014-8

I enjoyed this installment because Agent Pendergast found himself in Kansas trying to solve a bizarre series of murders. ( )

You can smell the farmland and hear the Kansas winds rustling through fields of corn as the erudite FBI agent with a touch of the supernatural about him, Pendergast, brings to the heartland his dark suit, 1959 Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith, and seemingly endless knowledge of the strange and otherworldly.

Squeezed between The Cabinet of Curiosities and Brimstone, two of the best in the series, Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child created another terrific novel that is part mystery, part thriller, and part horror story. Other than Relic/Reliquary and Dance of Death/Book of the Dead, which are best read in conjunction with each other, the series can basically be read as stand-alone novels. Readers who had, however, been following this intriguing series since the first one, had very high expectations because of the prior efforts. Fortunately those expectations are met in Still Life With Crows.

Pendergast is solo this time out, with only allusions to Wren, an ill-gotten inheritance, and his urgent need to return to New York connecting in any way to the incredible amount of history readers of the series know so well. Though I recommend reading from the beginning, Still Life With Crows makes an adequate introduction to the series because the focus here is mainly on Pendergast himself, who you need to know the most about to "get" the series.

Pendergast shows up in Kansas shortly after a ritual killing in a cornfield, and immediately we are immersed in a story as gripping as it is enjoyable. Though on vacation, Pendergast unofficially looks into a case with supernatural aspects dating back to a Cheyenne massacre by "ghost warriors" in the late nineteenth century. Immediately at odds with Sheriff Hazen, Pendergast investigates in his own unorthodox style -- which includes something akin to remote viewing -- as things become evermore gruesome on the Plains.

A new type of corn for which the town is competing in an effort to remain alive, and a serial killer unlike any Pendergast has encountered create urgency and tension. Humor abounds as well; albeit dark at times, but hilarious nonetheless. Pendergast enlists a blue-haired outcast named Corrie as his secretary. Scenes of her driving Pendergast around in her beat up Gremlin bring a smile to the reader's face. A deadly chase through caverns goes terribly wrong and gruesomely bloody, leading to an exciting and horrific conclusion. Like all the entries in this incredibly entertaining series, it is obvious some of the relationships will linger and spill over into other books.

Atmospheric, exciting, horrific, and with more character-driven humor than readers of a novel about dark and horrific crimes in America's heartland have any right to expect, this is a great read, and can be enjoyed even if you have not read any prior entries. However, this recommendation comes with a caveat. Still Life With Crows is a very unusual entry in the series (up to this point) in that all the characters readers had come to love, from Margo to D'Agosta, are nowhere to be found. Usually, at least a couple of the main planets orbiting the world of Pendergast are involved in the enthralling stories, if not all.

While I enjoyed this one a great deal, this eventually became the norm for the series and I stopped reading it. Unlike many, who complained about keeping track of so many characters and divergent things going on, this was one of the aspects I liked best about the series. As the cast was trimmed, possibly to accommodate those readers -- and probably make the books less involved to write -- some characters seemed to disappear into the woodwork, others only occasionally making a cameo appearance. The series eventually lost some of that which I loved about it. There are several books before this happens, however, and I highly recommend this one. The final scene will remind readers with a knowledge of such things, of a pulp story of weird menace. A great read! ( )

I do quite enjoy Agent Pendergast, but there still seems to be something missing and I can't put my finger on it. Something is lacking, both in the character, and the books. Pendergast will never reach John Corey status to me, and the books, I don't think, will ever get a five star rating. Somehow the books lack a, how do I define it, umm, a quality that makes it so that I don't want to put the book down. Avid readers must know that feeling, when a book is so good, you can't stop reading, can't put it down...well these books don't bring out that feeling in me, and therefore, won't get that elusive fifth star.
As far as the book itself...It has its moments. Building up to the conclusion and learning the whodunnit, and the whys that they did it, along with the characters is always fun for me, and in this book, those moments didn't disappoint. I do hope Corrie is revisited in the upcoming books. Her story seems unfinished, as does the business with Wren, obviously, and the strange phone call to "the Mime". Really seems like they are working on two books at the same time, and throw tidbits about the next book into the current one. Seems strange to me, but I guess it keeps people reading.
All in all, I will continue the series, they contain just enough to keep me interested, with the hope of learning more about Agent Pendergast included, but that hope getting dashed book by book. Which is also why he will never join the ranks of my favorite characters. Oh well, on to Brimstone... ( )

There's a scene early in the book where a character is standing out in a clearing in a corn field around sunset that is described in such a was as to make me want to go there. The long sunset, the lightening bugs, the rich earthy smell... Living in San Francisco, I don't have that. And it's really the lightening bugs that spark my interest. Very well written and conceived. And I'm very much enjoying the evolution of Pendergast from a catalyst character to a major player. ( )