***** 5 out of 5 stars TOP PICK 2015
Review by: Mark Palm
A Blood-dimmed Tide.

Almost a year ago I had the pleasure of reviewing Blue Labyrinth, by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. If you missed that review, Dear Reader, than I will once again extoll the singular virtues that make Mssrs. Preston and Child the best pair of authors writing thrillers today. They write smart, sophisticated books full of scientific and historical erudition, but impart all their knowledge without lecturing or slowing down the momentum of the story. Their plots are beautifully structured, but still tense and surprising, and their characters are unique and original, but still believable. All of this is delivered in prose as smooth and clear as a mountain stream. They have been doing this for around twenty years now, working together and separately, and if you want something more from a book, then you, Dear Reader, are a lot more picky than me.

Crimson Shore is the fifteenth installment of the Pendergast books, which tell the story of the enigmatic and brilliant Aloysius X.L. Pendergast, and FBI Agent who works the cases he wants, and has little use for protocol or bureaucracy. Most of the Pendergast books feature a large supporting cast, but this time it’s just Pendergast and his ward, Constance Greene, who find themselves in coastal Massachusetts, investigating the theft of a priceless wine collection. In the wine cellar they find a chained skeleton in a hidden alcove, and from there the game is truly afoot.

A dead body, covered with ritual carvings is found on the salt flats where local legend says the escaped Salem Witches came to hide, leads the investigators to the first step of a long and twisting path through the troubled history of the small town of Exmouth. What a history it is! Shipwrecks, racism, Witchcraft, starvation, mass murder; it’s all hidden deep beneath the granite facade of the myth of New England. Together Pendergast and Constance tease out the details by coming to know the town, and more importantly, it’s inhabitants. The townsfolk are all well drawn and believable, with just the right undertow of secrecy and menace. It’s impossible to divulge much more of the plot without dropping spoilers, but I can tell you that like the old sports cliche, “It’s not over till it’s over.”

Pendergast is his usual contentious and competent self, and gets to shine, especially in a series of excellent action scenes, but for the second book in a row, his ward, Constance Greene steals the show. When Pendergast is sure that everything is over, it is Constance who is sure that something sinister is still out there. She is not as experienced as Pendergast, but she is every bit a charismatic, and dangerous, and even more enigmatic that her mentor. The development and evolution of her character, taken together with the last quarter of this book, left me totally shocked. Near the end the pages were flying by at lightning speed as I rushed towards the stunning finale. It should be tribute enough to say that after fifteen books, Preston and Child manage to keep me off balance.

There is so much I enjoyed about this book that I am unable to convey in a short review, so you just have to take my word for it. Crimson Shore is an absolute stunner of a novel, and while it works as a stand-alone book, I would suggest that you read the previous book, Blue Labyrinth, just to be sure. For your enjoyment I would suggest that you go back and start with Relic. Oh hell, just go and read everything that Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child have written, together and separately, just to be safe. Trust me, you won’t be sorry.

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