White Fire (Pendergast #13) by Douglas Preston, Lincoln Child

White Fire  (Pendergast #13) by Douglas Preston, Lincoln Child

 

This is an adult crime mystery novel (Rated R)

 

 ♥♥♥1/3

 (Three and a Half Cory Hearts)

 

Book Summary

 

Special Agent Pendergast arrives at an exclusive Colorado ski resort to rescue his protégée, Corrie Swanson, from serious trouble with the law. His sudden appearance coincides with the first attack of a murderous arsonist who--with brutal precision--begins burning down multimillion-dollar mansions with the families locked inside. After springing Corrie from jail, Pendergast learns she made a discovery while examining the bones of several miners who were killed 150 years earlier by a rogue grizzly bear. Her finding is so astonishing that it, even more than the arsonist, threatens the resort's very existence.

Drawn deeper into the investigation, Pendergast uncovers a mysterious connection between the dead miners and a fabled, long-lost Sherlock Holmes story--one that might just offer the key to the modern day killings as well.

Now, with the ski resort snowed in and under savage attack--and Corrie's life suddenly in grave danger--Pendergast must solve the enigma of the past before the town of the present goes up in flames.

 

 

My Review

 

This is a hard one to review. I really love this writing duo and have read 95% of what they’ve written together and own their own. I think I have maybe 3 or 4 books between them I’ve yet to read.

Still Life of Crows is one of my favorite books in the series. So to bring Cory back in a big way was awesome. However, it fell flat. One, Cory read like a girl written by a guy. It lacked the emotional impact and inner musing of your average girl. And we don’t get a sense that Cory’s is not a typical girl (at least how she’s written in this book) especially in romance because they tried to add some melodrama, it just didn’t work.

Second, they made Cory come off like how “most” guys feel about women. When it’s time for us to be smart, they think (and write us) like we’re stupid. I didn’t like Cory in this story. I didn’t like her decisions. I didn’t like that she wanted to find her independence and she thought she should step on others (Pendegast in particular). She supposed to be smart, yet every decision she makes in this story is stupid.

Everything that made Cory interesting was stripped from her in this story. The way she looked, the way she fought for answers, her wits, all gone. It was like she was a totally different character.

And since she is the primary character in this one with cameos by Pendergast, I didn’t like the story much. The mystery was interesting. But Cory killed the story for me. Such a shame as she was one of my favorite side characters in this series.

The rating although low really is a reflection against other books in this series. This book is still probably better written than some books outside this series I give five stars. But I can't rate this one five to compare to other books and give the impression it is as good or better than other books in this series.

Audio Review

Rene Auberjonois does a good job in bringing these characters to life. Personally I prefer Scott Brick reading the series. Nothing against Rene. He’s a talented narrator.

My book boyfriend Pendergast.

 

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