Agent Pendergast is definitely one of the most original and interesting Arch Detectives around these days. In "Wheel of Darkness" Pendergast and Constance begin at a Buhddist Monastary and soon become embroiled in a chase to recover a stolen object of mystic proportions. Their journey leads them to take passage on The Brittainia, an ocean liner on its maiden voyage, in pursuit of their theif. Bedlam quickly ensues.

The beginning is a little stiff. I had a hard time picturing the gentlemanly Pendergast hiking up the Himalayas to a hidden monastary with Constance in tow. The monks must be extra lucky that their evil relic got stolen not long before an FBI agent showed up. Once contracting their assignment from the monks, the subsequent chapters were also a little contrived and loosely pulled together to get them aboard ship. It almost felt like the book was written from boarding on and the authors could have just said " Constance, remember when we were at the monastary...". However once on The Brittainia it was the Pendergast we have come to know and love. The story really starts here and becomes enthralling and tense. The plot onboard is very well rounded with clues that come back full circle and all the supernatural aspects that make these books really a lot of fun.

So its a great read. Bear through the first bit, and it will draw you in. "Cabinet of Curiosities" and "Still Life With Crows" are my favorites.

The enigmatic FBI agent who is trained in more than Quantico courses - he is a master of ancient arts and beliefs. When we left our friends, Constance had told Pendergast that she was pregnant and the father is/was Diogenes, P's brother. At the start of Darkness, he and Constance approach a Tibetan monestary where Pendergast has trained - Constance is accepted to be a student there, and Pendergast is charged to solve a robbery of one of the monestary's ancient relics - an Agozyen, an object of Darkness with the potential to wipe out the human race.
Events march...Soon Constance is summoned to join P. on a maiden voyage of the Britannia, a mega-ocean liner that out Titanics the Titanic...and that ain't a good thing... The Agozyen is onboard and soon there are a series of murders and it is literally a race against time to stop the Wheel of Darkness' power.
The fate of the liner is of course at stake, but it seemed that its descriptions would never end. I understand it helped raise the tension of the events, but I kept on thinking get over to Pendergast - what is happening with him?? The ending of the book is one of the best in the series - Preston/Child continue to make this series mystic, memorable, and wondrous. I would also recommend, if you missed reading TIN0 GEORGIOU'S masterpiece--THE FATES, go and read it. With fascinating and brilliantly created characters in `THE FATES' coupled with two intertwining plots makes for a completely enjoyable and page-turning read.

Other recommended titles: The Fates: A Novel

Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child continue to thrill me with their collaborations. I finished this book in 2 days. I must say the only disappointment was the fact it had to end!

"Wheel of Darkness" is the 9th collaborative effort by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child that features FBI Special Agent Pendergast, an incredibly wealthy Special Agent who possesses a supreme IQ and the habit of investigating unusual cases, frequently dealing with the "supernatural." It is designed as a standalone novel, and should be fairly easy to follow for those new to the characters, however if you want to read the books in order, you should follow the order below. At the least it will help somewhat to have read the "Pendergast Trilogy" (the last three books) to understand Pendergast and Constance a bit more.

The Relic (Pendergast, Book 1)
Reliquary (Pendergast, Book 2)
The Cabinet of Curiosities (Pendergast, Book 3
Still Life with Crows (Pendergast, Book 4)
Brimstone (Pendergast, Book 5)
Dance of Death
The Book of the Dead (Pendergast, Book 7)

"Wheel of Darkness" takes place very shortly after the events from The Book of the Dead (Pendergast, Book 7). Pendergast has taken Constance to a monastery for additional training. He learns that an object has been stolen that will cause the destruction of the world, then proceeds to track it down on a cruise ship. "Wheel of Darkness" was just slightly above mediocre in my opinion. It wasn't a bad novel, but it certainly wasn't on par with any of the previous Pendergast novels. I would say only 1/3 of the book actually focused on Pendergast, and the rest involved member's of the ship's crew. The book reminded me a lot of the movie "Speed 2: Cruise Control," and I think it could have actually been re-written without Pendergast entirely and still maintained much of the plot. Pendergast's ward, Constance, is involved just as much as Pendergast, but her character goes nowhere, and with the exception of the first few pages and the last paragraph, her character experiences zero development.

One of the big problems I had is that Pendergast is a bit uncharacteristic in this novel, and we see a weakness to him that doesn't really match up with previous novels. There's only one part of the book, when Pendergast is trying to thwart some card counters in a casino, where we see the character we've come to know, confident and exuding perfection and intelligence. We have maybe 5 or 6 real chapters on Pendergast, a couple on Constance, and the rest of the narrative deals with the ship's crew trying to stop a problem on the ship. I did find this somewhat interesting, but not nearly as interesting as some of the previous thrillers by Lincoln and Child, and especially not after the incredibly exploits and action that appeared in the previous three novels.

Ultimately, "Wheel of Darkness" is a lot like I would expect from one of those books written by ghost writers after the main author has died, yet they continue to use his name (ala Robert Ludlum). It is a fairly short read and is interesting, but the novel doesn't contain a lot of the intelligent writing that usually separate Preston/Child books from the typical thriller novels you see in airport bookstores. I found the main source of conflict in the book to be a little far-reaching and not as interesting as previous villains. The scientific explanation for it at the end of the book was even more far-fetched and I didn't really buy it. I would encourage first time Preston/Child readers to skip this book and start with an earlier novel. Pendergast fans probably won't be very disappointed with "Wheel of Darkness," but don't expect to be blown away.

I thought this was one of the great books I've read in the series. The Ocean Liner was a great forum for the mystery that transpired.