Cemetery Dance by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

[Clark Isaacs]

Cemetery Dance
Authors: Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
ISBN: 978-0-446-58029-8, Pages: 435, $26.99, Publication Date: May 2009, Hardcover, Fiction, Published by Grand Central Publishing, Hachette Book Group, New York, NY

Zombies, creepy people, death, and mayhem in New York City transport the reader from peace and tranquility to a page-turner which cannot be put down. Authors Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child demonstrate why they are the masters of creating fear in their recent novel Cemetery Dance.

Characters are fully developed independent of earlier exploits in which they participated. Previous books by Preston and Child focused upon the activities of the main character Special Agent Pendergast of the FBI and his investigative abilities stand alone. But to name a few, The Wheel of Darkness, The Book of the Dead, Dance of Death, and Brimstone give you an idea how these fellows can write fearful books, just by the titles!

Pendergast is a hero who is the exact opposite of Peter Falk’s character, Columbo. Columbo is shabbily dressed, drives an old vehicle which makes one marvel at whether it will reach its destination or not, and appears never to be in command of the English language. Pendergast, on-the-other-hand, casts an aura of a strong detective extremely educated, nattily attired, travels in a chauffeur-driven Rolls Royce, and is always in control. The commonality between these two sleuths is their uncanny ability to piece together clues which lead them to the next step in solving crimes.

Where this book stands out above the rest, is the way in which the story unfolds. Oddly, the writing gets better as you proceed into the pages and the intensity arouses your interest so that you want more. Few books are rarely hard to put down. Cemetery Dance keeps moving you into mysterious passageways, spine-chilling caverns, darkness that is bloodcurdling, and with descriptive language keeping you begging for more even though you feel as breathless as the characters.

The only short-coming in this book is the date chosen for release! Halloween would have been an ideal time to unleash this frightening tale upon an unwary public.

A completely satisfying conclusion wraps up the end of this roller coaster saga and no, the butler did not do it! This is a story which will keep you highly entertained as you really get scared and will keep you guessing where another crypt has one more eerie entity. Highly recommended.

[Fran Lewis]

I love their books and would love to read this one. Fran

[Clark Isaacs]

Email me your mailing address and I will put you on the list. Currently, there is one ahead of you and that is the editor of the newspaper here in Kingman. I will put a note in the book that you are next and he should mail it on to you. Let me know when you finished and I will send you the next person on the list.

My personal email is: [e-mail]

You will like this book, it is really great.

Clark

[Mari]

Sounds great!!!! I like your idea and it looks like your list is growing!

:-) Mari Sloan