cemetery dance by douglas preston and lincoln child

Smithback is murdered.

But no zombie did it, as his wife Norah, cop-friend de Agosto, and suave FBI agent Pendergast seem to think in the beginning. For shock factor, a callous disregard for the connection made by the series fans to characters from the first thriller, Relic, over Reliquary to Book of the Dead, authors Douglas and Lincoln kill off NY Times journalist Smithback, and things will never be the same again in Pendergast universe.

Masama ang loob ko, huhu. Pinatay ni Douglas at Lincoln si Smithback.

Going downhill at the Wheel of Darkness, the series reaches a slump with this ninth installment. Where is the sense of connection to previous adventures? What is this detachment that infects the book from page one? I only see token efforts at continuity. In previous books, Pendergast as a character is vibrant with promise. Here he is dead. The entire story lacks energy.

Maybe it suffers in comparison, in particular to the monster factor in Relic, the complex mystery of Cabinet of Curiosities, and amazing thriller of the Stillness of Dead Crows–but for rabid fans looking ever for more and better, how is this an excuse?

For murder, the gallows may be too good. For a lackluster book,  the penalty is death. Of my interest.

——
Ok, I wrote this in the heat of my ire over Smithback’s death. One gets attached. Sorry. Cemetery is still a good thriller, which capitalizes on elements proven wildly successful in previous books. A thriller is afoot, possibly a monster. The heroes crawl through dark passageways searching for clues. Red herrings are thrown left and right. A maddened crowd complicates things and becomes additional fodder for monsters running around. The reader is sufficiently befuddled. The answer is sufficiently logical. Why the heck did they kill off Smithback?! Oops.