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City of Endless Night (Pendergast, #17) by Douglas Preston (Goodreads Author), Lincoln Child

Any of this series without Corrie Swanson is a step down from those that do. She is my favorite character not named A.X.L. Pendergast. I know, that’s going to bring out a lot of WTFs from the peanut gallery but hey, it’s an opinion and I have a right to mine just as you have a right to yours. I like Corrie. Oh yes, I like so many of the others; Constance, Laura and Vincent, Proctor, Mrs. Trask and even dear great aunt Cornelia.

But I digress from Endless Night.

It’s been 2 years since we last saw Aloysius in The Obsidian Chamber. Now he’s faced with a man whom he considers his most challenging foe to date. a man who is after Pendergast’s head, literally.

In fact there are several people losing their heads; a beautiful, spoiled socialite, a mob lawyer, a Russian oligarch who deals in arms, a charismatic Nigerian woman who has founded HIV clinics and educational facilities throughout Africa and even a member of law enforcement. (No spoiler there, if you want to know who, read the book.)

Messrs Preston and Child have given us their usual fantastic (yes, it requires suspension of reality in your imagination but so what?) action as we delve into the mind of friend and foe alike, as we try to make sense out of the irrational, as we try to understand Pendergast’s musings.

If you haven’t run into Agent Pendergast as yet, do so. He’s a fascinating character. I would suggest reading the books in order but unless it’s part of a trilogy it isn’t absolutely necessary. Reading in order can be helpful but it’s not essential.

My biggest problem with this book (other than it’s missing Corrie) is that it will probably be another 2 years before we accompany Aloysius on another strange, mystifying adventure.

Oh, and here’s another mystery; why Is Douglas Preston a Goodreads author but Lincoln Child is not?

Page 353, toward the bottom:

“Vincent, it isn’t the content of one’s bank account that’s important, it’s the content of one’s character, to paraphrase a wise man.  The divide between the wealthy and everyone else is a false dichotomy – and one that obscures the real problem:  there are many wicked people in the world, rich and poor.  That is the real divide – between those that strive to do good, and those who strive only for themselves.  Money magnifies the harm the wealthy can do, of course, allowing them to parade their vulgarity and malfeasance in full view of the rest of us.”

One has to wonder if Preston and Child were thinking of someone quite current when they wrote that bon mot.

". . . those who claim to know the Mind of God, who will tell you what God thinks and how He will judge and condemn others—those people are the greatest of all blasphemers." Aloysius Xingu Leng Pendergast