La muerte de Jeremy Grove, famoso crítico de arte, es inexplicable. Su cuerpo fue encontrado en una habitación cerrada con llave desde dentro, con la marca de un crucifijo grabada en su pecho como una quemadura, la huella de una garra en la pared... y un insoportable hedor a azufre. ¿Serán las marcas del diablo? Hasta los menos supersticiosos empiezan a hablar de un pacto con el maligno.

Para investigar este extraño caso, el inspector Pendergast tendrá que abandonar Nueva York y viajar a un pueblo de Italia, donde veinte años atrás cuatro hombres hicieron una promesa diabólica. A partir de entonces Pendergast se ve obligado a enfrentarse con fuerzas desconocidas; él mismo parece ser la próxima víctima de una venganza abominable, a la que no está nada claro que pueda sobrevivir...

(12) I had no idea I was picking this up in the middle of a series. It definitely can be read as a stand-alone. Not sure why I read it - an unsolicited lend that I grabbed off the shelf when I needed something mindless. And mindless it pretty much was. A brilliant eccentric FBI agent (Agent Pendergast of the series, I guess) and a couple of New York cops that must be recurring characters catch a murder case that seems to be spontaneous human combustion due to the devil. Or at least that is the story put out by the New York Post setting off a frenzy of religious zealots thinking it is the end of days. Meanwhile Pedergrast and friends believe it is a homicide especially after several more in the victims circle end up similarly torched. The mystery takes them to Florence and an old medieval castle. And that is not all - a shoot out with Chinese businessmen over rocket technology, a Stradivarius violin, a wand that melts people, and most ridiculous of all - Count Fosco, ripped from the pages of 'The Woman in White' without even an acknowledgement of such plagiarism until the author's note. Sigh.

There were actually parts of the book I liked. I thought the whole set up with the spontaneous human combustion and the history of the phenomena and the exploration of an old pact with the devil with all the literary and historic references was quite good. But 700 pages later with the over the top aforementioned disparate plot point all spooling out. It was just too much. It 'jumped the shark,' as they say.

I try to avoid a lot of genre mystery stuff for all the reasons. Thin unbelievable characters, preposterous plot twists, countless peril and rescue scenes. I probably won't read the ones that came before or after in the series, unless I really need something mindless in an airport sometime. Though it does end in a cliffhanger, so maybe I'll change my mind. ( )

(2004)Very good thriller as FBI agent Pendergast tries to figure out how people are being killed in a manner that suggests the Devil did it. Seems to end with Pendergast's death, but wait maybe not.From Publishers WeeklyFans of cerebral action adventure novels know that, outside of Michael Crichton, no one delivers the goods like the veteran writing team of Preston and Child (Relic; Still Life with Crows; etc.). As if invigorated by their recent solo efforts (Child: Utopia, etc.; Preston: The Codex, etc.), the two now deliver their best novel ever, an extravagant tale of international intrigue. As their admirers know, one reason Preston and Child thrillers work is because most feature arguably the most charismatic detective in contemporary fiction: FBI Special Agent Aloysius Pendergast, a wealthy, refined yet ruthless descendant of Holmes who's very much his own character. Pendergast, as well as other Preston and Child semiregulars, notably rough-hewn former NYPD cop Vincent D'Agosta, Watson to Pendergast's Sherlock, tread nearly every page of this vastly imagined, relentlessly enjoyable thriller. The body of a notorious art critic is found in his Hamptons, L.I., mansion, wholly burned, with a cloven hoofprint nearby: the devil's work? [...] Erudite, swiftly paced, brimming (occasionally overbrimming) with memorable personae and tense set pieces, this is the perfect thriller to stuff into a beach bag.

In this installment, people are bursting into flame and all clues point to the devil being responsible. ( )

Same old review for this book, as in, enjoyable, but nothing spectacular, took me too long to read and we all know what that means... A bunch of characters return, some new ones added, including Pendergast's brother, who is implied but never actually met...or is he? Big twist ending for this one, but the inclusion of more books in the series kind of ruins that, I'd say. Anyway, no need to make this review run on and on, the main theme behind the review for almost every book in this series remains the same. ( )