Starred Review. Sherlock Holmes fans will relish Preston and Child's 13th novel featuring eccentric FBI agent Aloysius Pendergast (after 2012's Two Graves), one of their best in this popular series. In the prologue, set in 1889 at a London restaurant, Oscar Wilde not only advises Conan Doyle on how to improve the character of Holmes, who so far has appeared only in A Study in Scarlet, but also tells a horrible tale about a mining camp that the aesthete visited during his American tour a few years before. The details of Wilde's story gradually come out in the main, present-day narrative, in which Pendergast's protégé, Corrie Swanson, a student at Manhattan's John Jay College of Criminal Justice, is undertaking a large-scale study of perimortem trauma on human bones inflicted by a large carnivore. Her starting point will be Roaring Fork, Colo., where a bear killed and ate 11 miners in 1876. Corrie's arrival in Roaring Fork coincides with a serious of grisly murders that Pendergast later comes to believe are related to the 19th-century bear attacks. Lee Child, Clive Cussler, Anne Rice, and Peter Straub have all supplied blurbs for this installment, which easily stands on its own with only passing references to Pendergast's complex backstory. Agent: Eric Simonoff, WME. (Nov.)
"These dynamic authors' best thriller to date." (
One of Library Journal's Top 10 Thrillers of 2013)
"Corrie teams up with her mentor, none other than the investigative genius and series stalwart Aloysius Pendergast, in unearthing a web of deceit, conspiracy, and cover-up. He's never been better, and neither have the ever-reliable Preston and Child. "White Fire" blazes on high heat from the first page to the last, a wholly satisfying and relentlessly suspenseful tale." (
Providence Sunday Journal)
"Small-town politics, murder, a century-old conspiracy, arson and a detective who embodies a modern-day Holmes add up to an amazing journey." (
Associated Press)
"A remarkable plot that ties together multiple killings - some more than a century old - a secret Sherlock Holmes story and a meeting between Oscar Wilde and Arthur Conan Doyle keep readers glued to the page." (
RT Times)
"Sherlock Holmes fans will relish Preston and Child's 13th novel featuring eccentric FBI agent Aloysius Pendergast (after 2012's Two Graves), one of their best in this popular series...easily stands on its own with only passing references to Pendergast's complex backstory." (
Publishers Weekly (starred review))
"Fans of Sherlock Holmes will devour Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child's latest thriller, not only because of its connection to Conan Doyle, but because Pendergast bears a striking resemblance to the iconic detective, and has powers as eerily uncanny as Sherlock's. Readers will race toward the final page and, once there, will thirst for more." (
BookReporter.com)
"Another highly entertaining and genuinely thrilling story from Preston & Child starring their romantic, faintly gothic, and always mysterious FBI agent, Aloysius Pendergast. As always the prose is elegant, replete with exquisite descriptions, and this time we're treated to dashes of historic characters Conan Doyle and Oscar Wilde, as well as a positively delicious serving of the great Sherlock Holmes. Through myriad shocks, surprises, twists and turns, the suspense never lets up. Great fun to the last page." (
Anne Rice)
"Preston and Child have done it again! WHITE FIRE continues their white hot streak of bestselling suspense as the most eccentric and ruthlessly clever FBI agent in the business, Pendergast, takes on old money and even older secrets with some literary help from Sherlock Holmes. Simply brilliant!" (
Lisa Gardner)
"The best Pendergast book yet - a collision between past and present that will leave you breathless." (
Lee Child)
"What Preston and Child are so good at are exemplified here: solid research, clear swift prose and enough twists to fill a jar of pretzels. Sit back, crack open the book and get ready for the ride of your life." (
David Baldacci)
"WHITE FIRE is a perfect introduction for any reader not yet acquainted with A.X.L. Pendergast, one of the most memorable detectives in contemporary thrillerdom." (
Steve Berry)
"I've read every Pendergast thriller. This is the most suspenseful and most horrifying of them all. This book holds chills you can't imagine. I'm still shuddering. I promise-- you'll shudder, too." (
R.L. Stine)
"A mile-a-minute thriller with a deeply entertaining plot and marvelous characters, in a setting that will chill your blood, and not only because it's 10 degrees below zero and covered with snow. My copy is full of crumbs because I couldn't put it down long enough to eat." (
Diana Gabaldon)
"WHITE FIRE is as incandescent as its title, a beautifully organized, tautly paced book that really did just yank me in and demand that I keep reading. I'm very grateful for the experience." (
Peter Straub)
"Preston and Child have created a terrific mix of mystery and the unexpected that will keep you reading into the late hours of the night. They promise a great read and they have delivered." (
Clive Cussler)