[YDJ]≡ Download White Fire Pendergast Douglas Preston Lincoln Child Books

White Fire Pendergast Douglas Preston Lincoln Child Books

Download As PDF : White Fire Pendergast Douglas Preston Lincoln Child Books

White Fire Pendergast Douglas Preston Lincoln Child Books

Many other reviewers seem quite put out with Corrie. I think if one has read the series in order and, so, encountered Corrie from early on, her conduct in this book is not surprising in the least. She is willful; she is stubborn beyond belief; and she is independent to a fault. All of these character faults flow from her background. The fact that Pendergast 'rescued' her and set her on a good path cannot erase 15 or more years of life. Further, although she seems to 'resent' - to use others' word - P at times, she really worships him. Her so-called resentment grows from two, possibly conflicting, roots: (1) she wants to be more to him than someone he bails out of trouble now and then; (2) she wants to succeed on her own as much as she can. Thus, she wants both more and less from him.

All in all, I enjoyed reading this book. The series is uneven, in my opinion, but that is not entirely novel in such series. I have gotten a bit tired of P's family saga - or sagas - so this was a nice return to a non-Pendergast-brood mystery. And, for all her faults, I like Corrie. As a college professor, I know that 20-somethings can seem to be both impressively mature and exasperatingly immature. Corrie is not an anomaly in this respect. She is brave and intelligent. That she sometimes does foolish or 'stupid' things is perfectly normal.


Tags : Amazon.com: White Fire (Pendergast) (9781455525836): Douglas Preston, Lincoln Child: Books,Douglas Preston, Lincoln Child,White Fire (Pendergast),Grand Central Publishing,1455525839,Thrillers - General,Mystery fiction.,Pendergast, Aloysius (Fictional character);Fiction.,(Fictitious character),FICTION Action & Adventure,FICTION Crime,FICTION Mystery & Detective Historical,FICTION Thrillers Crime,FICTION Thrillers General,FICTION Thrillers Suspense,Fiction,Fiction - Espionage Thriller,Fiction-Thriller,GENERAL,General Adult,Monograph Series, any,Mystery fiction,MysterySuspense,PRESTON, DOUGLAS - PROSE & CRITICISM,Pendergast, Aloysius,Pendergast, Aloysius (Fictitious character),United States,pendergast series; agent pendergast series; agent pendergast; pendergast 13; fbi thrillers; fbi agent; fbi agent books; mystery thrillers suspense; thrillers; thriller books; corrie swanson; crime fiction; thriller series; fbi series; suspense books; suspense thriller books; action adventure books; action and adventure books; suspense thriller novels; thriller series books; arson; sherlock holmes; arthur conan doyle,FICTION Action & Adventure,FICTION Crime,FICTION Mystery & Detective Historical,FICTION Thrillers Crime,FICTION Thrillers General,FICTION Thrillers Suspense,Fiction - Espionage Thriller,(Fictitious character),Mystery fiction,Pendergast, Aloysius,Pendergast, Aloysius (Fictitious character),Fiction,MysterySuspense

White Fire Pendergast Douglas Preston Lincoln Child Books Reviews

Aside from some occurrences that strain credulity (fortuitous events, characters' suddenly having tools they happen to need), P&C's writing is typically very good. The reader usually gets swept up in the action and doesn't have time to think, and to a certain extent that was true here. However, Corrie's character development was spotty. She sometimes resented Pendergast, although her rationale for doing so wasn't believable. Also the book's denouement was brought on by a series of actions by her that were so foolish as to strain credulity and destroy sympathy for the character. Someone has made several attempts on your life. You are walking down a deserted street and discover tracks in the snow indicating you're being followed. You don't go back into safety but drive to a deserted facility (knowing a monster snowstorm is coming). While there, you notice another vehicle has followed you to the deserted warehouse. Instead of getting in your vehicle and driving home to safety, you instead proceed with your plan to steal a snowmobile and drive up to an abandoned mine, which you have no guarantee you can break into and where you will be trapped by a potential killer. In the inevitable chase through said mine, you have a map that allows you to easily find your way through miles of tunnels to escape. The utter foolishness of this distanced the character from me. Being so terribly foolish doesn't mean someone deserves to be murdered, but it certainly makes the character a lot less sympathetic. The bad guy was also very guessable.

On the positive side, good use of Sherlock Holmes, on whom Pendergast is obviously modeled to a certain extent.

The spottiness of this book, the weakest in the series so far IMO makes me wonder if P&C are losing interest, or maybe Corrie, who carries much of the book, fails to arouse sufficient interest for them to do a good job with a story built around her character.

In conclusion, definitely worth reading. Just not quite up to the levels of previous books in the series.
After the disaster that was Two Graves (I know it sold well - irrelevant), Preston and Child are back to true form with a much needed traditional Pendergast story. The book's plot idea is apparently inspired by a conversation that may have taken place in London between Oscar Wilde and Sir Aurthor Conan Doyle. But from there Preston and Child, presumably having shared two or three bottles of good tequila, struck out pretty far on their own. White Fire deals with, among other things, murder, a serial arsonist, a land swindle, a criminal heiress, a rogue bear killing miners in Colorado in the mid 1800s, a PTSD-afflicted vet, an obscure Sherlock Holmes enthusiast club, and a previously undiscovered Holmes story by Doyle himself. Drop all that plus Pendergast and his would-be protege, Corrie Swanson, into a blender, hit puree, and voila.

This story is a lot of fun. For long stretches it's a blast, actually. Back are some of Preston and Child's well-honed devices like having Pendergast outwit arrogant buffoons in comedic fashion, macabre and murky clues from the past, subtle references to the many horrors Pendergast struggles with, his enigmatic style and limitless wealth, etc. These all work very well. So much was going for the authors in fact, that it's that much more of a shame they broke down and reached for the plot line Easy Button.

A few examples
1) Corrie Swanson, a character of much squandered potential, is almost a guest in her own story since the authors use her mainly to move the plot along by having her repeatedly act like a complete idiot.
2) Roger Ebert's Law of Economy of Characters is on full display here.
3) Pendergast has a famous disdain for all things supernatural, and yet what else can we call his ability to let his subconcious mind drift back into the past and show him details of events he was not privy to? It was one thing when, in previous books, he used his memory trick to recall details from his own childhood, but it is quite another to use it to witness events from the 1800s. Pendergast is either human or a wizard. Preston and Child need to pick.
4) "So Very Neat & Tidy," should be the title of the last chapter.

All that aside, it's still a fun read. After Two Graves I thought I was done with Pendergast. I got White Fire for $1.99 via BookBub and overall I'm glad I did. It'll take you for a decent ride, even if the tour guide seems a little drunk sometimes.
Many other reviewers seem quite put out with Corrie. I think if one has read the series in order and, so, encountered Corrie from early on, her conduct in this book is not surprising in the least. She is willful; she is stubborn beyond belief; and she is independent to a fault. All of these character faults flow from her background. The fact that Pendergast 'rescued' her and set her on a good path cannot erase 15 or more years of life. Further, although she seems to 'resent' - to use others' word - P at times, she really worships him. Her so-called resentment grows from two, possibly conflicting, roots (1) she wants to be more to him than someone he bails out of trouble now and then; (2) she wants to succeed on her own as much as she can. Thus, she wants both more and less from him.

All in all, I enjoyed reading this book. The series is uneven, in my opinion, but that is not entirely novel in such series. I have gotten a bit tired of P's family saga - or sagas - so this was a nice return to a non-Pendergast-brood mystery. And, for all her faults, I like Corrie. As a college professor, I know that 20-somethings can seem to be both impressively mature and exasperatingly immature. Corrie is not an anomaly in this respect. She is brave and intelligent. That she sometimes does foolish or 'stupid' things is perfectly normal.