the past. The exploration into Sherlock Holmes by Pendergast and the discovery of a “brand new” story (which allowed the authors to write the ultimate fan fiction and have it officially sanctioned) is very impressive, as well. And, of course, the inclusion of the actual historical interaction between Doyle and Wilde is entrancing, especially since it seems to have a decent basis for Wilde inspiring some of Holmes’ most notorious vices and, potentially, giving a root for Doyle’s The Hound of Baskervilles.

With that said, while there were many pieces of the story that were outstanding, the actual story felt oddly disconnected. It was almost as though there were portions of three separate novels tied together and, while there were areas where they overlapped and reinforced each other, they didn’t feel as though they were part of a whole. At times it felt like characters were behaving in ways that didn’t seem natural to them so that the story could progress–but they weren’t pleased with it. (Corrie, especially, ends up making decisions that seem even more foolish than when we first meet her in Medicine Creek as a rash 16 year old, which is very puzzling since White Fire is the third Pendergast saga she’s been a part of and clearly she’s been trying to learn from her mentor for over four years now.)

Further, having read the entire series (and reading this one twice, once in Galley and once in final print version), the current ending is entirely too similar to the ending of Still Life with Crows for comfort. (Some levity is brought up about this at the very end of the book, but the similarities are just so blatant that it needed to be heavily addressed by Corrie early on—perhaps as a perpetual feeling of déjà vu, but, even then, I’m not sure that would’ve salvaged it.) Of course, for readers who are completely new to the series, this obviously won’t be a concern.

Dynamics

Watching Pendergast’s masterful combination of Sherlock Holmes’ deductions and Burn Notice’s Michael Weston-style interpersonal manipulations is always an amazing thing, because you never know what’s going to happen next. In this book we see Pendergast meet his match in an opponent who can neither be coerced nor blackmailed, while we see Corrie Swanson doing her best to pull off some of Pendergast’s signature moves.

Despite the great moments we have in this book (including a city hall meeting in which Pendergast formally accuses the mayor, police chief, and leading council members of collective grave robbing), the overall dynamics between the main characters feels strangely off in White Fire.

In the case of Corrie, as I mentioned before, we find her making even more foolhardy decisions four years after Pendergast has met and worked with her than she did at the time he first came into contact with her.

The authors appeared to be trying to explore the Yoda/Luke relationship that’s developed between Corrie and Pendergast, which is why there is a lot of exploration of Corrie’s resenting Pendergast trying to bail her out when she gets into trouble and watch over her, but the interactions felt strained in a non-organic way. (While they try to deal with the notion of her not wanting to be overshadowed by the man, I would’ve love to see more direct interaction between them about this topic—maybe having him push her until she tears into him, and then have him lose his cool detachment long enough to actually answer some hard questions, rather than shrug them off and move along.)

Sadly, Corrie is also prevented from having some “Save the Cat” moments which would’ve given the audience a lot more empathy for her character and made it easier to look past bad decisions. Originated by Blake Snyder, the term refers to moments where a protagonist stops trying to push forward the story to help someone or something weaker than him or her because they need help (ie stopping to save a cat).  It permits the audience to empathize with that character in a way nothing else does. Most notably, this could’ve been accomplished through Captain Stacy Bowdree–a young, retired female air force captain with PTSD who helps Pendergast bail Corrie out of a jam fairly early in the book.

While Corrie has some moments where she helps Stacy out, most of her help for the woman comes out as blatantly self-serving and very temporary. I would have loved to have seen Corrie see herself in the other woman and reach out to the older—but even more lost—woman in a way that shows she understands that they’re both outcasts who struggle with anger, depression, and self-loathing. This could’ve been a great way for Corrie to pay forward some of the things Pendergast has done in her own life into Captain Bowdree’s—and would’ve allowed Corrie to show the audience that she really has grown and that Pendergast is right to see something in her.

Pendergast, normally a riot to just watch, because you never know what he’s going to do, seems almost churlish for most of the book—like an actor who’s being forced to be in a third film because he’s under contract. Pendergast has moments where he really shines, but, at other times, he seems like he just resents the fact that his friends talked him out of killing himself in Two Graves.

Further, when asked by Corrie why he cares about her and why she’s so important to him that he’ll fly around the world to come to her aid, the most he can mutter is something to the effect that she might be a good law enforcement person someday. (The audience of course assumes that there’s something about her that reminds him of himself, but, again, it’s never clarified, which is a serious problem when she’s making so many choices that say she’s learned nothing from the previous books. As Pendergast is the strong silent type, if he can’t say what’s inside to Corrie, perhaps the authors could take a page from the Wheel of Darkness book and have him use his memory palace not to replay historical mysteries, but work through why he cares about Corrie verbally—what he really sees in her, so that we, as the audience, can see that in her, too.)

However, maybe the thing that seemed most off is that, in many ways, Pendergast is expected to go back to the role of clever sidekick he was first introduced as during Relic. His character, however, is so alpha in behavior and leadership, that he was already taking over by Reliquary, and he’s pretty much been running the show ever since. I suspect he could only really play backup to someone who he sees as being more advanced than he is—perhaps someone like Eli Glinn, though even that is questionable—so him being forced to do so for Corrie, especially when she’s making very childish decisions, seems to have put him in a foul mood.

The only time Pendergast really seems to be enjoying his role in this book is when he journeys to England to work with an old Oxford chum to dig up the lost Sherlock Holmes story he believes holds the key to the case. This fish out of water vignette is also where he runs into the first woman he can’t manipulate at all—thus earning his respect (and allowing a clever reiteration of the Conan Doyle quote: “…she was always the woman.”). In retrospect, I was left feeling somewhat sad that more of the book didn’t just explore this story arc instead—maybe even having it be an entire mystery in England. (And maybe that extremity of distance might’ve taken Corrie far enough out of her comfort zone to make her really slow down.)

Gothic Fit

It’s been said that “the person of Gothic sensibility has a belief that there is something useful—even something noble—to be found in the dark things of life, especially those things that are shunned by—or taboo to—society at large.”

In this regard, Pendergast will always be a Gothic protagonist, as his demons drive him to explore and stop the darkest creatures, to uncover the most brutal of mysteries, and to delve into places others are afraid to tread. (In proof of that last notion, so disturbing is the nature of the crimes in this book that Chapter 11—which is the only one to go in-depth into the brutal slayings that occur by the mystery arsonist—was written solely by Douglas Child; co-author Douglas Preston refused to read it due to its graphic nature. Having read through it twice, I do have to admit, I had to gloss over a few parts myself.)

When Corrie is at her cleverest, she’s a Gothic dream and the inclusion of such well respected literary figures from Gothic literature as The Portrait of Dorian Gray’s Oscar Wild and A Study in Scarlet’s Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, just makes things all the sweeter. The officially sanctioned fan fic that explores an even darker Holme’s mystery is the icing on the cake, of course!

Closing Thoughts

There are many amazing components and elements in White Fire, and, while it may not be my favorite Pendergast tale, I think anyone who’s a fan of the series will definitely want to pick this one up and give it a whirl—at the very least for the intriguing take on a new Holmes’ story and to see Pendergast roll snake eyes on a social interaction. With that said, if you’re new to the series, I would highly recommend that you start with Cabinet of Curiosities and Still Life with Crows to really get a feel for Pendergast and move up from there!

Story: 3.5 Moons (out of 5.0)
Dynamics: 2.5 Moons (out of 5.0)
Gothic Fit: 5.0 Moons (out of 5.0)
Final Score (not an average): 3.5 Moons (out of 5.0)