Review of "Verses for the Dead: An FBI Special Agent Pendergast Thriller" by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

In this 18th book in the 'Aloysius Pendergast' series, the FBI Special Agent pursues a vicious serial killer.

*****

FBI Special Agent Aloysius Pendergast has his own methods of conducting investigations, methods that are successful but off the beaten path.



To reign Pendergast in, FBI Assistant Director Walter Pickett.....



......pairs Pendergast with a partner, Agent Coldmoon. It's obvious from the get-go that Coldmoon's assignment is to keep an eye on Pendergast, and tattle if he bucks the system.



Pendergast and Coldmoon are sent to Miami, to pursue a serial killer who calls himself 'Mister Brokenhearts.' Mr. Brokenhearts has a truly horrible modus operandi: he murders a young woman in Miami, then cuts out her heart and puts it on the grave of a female suicide victim in a local cemetery.



The heart is accompanied by a note reading: "Dear _____, I am so sorry for what happened to you. The thought of how you must have suffered has haunted me for years. I hope you will accept this gift with my sincere condolences.....Mr. Brokenhearts."

The recipients of the hearts are Miami residents who killed themselves far from Florida, when they were on a business trip or traveling. Moreover, the suicides seem to have NO CONNECTION with Mr. Brokenhearts' victims. To investigate, Pendergast insists on traveling to the sites where the (now) buried women committed suicide.



This chagrins Assistant Director Pickett, who thinks it's a waste of time and money. Pendergast has good instincts, though, and suspects the 'suicides' were actually murders. When Pendergast takes steps to verify this, defying Pickett's direct orders, Pickett threatens to reassign Pendergast to the FBI field office in Utah.



All this puts Coldmoon between a rock and hard place. On the one hand, Coldmoon has been ordered to spy on Pendergast and report any rule-breaking; on the other hand, the FBI code is to be loyal to your partner.





Be that as it may, Pendercast and Coldmoon carry on with their inquiries, and new facts come to light.



The fresh information yields some big surprises, and sends Pendercast and Coldmoon into the alligator infested swamps of the Miami Everglades. All this leads to a dangerous and exciting climax.



I liked the book, though the plot is a little hard to follow in places. Still it's always interesting to visit with Pendergast, an intriguing character whose cases are always unique.

Rating: 3 stars