Okay, this was a tough one. From what I’ve read so far and in my own personal opinion, within Preston/Child’s series about FBI agent extraordinaire Aloysius Pendergast the books are either very good (like, for example, Still Life With Crows) or not good at all (Relic). Interestingly enough, “The Wheel of Darkness” was a bit in between. Maybe I should mention that I haven’t read “Brimstone”, “Dance of Death” or “The Book of the Dead” up until now, so Constance was a new character for me, but I liked her well enough, even though I didn’t know much of her background. Pendergast was his usual smart and witty self – and sometimes he wasn’t, which I liked a lot. It added a nice twist to things and showed that even Aloysius Pendergast isn’t all that perfect and can be thrown off track or maybe even turned. (Then again, of course he saved the day once more – with a bit of help from Constance – so, yeah, maybe still a bit too perfect.)The story largely took place on the “Britannia”, a huge cruise ship which is like a swimming city, and because of that the reader is introduced to a lot of supporting characters. Some of which were actually likeable. Also: even if the story progressed slowly, it managed to get quite thrilling on the last 100 or so pages. So far, so good. Unfortunately there were a lot of downsides, too. I think the setting was both a blessing and a curse. By being on a cruise ship, they had nowhere to “go”. They couldn’t involve any police at all (only the ship’s security staff), they couldn’t involve the usual and well-known characters like D’Agosta and Hayward and – because of that – they had to introduce A LOT of new supporting characters.Which took time. A LOT of time. And due to the fact that – to me – most of those characters were completely unlikable or just killed off after just having been introduced, the book got incredibly boring in parts. There were two or three characters I really liked and would’ve loved to read more about, but since there were so many others, those were neglected up until about the last quarter – and it really was a drag sometimes to actually get there. The case itself progressed so slowly that I almost lost interest. Plus, there were too many side stories that had nothing to do with the actual case. (Especially Pendergast catching the card counters. I’m sorry, but that was just showing off and an unnecessary digression.)And then there was the “spiritual” part. For some reason I seem to attract storylines like that lately. “River Marked” and now “The Wheel of Darkness”. I know that Pendergast spent a lot of time in a Tibetan monastery, learned some super-secret meditation-exercises, and ways to strengthen the body through the mind, ways to actually touch something with his mind, and whatnot. Fine. Either you deal with Aloysius Pendergast being a modern-day Sherlock Holmes with slight supernatural abilities and money to burn, or you don’t. I did. I always do when reading Pendergast novels. But this case and its end were so… obscure, confusing and generally absurd that I just couldn’t buy the comparatively simple solution. So… yeah. Not completely unreadable, but still boring in parts and very convoluted.2,5 stars – by the skin of its teeth.
Like Still Life With Crows, the fourth entry in the Pendergast series, Wheel of Darkness (the eighth) is another stand-alone novel that doesn't really get the characters anywhere. More or less, everyone ends up in the exact same position at the end as they were at the beginning, both physically and in terms of the narrative. That's not to say that the middle part isn't a decent read; while others here don't seem to enjoy Wheel's setting, I still think that's what P&C do best. I still love the action-adventure aspect of the series, and the high seas offer plenty of that. Fans of luxury cruises and such, however, will find themselves confronted by authors who clearly have no love for the industry.But readers were left with a cliffhanger in Book of the Dead, and they're likely to be disappointed after reading this next entry. The issue is barely discussed at the beginning and end of the novel, maybe a couple of pages total of discussion on the matter. In addition, the antagonist of the story is never fully explained. Pendergast's ability to explain away supposed phenomena has been a hallmark of the series, even if it always sounded a bit stilted and awkward. But here, it's simply written off in the last few pages, and I strongly doubt the issue will be addressed in future entries. Even Brimstone attempted to explain away its absurd Bond-like villain and plot. Flaws like those bump this down to a three-star entry in the series.
What do You think about The Wheel Of Darkness (2007)?
After the events from the last three books, Pendergast can't help but worry about the emotional health of his ward, Constance Greene. His brother really caused her both physical and emotional harm that she must recover from. To help, Pendergast brings her to a Tibetan monastery, which not only helps her find a new serenity. It also starts them on a surprising pathway to a mystery.An ancient, unknown relic is stolen from the monastery. As Pendergast and Constance pursue it, they learn that a black-market trader is murdered as part of the exchange. As part of getting the relic back to New York City, the unknown thief and murderer finds passage on the Britannia, a new biggest-ship-in-the world that is going to be going on its maiden voyage.As Pendergast and Constance quickly start to narrow down the suspects, a mystic evil starts to decent on the passengers and crew of the liner. A series of murders, with one each day, starts taking place. Each is violent and spreads terror through everyone on board. The question is whether our heroes can figure out who the thief is and whether s/he is connected to the murders and stop it all before it causes more people ... or even everyone ... to die terrible, violent deaths.This was a pretty refreshing read. After the previous three-book arc in the series, it was a little refreshing to have a tale that could be told in a single volume. It is fast-paced and full of suspense. It was also intriguing to find Preston and Child returning back to including a little bit more of the paranormal in their Pendergast tales. This definitely was a fun additions to the series, and an interesting way to allow the readers to get to know Constance better. Even better, we get to see that she is not just incredible intelligent, but also very strong-willed.I am definitely looking forward to moving on to the next book in this series.
—Aaron
There are two types of people who rate this book highly. Those that have never read the rest of the Pendergast series and those whose understanding of the rest of the Pendergast series is skin deep.This book is an insult to the rest of the series. I wonder if Preston and Child just got to the point where they said "I bet we can write any piece of garbage and put our names on it and put the name Pendergast in it and people will still love it"Anyway, you could easily have written this book and replaced all of the character names with other new characters and the book would be better off. It would still be pretty bad, but at least it wouldn't soil the rest of the series. Pendergast and Constance bear little resemblance to the characters in previous books anyway.
—Tom Kouhsari
I have now read all of the Pendergast novels. By far, this is the most fantastical. Mixing Tibetan mysticism with human greed, the book takes the reader on a wild ride from a monestary in Tibet to a luxury ocean liner, all in search of a stolen ancient artifact. FBI Agent Pendergast and his ward Constance Greene have to find the artifact before its horror is unleashed on an unsuspecting world. While a stand-alone novel, readers would benefit from a thorough knowledge of earlier Pendergast novels.
—Betsy Ashton
