During the excavation for the construction of a sixty-five story residential tower in lower Manhattan, a charnel house of murder victims is discovered. The 36 victims were destitute youths, residing along the crime-ridden waterfront of 1870s New York City. They were buried beneath what was then known as Shottum's Cabinet. Cabinets of curiosities housed strange & diverse collections of artifacts, and were the precursors to the natural history museum.

FBI Special Agent Pendergast enters the story to investigate this most heinous of American serial murders. He calls upon Dr. Nora Kelly, archeologist, conservator and researcher at New York's Museum of Natural History, for assistance in his investigation. Dr. Kelly, in turn involves her fiance, New York Times investigative reporter William Smithback. Together they discover the eerie background of the murders. Just after Smithback's indiscreet article appears on his newspaper's front page, new murder victims begin to appear. The modus operendi is the same. The major difference is that the original victims were killed in the latter part of the nineteenth century. The new victims were murdered at the beginning of the twenty-first, seemingly by the same killer. Is this a copycat crime, or something much more disturbing?

I was on the edge of my seat throughout this novel - just couldn't put it down. The historical detail is a wonderful addition. I would have rated the book five stars, except for the annoying flaws mentioned above. Still, I highly recommend "The Cabinet of Curiosities" as a very unusual mystery, and a spine-chilling read!


Another great read from Preston & Child   May 31, 2002
 25 out of 26 found this review helpful

Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child's seventh novel has been a long time coming, but it was well worth the wait. It represents, without question, their best writing to date. As always, the scene is set with great skill, but now their talent for set piece drama has evolved into excellent characterization and superbly subtle plot development.

It would be difficult for me to describe the story without spoiling the plot, but I can safely say that "The Cabinet of Curiosities" is a diabolically twisted thriller. What starts out as a seemingly standard, albeit very creepy, serial killer mystery rapidly develops into something far more bizarre, and vastly more sinister. I read a lot, and it is rare that I am caught completely off guard by plot twists, but with one hundred pages to go I was hit with not one, but two! The authors deftly throw the reader off guard at a key moment, which makes the concluding chapters absolutely breathless.

As I alluded to earlier, the writing in this novel is outstanding; "The Cabinet of Curiosities" is much more thoughtful than their earlier novels, and significantly darker. While still showing their roots in the "techno-thriller" genre, Preston and Child have branched out into considerations of love, madness and morality. Whereas their earlier novels certainly told a great story, and contained tragically flawed characters, this novel makes an excellent stab at exploring the heart of darkness in a much more methodical, dare I say, literary, way.

Of particular note in this regard is the character of Pendergast. For those readers who are unfamiliar with "Relic" and "Reliquary", he is an FBI agent with remarkably refined tastes, and equally unorthodox methods. The best way I could think to describe him would be if you turned Hannibal Lecter into a good guy (while is in no way insinuating that he was ripped off, which he clearly wasn't). At any rate, he was always an intriguing character, I would even go so far to say that he was the authors' best to date, but he was also somewhat two-dimensional. Mystery is one thing, but it can come at the expense of character development. "In Cabinet of Curiosities", however, Pendergast has been given an enormous depth of personality, and his background has been revealed in such a way that deepens the mystery surrounding him even as it injects him with a sense of pathos. He is now a fully realized, and immensely interesting character that I look forward to encountering again.

Ultimately, "The Cabinet of Curiosities" will make a great beach read for the summer, but it is much more than that. It is a well-crafted, very suspenseful and deeply thoughtful novel that should ranks among the best popular fiction of the year, and I recommend it highly. Finally, my praise for this novel should in no way be construed as disparaging to the authors' prior books; I have bought, read, re-read, and enjoyed the all. It is just that in this novel, Preston and Child have taken their writing to a whole new level and I felt it bore mentioning. If you haven't read their other novels do yourself a favor and order them at the same time as this one.

Enjoy!


Their most absorbing novel yet   June 6, 2002
 11 out of 12 found this review helpful

I ordered this book from Amazon and read it in less than two days. And it's almost six hundred pages long. That's how well it sucks you in.

If there weren't a million great reasons already to read this book, such as the chilling plot, the unexpected twists and turns, and the endearing characters, you would simply HAVE to read it for this reason alone: Pendergast. I have yet to meet a person who read the 'Relic' series and did not like this character. Intelligent, charming, and infinitely deep, he's a modern-day Sherlock Holmes with a shrouded past. He's one of the most complex characters ever written. Read it and try to prove me wrong.

I've become a big enough fan of Preston and Child's books to know that this one is my all-time favorite. Though the plot is much darker than the others, it is no less terrifying or powerful. The last page is every bit as moving as the rest of the novel. ...But that doesn't mean that gives you the right to spoil it for yourself.


Eerily they roll along   June 8, 2002
 8 out of 8 found this review helpful

In this excursion through dusty archives, gleaming surgical instruments, Gotham real estate and Gothic grand guignol, Preston and Child maintain their gold standard for setting spine and brain tingling at once. Engaging protagonists (not, for once, all at one another's throats) lead us down the low streets of modern and Victorian lower Manhattan, through a tangle of jack-in-the-box surprises.

The Preston and Child authorial tag team writes thrillers on the same sorts of themes Michael Crichton would, but they are far better at it. Of their works to date, this one is clothed in the thinnest veneer of scientific credibility (for me forfeiting a fifth star, though most readers probably won't mind.) But their mastery of pacing, gift for a balanced roster of characters, and sheer sense of ghoulish fun, are fully intact, and carry the day again.

Among many grace notes, I particularly appreciated their quiet nod to H. P. Lovecraft, in naming their hideously long-lived serial killer after HPL's mysterious Plateau of Leng. These bricked-up basementscapes are reminiscent of several of the Providence master's works, from The Horror at Red Hook to Charles Dexter Ward.

On the night you start reading it, don't plan on getting in to work early the next day.


well written and fast paced   November 5, 2002
 8 out of 8 found this review helpful

I am a huge fan of books with a historical basis. On the same coin I am also very critical of these books. This makes me very picky in the books I chose to read and the ones I actually finish. Once again, Douglas Preston and Lincoln child did not dissapoint. This book is a perfect mix of museum intrigue, suspense, and horror all against a rich backdrop of 19th century New York. Their attention to detail is key to making the fantastic story seem possible.

In addition, Preston and Child do an excellent job of writing women. They do not fall into the trap of describing female characters in terms of her long legs and breast size that seems so typical in these sort of novels. Nora Kelly, first introduced in Thunderhead, is a believable woman and museum professional. I think female readers will appreciate this apparently unique view in a male dominated genre.

The book left me with only one pressing question: When is the next one coming out????

Pendergrast fans will love this book. Make sure to read the alternate ending posted on the official webpage: