Two graves

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After his wife, Helen, is brazenly abducted before his eyes, Special Agent Pendergast furiously pursues the kidnappers, chasing them across the country and into Mexico. But then, things go terribly, tragically wrong; the kidnappers escape; and a shattered Pendergast retreats to his New York apartment and shuts out the world.But when a string of bizarre murders erupts across several Manhattan hotels-perpetrated by a boy who seems to have an almost psychic ability to elude capture-NYPD Lieutenant D'Agosta asks his friend Pendergast for help. Reluctant at first, Pendergast soon discovers that the killings are a message from his wife's kidnappers. But why a message? And what does it mean?When the kidnappers strike again at those closest to Pendergast, the FBI agent, filled anew with vengeful fury, sets out to track down and destroy those responsible. His journey takes him deep into the trackless forests of South America, where he ultimately finds himself face to face with an old evil that-rather than having been eradicated-is stirring anew... and with potentially world-altering consequences.Confucius once said: "Before you embark on a journey of revenge, first dig two graves." Pendergast is about to learn the hard way just how true those words still ring.

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ISBN
9780446554992
9781455510535
9781611134230
9781455584413
9781455510542
145558441
UPC
9781611134223

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Similar Series From Novelist

NoveList provides detailed suggestions for series you might like if you enjoyed this book. Suggestions are based on recommendations from librarians and other contributors.
Packed with action, adventure, and intrigue, the Pendergast novels and the Jack West Jr. novels integrate fascinating scientific and technological details into their fast-paced plots. These two series of thrillers feature dashing heroes, exotic locations, and esoteric clues. -- Jessica Zellers
These suspenseful series feature ordinary humans struggling to survive devastating circumstances. Battles between good and evil threaten to overwhelm these moral characters, but while the Pendergast novels are grounded in reality, the slower-paced Passage trilogy is set in a post-apocalyptic world. -- Katherine Johnson
A polymath FBI agent (the science-oriented Pendergast novels) and a detective tortured by a serial killer (the violent Sabrina Vaughn novels) star in these fast-paced thrillers. Though their protagonists are very different, the plot-driven novels are similarly gritty and suspenseful. -- Mike Nilsson
These fast-paced, atmospheric, and plot-driven suspenseful thrillers, often infused with paranormal elements, star intrepid FBI special agents who hunt down twisted killers operating in Europe (Blackbird Files) and in the U.S. (Pendergast Novels). -- Andrienne Cruz
These series have the appeal factors suspenseful and fast-paced, and they have the genre "thrillers and suspense"; and the subjects "fbi agents," "murder investigation," and "savich, dillon (fictitious character)."
These series have the genre "thrillers and suspense"; and the subjects "fbi agents" and "murder investigation."
These series have the appeal factors suspenseful, gritty, and fast-paced, and they have the genre "thrillers and suspense"; and the subject "murder investigation."
These series have the appeal factors suspenseful, fast-paced, and intricately plotted, and they have the genres "thrillers and suspense" and "romantic suspense"; and the subject "murder suspects."
These series have the appeal factors suspenseful and fast-paced, and they have the genre "thrillers and suspense"; and the subjects "fbi agents," "murder investigation," and "women fbi agents."

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NoveList provides detailed suggestions for titles you might like if you enjoyed this book. Suggestions are based on recommendations from librarians and other contributors.
These books have the genres "thrillers and suspense" and "adult books for young adults"; and the subjects "fbi agents," "conspiracies," and "murder."
These books have the appeal factors suspenseful, gritty, and fast-paced, and they have the genre "thrillers and suspense"; the subjects "fbi agents," "conspiracies," and "kidnapping"; and characters that are "brooding characters."
These books have the appeal factors suspenseful, fast-paced, and intricately plotted, and they have the genre "thrillers and suspense"; and the subjects "conspiracies," "murder," and "kidnapping."
NoveList recommends "Jack West Jr. novels" for fans of "Pendergast novels". Check out the first book in the series.
These books have the appeal factors suspenseful and fast-paced, and they have the genre "adult books for young adults"; and the subjects "fbi agents," "conspiracies," and "murder."
These books have the appeal factors suspenseful, action-packed, and fast-paced, and they have the genres "thrillers and suspense" and "adult books for young adults"; and the subjects "conspiracies," "kidnapping," and "revenge."
These books have the appeal factors suspenseful and fast-paced, and they have the genres "thrillers and suspense" and "adult books for young adults"; and the subjects "conspiracies," "kidnapping," and "revenge."
NoveList recommends "Blackbird files (Heather Graham)" for fans of "Pendergast novels". Check out the first book in the series.
These books have the appeal factors suspenseful, fast-paced, and intricately plotted, and they have the genres "thrillers and suspense" and "adult books for young adults"; and the subjects "conspiracies," "revenge," and "assassins."
The killing season - Cross, Mason
These books have the appeal factors gritty, violent, and plot-driven, and they have the genre "thrillers and suspense"; and the subjects "fbi agents," "conspiracies," and "kidnapping."
Despite substantially different plots, both gritty suspense stories offer series fans plenty to sink their teeth into, with complex story lines, plenty of tension, brutal bad guys, and, at least in the case of Wicked Prey, lots of violence. -- Shauna Griffin
NoveList recommends "Passage trilogy" for fans of "Pendergast novels". Check out the first book in the series.

Similar Authors From NoveList

NoveList provides detailed suggestions for other authors you might want to read if you enjoyed this book. Suggestions are based on recommendations from librarians and other contributors.
Jack Du Brul's series featuring geologist (and ex-CIA commando) Philip Mercer is just the thing for readers who crave testosterone-rich tales of danger like those crafted by Douglas J. Preston and Lincoln Child. -- Krista Biggs
Whether writing together or separately, Douglas J. Preston and Lincoln Child create stories featuring exotic and dangerous settings, as does Clive Cussler in his Dirk Pitt series. These novels contain similar elements - treasure or secrets or other intriguing backgrounds, adventure, and high-tech toys. -- Shauna Griffin
Chris Kuzneski and Douglas J. Preston write compelling, intricately plotted, action-packed books filled with nail-biting suspense. Their clear and direct prose, breakneck pacing, and exciting adventures involve ancient archaeological secrets, modern political conspiracies, and gritty violence. -- Derek Keyser
F. Paul Wilson and team authors Douglas J. Preston and Lincoln Child write in the genres of horror, suspense, and science fiction, often within the space of one novel. Their plots are inventive, adventurous, and filled with action and intrigue. Wilson incorporates supernatural elements more often than Preston and Child. -- Jessica Zellers
The adventures are non-stop and the body counts are high in the novels of Scott Sigler and co-authors Douglas J. Preston and Lincoln Child. Their books blur the distinctions between science fiction, suspense, and horror. -- Jessica Zellers
Action, adventure, ancient civilizations, modern-day science, and some creative genre-blurring are all part of Douglas J. Preston and Lincoln Child's irresistible, adrenaline-rich books. Their novels are excellent suggestions for readers who like James Rollins' genre-blending suspense stories and vice versa. -- Krista Biggs
These authors' works have the appeal factors intricately plotted, and they have the genre "thrillers and suspense"; and the subjects "fbi agents," "murder investigation," and "secrets."
These authors' works have the appeal factors suspenseful, fast-paced, and intricately plotted, and they have the genre "thrillers and suspense"; and the subjects "secrets," "serial murder investigation," and "serial murders."
These authors' works have the genre "thrillers and suspense"; and the subjects "fbi agents," "serial murder investigation," and "government investigators."
These authors' works have the appeal factors suspenseful, gritty, and plot-driven, and they have the genres "thrillers and suspense" and "mysteries"; and the subjects "serial murder investigation," "murder," and "serial murders."
These authors' works have the appeal factors gritty, plot-driven, and intricately plotted, and they have the subjects "murder investigation," "secrets," and "serial murder investigation."
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Published Reviews

Publisher's Weekly Review

This new Preston and Child collaboration brings their Helen Trilogy to a slam-bang, breathless close, with their astonishingly resourceful hero, FBI Special Agent Aloysius Pendergast, single-handedly storming a Nazi stronghold in a South American jungle in his search for his wife's murderer. It's the culmination of a panoply of wildly improbable events. But that's what readers of the series have come to cherish, along with noble heroes and despicable, seemingly unstoppable villains-e.g. sociopaths, science-bred to Aryan perfection. Rene Auberjonois has narrated enough of these thrillers to have developed not just the perfect vocal match for the erudite, stern-willed Pendergast, but the ability to capture the books' mysterious, gothic, almost phantasmagoric moods. Even better, his long career as a stage and screen performer has provided him with the talent and experience to understand that, sometimes, when action and emotions are pushed to extremes, it's wiser to underplay the scene. A Grand Central hardcover. (Dec.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

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Library Journal Review

In this conclusion to the authors' Helen trilogy (Fever Dream; Cold Vengeance), Special Agent Pendergast finally discovers what happened to his wife, Helen, who was supposedly mauled by a lion while game hunting in Africa 15 years ago but who may have been kidnapped and forced to collaborate in her own death. Having lost the kidnappers' trail, Pendergast is asked to investigate a string of mysterious hotel fires in Manhattan, and the clues lead him to South America and the kidnappers. -VERDICT Across these three titles, Preston and Child weave a dense and, oftentimes, boring and unimpressive plotline running over 1200 pages. With the final volume, eager fans will at last learn what really happened to Helen-unfortunately after plodding through a lot of insignificant and inconsequential details. Regardless, order multiples. [See Prepub Alert, 6/3/12.]-Jerry P. Miller, Cambridge, MA (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
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Kirkus Book Review

Preston and Child's (Cold Vengeance, 2011, etc.) thriller completes the Helen trilogy featuring the weird and unworldly Aloysius Pendergast, special agent for the FBI. The conclusion opens with Pendergast called to meet Helen, the wife he presumed dead, in New York City's Central Park. There's a touching, tentative reunion, and then Der Bund strikes again, kidnapping Helen and leaving Pendergast wounded. Pendergast offers a treatise on detection perfection, tracing Helen from hither and yon to Sonora, Mexico. There's another shootout. Helen's killed, and principal bad guy, Wulf Konrad Fischer, escapes. Pendergast retreats to his Dakota apartment in New York City and into a grief-and-guilt-driven drug addiction. Friends intervene. Lt. D'Agosta, city police detective, pleads for Pendergast to help search for a serial killer. Corrie Swanson, criminal justice student, is in danger after stumbling on a Nazi safe house in her quest to help Pendergast. With Pendergast's aid, Corrie takes refuge with her estranged father, only to find him framed for a bank robbery. Psychiatrist Dr. John Felder discovers the institutionalized Constance Greene may truly be a century and a half old. Pendergast, intrigued by the bizarre serial murders, applies DNA analysis, which leads him to think the murderer is his brother Diogenes, a villain supposedly dead in a Sicilian volcano. Further analysis reveals truths even more grotesque. The most simplistic of the narratives follows Corrie clearing her father; the most gothic follows Felder seeking proof of Greene's age; and the most violent follows Pendergast as he uncovers secrets about Helen and then takes revenge by breaching a Nazi refuge in Brazil. Pendergast's narrative offers angst and ample bloodletting in gothic locales and confrontations with the issue of Mengele's twins experiments mated with quantum mechanics and genetic manipulation. If Preston and Child fans haven't read the first two volumes in the Helen trilogy, confusion will reign. Pendergast--an always-black-clad pale blond polymath, gaunt yet physically deadly, an FBI agent operating without supervision or reprimand--lurks at the dark, sharp edge of crime fiction protagonists.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
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Library Journal Reviews

Taking its name from the Confucian saying "Before you embark on a journey of revenge, first dig two graves," this novel concludes Special Agent Pendergast's mission to discover what happened to his wife, Helen. He's holed up in Manhattan when he's asked to investigate several mysterious hotel fires that turn out to be a message from the very men he's been tracking. Then he ends up deep in the jungles of South America, confronted by an ancient evil. Cold Vengeance, second in the trilogy, debuted at No. 1 on the New York Times best sellers list, so there will be big demand.

[Page 55]. (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
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Library Journal Reviews

In this conclusion to the authors' Helen trilogy (Fever Dream; Cold Vengeance), Special Agent Pendergast finally discovers what happened to his wife, Helen, who was supposedly mauled by a lion while game hunting in Africa 15 years ago but who may have been kidnapped and forced to collaborate in her own death. Having lost the kidnappers' trail, Pendergast is asked to investigate a string of mysterious hotel fires in Manhattan, and the clues lead him to South America and the kidnappers. VERDICT Across these three titles, Preston and Child weave a dense and, oftentimes, boring and unimpressive plotline running over 1200 pages. With the final volume, eager fans will at last learn what really happened to Helen—unfortunately after plodding through a lot of insignificant and inconsequential details. Regardless, order multiples. [See Prepub Alert, 6/3/12.]—Jerry P. Miller, Cambridge, MA

[Page 70]. (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
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Publishers Weekly Reviews

Preston and Child's high-adrenaline 12th thriller featuring maverick FBI agent Aloysius Pendergast wraps up the trilogy that began with 2010's Fever Dream and continued with 2011's Cold Vengeance with a bang. Just as Pendergast is reunited one evening in Manhattan's Central Park with his beloved wife, Helen, who he thought died 12 years earlier, Helen falls victim to a gang of well-organized kidnappers. Despite Pendergast's impressive combination of brains and brawn as well as network of helpers, his efforts to rescue Helen don't play out as he anticipated. Meanwhile, a serial murderer dubbed the Hotel Killer has been targeting guests of Manhattan hotels, mutilating his victims and leaving behind a piece of his own body (e.g., a finger, an ear lobe) to taunt the NYPD. Given the growing cast of characters and their complex backstories, those already familiar with the bestselling authors' fictional world will most enjoy this intelligent suspense novel. Agent: Eric Simonoff, WME. (Dec.)

[Page ]. Copyright 2012 PWxyz LLC

Copyright 2012 PWxyz LLC
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