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Summary: These guys are a lot of fun
Review: Preston/Childs write a mean adventure novel. Of course, if you've read any of the others you don't need me to tell you that. I enjoy Cussler but these guys are better, I haven't seen the formulas falling into place like Cussler is wont to do.The story centers around the search for a serial killer from 130 years ago. Even though the book is set present day, there is a touch of The Alienist atmosphere which really added to the story for me. For those of you who have read some of the earlier books there are a few returning characters as well as locales, most notably the infamous Natural History Museum in New York City.
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Summary: Severe Lack of Sleep
Review: I'm writing this review after finishing Cabinet at 5 this morning. That tends to happen to me a lot when reading books by these guys. While the book stands on its own merits, fans of Preston-Child will enjoy the way the authors are starting to tie characters and events from their previous books together. I can't wait to see where they take us from here.
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Summary: Another great read from Preston & Child
Review: Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child's seventh novel has been a long time coming, but it was well worth the wait. It represents, without question, their best writing to date. As always, the scene is set with great skill, but now their talent for set piece drama has evolved into excellent characterization and superbly subtle plot development. It would be difficult for me to describe the story without spoiling the plot, but I can safely say that "The Cabinet of Curiosities" is a diabolically twisted thriller. What starts out as a seemingly standard, albeit very creepy, serial killer mystery rapidly develops into something far more bizarre, and vastly more sinister. I read a lot, and it is rare that I am caught completely off guard by plot twists, but with one hundred pages to go I was hit with not one, but two! The authors deftly throw the reader off guard at a key moment, which makes the concluding chapters absolutely breathless. As I alluded to earlier, the writing in this novel is outstanding; "The Cabinet of Curiosities" is much more thoughtful than their earlier novels, and significantly darker. While still showing their roots in the "techno-thriller" genre, Preston and Child have branched out into considerations of love, madness and morality. Whereas their earlier novels certainly told a great story, and contained tragically flawed characters, this novel makes an excellent stab at exploring the heart of darkness in a much more methodical, dare I say, literary, way. Of particular note in this regard is the character of Pendergast. For those readers who are unfamiliar with "Relic" and "Reliquary", he is an FBI agent with remarkably refined tastes, and equally unorthodox methods. The best way I could think to describe him would be if you turned Hannibal Lecter into a good guy (while is in no way insinuating that he was ripped off, which he clearly wasn't). At any rate, he was always an intriguing character, I would even go so far to say that he was the authors' best to date, but he was also somewhat two-dimensional. Mystery is one thing, but it can come at the expense of character development. "In Cabinet of Curiosities", however, Pendergast has been given an enormous depth of personality, and his background has been revealed in such a way that deepens the mystery surrounding him even as it injects him with a sense of pathos. He is now a fully realized, and immensely interesting character that I look forward to encountering again. Ultimately, "The Cabinet of Curiosities" will make a great beach read for the summer, but it is much more than that. It is a well-crafted, very suspenseful and deeply thoughtful novel that should ranks among the best popular fiction of the year, and I recommend it highly. Finally, my praise for this novel should in no way be construed as disparaging to the authors' prior books; I have bought, read, re-read, and enjoyed the all. It is just that in this novel, Preston and Child have taken their writing to a whole new level and I felt it bore mentioning. If you haven't read their other novels do yourself a favor and order them at the same time as this one. Enjoy!
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Summary: Thrills and chills
Review: For some fans, pulses may quicken on hearing that Preston and Child's latest is set in the New York Museum of Natural History, setting for "Relic," their first (and still best) chiller thriller. The authors also bring back enigmatic FBI agent Pendergast to lead a team consisting of archaeologist Nora Kelly (from "Thunderhead") and her boyfriend, borderline obnoxious news reporter Bill Smithback ("Relic" and "Thunderhead"). But the horror originates outside the museum on a construction site where the bulldozers uncover a charnel house of bones, a 19th century basement where young workhouse residents were butchered most horribly. And things get curioser when the killings start up again - same m.o. but surely not the same killer? Kelly's analysis of bones and clothing and some research in the museum's grand and musty stacks and archival storage suggests a motive for the serial killings that is as fantastic as it is horrible. To say more would spoil the fun of getting there. The authors steep their story in the scientific curiosities and crackpots of the last century and the historic sites they occupied. As always they keep the action moving and their characters simple yet dynamic. Not another "Relic," but great fun nonetheless.
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Summary: A Wonderful NYC based mystery which you can't put down!!
Review: This was my first Child & Preston novel and certainly not my last. Their writing style is very unique with a very well edited final product. The book itself had a very enjoyable plot which kept the suspense going until the last page. I enjoyed the fact that the chapters alternated characters, which forced me in the end to almost die of anticipation! The story itself reminded me of "The Bone Collector", also about a madman cutting people up all over the city. The end of the book is very suspenseful and these authors do an incredible job at extending the ending as much as possible (which is good because I did not want it to end). The characters are indeed interesting, but the good guy vs. bad guy analogies made me roll my eyes in the beginning of the story. Most characters were indeed cookie cut right out of the mold, aka the cop and the donut cliché. And of course the main character, Pendergast, was a modern day Sherlock Holmes, this is unfortunately a trait almost all new mystery novels are accustomed with. Reaserch for this book was done very well as the medical and science references in this book added to the realistic way this story unfolded. Overall, I enjoyed this book more than several I have read so far this summer and can say this makes a perfect "any time" read, not exclusively a beach or plane read. Im excited to see what their next book "Still Life With Crows" has in store.
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Summary: Not my favorite
Review: I have read many of the Preston/Child books with this one being the least impressive. This book provides plenty of suspense, however I felt let down by the ending. If you would like to read a good book by these guys then read either Relic or Thunderhead(my favorite) you won't be dissappointed.
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Summary: Read It!
Review: Excellent thriller. A cross between Michael Crichton and Stephen King. I borrowed this book from my grandmother and was hooked from page 1. Just the right mix of horror, suspense, and mystery. If you love psychological thrillers, this book is for you. This was the first Preston-Child book I read, but it won't be the last!
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Summary: The Best Book by Preston & Child!
Review: This is about the eighth book I have read by Messrs Preston & Child and it was the best of the bunch! This book grabbed me from the start and was very difficult to put down. Once again we are back at the New York Museum of Natural History with Special Agent Pendergast and reporter Smithback from Relic and Reliquary and Nora from Thunderhead as the main characters.
The book takes place not that long after the end of Thunderhead. Nora has relocated to New York and has taken a job doing research for the museum. She gets a sudden visit from Special Agent Pendergast who requests that she accompany him to a lower Manhattan site where there is an excavation going on for putting up a building. Reluctantly, she accompanies him and they learn that a chamber was unearthed that has a lot of skeletons; victims of a 19th century serial killer. The chamber is under the site that once had a cabinet of curiosities which was another name for a museum (however, it was one that charged a fee kind of like the Ripley's Believe it or not museums).
The police and the construction company want the chamber cleared immediately so they can continue construction on the site. Pendergast wants Nora to use her archeological expertise to examine the remains and let him know anything that she can about them. This opens up a whole can of worms because the construction company fears that the site will be declared an historical landmark and they will be prevented from building. They put pressure on the mayor and the museum to have Pendergast and Nora stopped.
Nora tells all this to Smithback (now her boyfriend) who writes an article in the Times describing the site and suggesting a cover-up. Almost immediately victims are killed in the same manner as the victims from the site and police blame Smithback for his article saying that he created a copycat killer.
The book continues and we find that the past has a great deal to do with what is happening in the present and understanding the past is the only way to save more victims going forward.
With this book we finally get a look into Pendergast's personal life and his childhood. I had found him annoying in the prior books and almost bumbling. In this book we appreciate his intellect and find him to be a real hero-type.
The authors also seem to borrow some tricks used by Jack Finney in his From Time to Time books.
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Summary: A good yarn by two master storytellers
Review: If you like Preston and Child, this book is a treat. Creepy characters and a plot that will keep you guessing. This is a great beach read.
Rating: 
Summary: Skip this book!
Review: This was a contrived, jumbled, nonsensical tale with a protagonist who could not possibly be believed. Going back in time through a so-called Buddhist technique to discover places and incidences that he could not possibly have known in real time, and interacting with people in this dream is just one of the inane avenues in this book. His superhuman abilities to take care of shattered flesh is also absurd. Another was the way the book ended where the bad guy just happened to be destroyed at just the right time by something resembling an act of God. Why mention a real building, The Dakota, while fictionalizing the American Museum of Natural History, and giving it a non-existent address. So many stereotypical characters, such as the kindly and competent but insensitive reporter, an antagonist with superhuman strength, the dumb cop, etc. Very sloppy. And the ending, the reason for the original bad guy to have done what he did, made no sense at all. All in all, this book was disappointing, and had so many instances of non-credible events, that its worth as a good read was lost.
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