Full review/Цялото ревю - click, clickСледпрочитно:Това е книгата ми с най-ниска оценка от прочетените от поредицата досега и, признавам, вина за това има и фактът, че не четях подред. Не, не ми попречи толкова факта, че знаех какво става по-нататък. Ще обясня.Романът започна страхотно, съвсем в стила на Пендъргаст. Д'Агоста винаги е бил един от любимците ми, затова приветствах и него. А самият случай беше разкошен от самото начало и ставаше по-добър глава след глава. Това е любимото ми в книгите на Престън и Чайлд - начинът, по който мистерията се движи на ръба между рационалното и неземното, и понякога дори, съвсем за малко, го пресича. Изненадах се приятно от факта, че започващата връзка между Винсент и Хейуърд бе проследена доста отблизо - защото са ми много сладки двамцата. Ще ви разкрия тайна - може би в тази книга имаше най-много романтика :DНо да се върнем на същността на нещата. Очаквах с нетърпение и любопитство развитието на нещата, дори и да подозирах за някои събития от предишните книги. Но точно нещата, които така очаквах, не оправдаха надеждите ми. Това най-вече важи за въвеждането на Констанс в историята. Всъщност отначало дори помислих, че съм изтървала книга на това място (бележка: очакванията ми за нейната поява бяха базирани на предната, четвърта книга). До средата на книгата обаче все пак бе интригуващо. Настроението и интересът ми обаче рязко спаднаха, когато историята се премести от Америка в Италия. Нещата се заплетоха и отклониха по начин, който не ме спечели. С това се загуби и тръпката, която обикновено съпътства случаите на Пендъргаст - не толкова кой, колкото как е извършено престъплението.Повествованието доста често се връщаше към случващото се в Ню Йорк, но за него ми пукаше дори по-малко, отколкото за италианския сюжет. Не заради Хейуръд, която остана сама да се оправя с кашите там - нея още си я харесвам. Но сериозно ми писна от елемента "контрол на тълпата", който вече наблюдавах в "Маршрут 666" и "Вуду", и то всеки път комбиниран с некадърна полицейска реакция (като цяло). Да, знам, "Вуду" е след "Огън от ада", но това не променя субективните ми чувства. А и остава фактът, че "Маршрутът" е втората книга от поредицата за Пендъргаст.Накратко - просто не ми беше интересно и точка - това не можаха да ме спечелят и тайните, скрити в замъците, и прехвърчащите любовни искри, и тъмната сянка на Диоген, която си остана преди всичко само сянка.Може би ако четях подред, "Огън от ада" щеше да получи по-висока оценка, но не съм сигурна - преди него хронологично са "Музей на страха" и "Натюрморт с гарвани" - едни от любимите ми в поредицата, и съм почти сигурна, че щеше да остане в тяхната сянка.~~~After-read thoughts:This is the book that recieved lowest rating from me from the series for now. I admit that partly, it was my fault for not reading in order, but it wasn't only this.The novel set off to amazing start, becoming of all the Pendergast series. Plus, D'Agosta has always been one of my favourites and I was glad to have him here. The investigation started good and was getting better with every chapter. No doubt, my most favourite thing about these novels is how the story balances between the realistic and the paranormal, crossing the border just a bit from time to time.A nice surprise was now fully was covered the romance between Vincent and Laura. Actually, this must be the most romantic book of the series. :DBack to the point. There were some moments I was anticipating, but sadly I was rather disappointed. Especially about Constance entering - my expectations were based on the fourth book - and I was in for something better, and creepier. But it was so skipped over, at one point I thought I must had missed a book. Anyway, thing kind of kept it till the middle of the book, but when the main story line moved to Italy, my interest was lost. I didn't like how the story was going and how the mystery was unfolding. Gone was as well the trill of how the crime was performed.The story telling moved often back to New York, where captain Hayward was left to deal with all the mess. But for this side of the story I cared even less. It wasn't that bad, but by then I've grown tired of the "crowd control" theme, especially coupled with the incompetent police response. We've seen this already in the Reliquary and we'll see it again in Cemetery dance. You guessed it right, I read Cemetery dance beforehand, but still. I am pretty sure the authors could've come with something better than reusing a motif from the second book and fill what felt like more than half of the book with it.In short - I just lost interest and that was all. And even all the castle secrets, love sparkles and Diogen shadows couldn't bring it back.Maybe if I've read this book in its proper place, I'd rate it higher, but actually I doubt it. Before Brimstone are Cabinet of curiosities and Still life with crows - two of my favourites of the series, and for Brimstone to stand in their shadow would do it no good.
Agent Pendergast returns in a new suspense thriller from New York Times bestselling authors Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. Art critic Jeremy Grove is found dead, his face frozen in a mask of terror. His body temperature is grotesquely high; he is discovered in a room barricaded from the inside; the smell of brimstone is everywhere...and the unmistakable imprint of a claw is burned into the wall. As more bodies are discovered--their only connection the bizarre but identical manner of death--the world begins to wonder if the Devil has, in fact, come to collect his due. Teaming with Police Officer Vincent DAgosta (The Relic), Agent Pendergast is determined to solve this case that appears to defy everything except supernatural logic. Their investigation takes them from the luxury estates of Long Island to the crumbling, legend-shrouded castles of the Italian countryside, where Pendergast faces the most treacherous and dangerous adversary of his career. Preston and Childs most recent hardcover, Still Life with Crows (Warner, 7/03), has close to 80,000 copies in print to date and hit the New York Times extended bestseller list. It will be published in Warner mass market in 7/04. The protagonist of BRIMSTONE, Agent Pendergast, was introduced in the New York Times bestseller The Relic (Tor, 1996), which sold over 910,000 paperback copies and was the basis for the Paramount movie. Both The Cabinet of Curiosities (Warner, 6/02) and The Ice Limit (Warner, 2000) hit the New York Times extended bestseller list and the USA TODAY list. The Cabinet of Curiosities was also a Los Angeles Times and Publishers Weekly bestseller. The authors five novels for Warner have more than two million copies in print combined. Available as a Time Warner AudioBook.
What do You think about Brimstone (2005)?
As in most series, some are great. They’re what bring you to the series in the first place. Some are good but not that memorable and some just are bad. This was one of the great ones in this series. Grove, a wealthy man, has died in the most bizarre way, burnt from the inside out with a cloven hoof burned into the flooring. D’Agosta, former NYPD and former character of other novels, is now on the Southampton PD after a failed career as a crime novelist. Grove happens to die in his jurisdiction. D’Agosta would have spent his time just roping off the crime scene, under utilitized but FBI Agent Aloysius Pendergast shows up, muscling into the case and bringing his friend into it.The cast of suspects is very interesting, a lady married into nobility, a wealthy record producer, a weapon’s maker and an Italian count. Before long another of their number has died in a similar way. D’Agosta and Pendergast meet up with Hayward and she’s now a captain (another character from novels past) and D’Agosta meets Constance, Pendergast’s ward. Hayward gets involved in the case, which spawns a religious subplot with Reverend Buck, prisoner turned evangelical who thinks NYC is going to see the end of days and that he is god’s chosen to lead the masses.The plot is full of assassins, subterfuge, memorable characters and backdrops of NYC and Italy. This one reminds me of the X-Files, just enough of the supernatural to make you think but enough of the mundane to ground it. The ending was way too Hollywood for my taste and not that believable but even that didn’t distract from how fun this one was.
—Cornerofmadness
There are so many twists and turns in this story. Nothing is as you'd expect. No lead leads you where you thought it would. What started as a strange murder with a supernatural touch turns into something even worse. I loved this book because Pendergast and D'Agosta are working together almost the entire book. There is so much action when these two are concerned that the story is full of edge-of-the-seat moments. The danger they find themselves in is real. Unlike previous books, the story in Brimstone is richer. A lot of history, art and even personal stories make this story. I was afraid we'll get to read more about D'Agosta's marriage. Fortunately, that wasn't the case. The villains are truly evil. (view spoiler)[The fact we are talking about ordinary human beings makes them even worse. (hide spoiler)]
—⊱ Irena ⊰
There I am cruising along, loving this series and then I'm hit with this one. It was okay, but there were a couple things that made me very displeased.1. Viola I hate her so much. Part of why I love Pendergast is that he is unaffiliated with any romances. Basically the same reasone I hate Irene Adler. Constance is not my favorite person either, but I can handle her. Viola, bleck. It really put me out. Pendergast was not acting like Pendergast and it was disgusting. 2. Diogenes I can already tell I'm going to hate this plot line.3. The end. No, no, and no. It was pretty obvious what was going to happen. In fact, I would say that this is the first Pendergast book that I basically knew everything that was going down. It was disappointing. Also, you can't reuse elements from past stories. It seemed lazy. 4. Count Fosco While I am a huge fan of The Woman in White and find Count Fosco's character delectably perfect for his role in that book, Preston and Child didn't quite pull him off with the same flair, which made his whole persona fall flat. Didn't love that. All-in-all, mostly a disppointing read.
—Natalie
