Wheel of Darkness Book Review

My mother-in-law recently introduced me to mystery novels and to the Pendergast novels written by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. Over the past six months, I’ve read through the series, and I anxiously awaited the new novel, “Wheel of Darkness.”

I have to say, though, that I found myself disappointed by its shortcomings.

In this installment, Agent Pendergast and his ward, Constance Green, travel to a Tibetan monastery to study meditation. While there, it is discovered that an ancient artifact has been stolen. The monks enlist the help of the two Americans to retrieve it. Their journey takes them onto an ocean liner where they are trapped with a serial killer onboard. They must race to find the killer while the crew of the ocean liner start acting strange, turning on one another and ultimately putting everyone on the ship in grave danger.

The Pendergast series is known for its complex mysteries, and this just didn’t cut it for me. The mystery was a little too simple, and just not up to par with the rest of the books in the series. Normally, Preston and Child present such complexity with twists and turns so that it’s nearly impossible to guess the outcome. That’s not quite so with this one. I couldn’t help feeling disappointed at the end of “Wheel of Darkness.”

That isn’t to say this book is not worth reading; it’s not as good as the rest of the series. I’m a fan of the series and of Preston and Child’s collaborative writing. Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child have written eleven best-selling novels together, and they make a great team. I do hope they continue writing together. I know I’ll continue reading each of their works. Though it’s a good novel, it just doesn’t seem to compare with the rest in the series.

If you’ve read the rest of the Pendergast series, you’ll probably want to read this one, too, and you should. Just be warned that you might find it disappointing. If you haven’t read the rest of the series, you’ll probably enjoy this one if you like a good mystery with a bit of Eastern philosophy and mysticism involved. Either way, you should read this one. It’s worth the read in the end.

After finishing, “Wheel of Darkness,” it made me want to go back and read a few others from the series while I await the next installment. I hope it comes soon!

Wheel of Darkness Book Review