The Cabinet of Curiosities

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Summary: In the spirit of Mr. Holmes
Review: I have been waiting to read The Cabinet of Curiosities for some time now, since I only buy paperback. The wait was well worth it. Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child are my favorite actors and their previous six books were very stimulating. While The Cabinet of Curiosities (CoC) may not be their best work, it does give you everything you hoped for.

I have read several Sherlock Holmes books in the past, The Hounds of the Baskervilles, being my favorite. In the prevoius six books we have been introduced to some very intriguing characters. After CoC, I believe the authors have been building to this effort... a mystery, rival to any of the Sherlock Holmes stories.

Special Agent Pendergast, is back to investagate a building site containing the corpses of NY's first serial murders. The intrigue builds as the story unfolds, as Nora Kelly (Thunderhead) is asked by Special Agent Pendergast to help him take a look into this old mystery. In a nice twist, William Smithback (in his fourth appearance) is back and is now dating Ms. Kelly after their entanglement in Thunderhead. As the story unfolds, we discover the murders are happening again in the exact same manner they were completed in, 100 plus years ago.

There are intriguing twists and turns in this story. We learn much more about the mysterious Special Agent Pendergast who's a dead ringer for a modern Sherlock Holmes. The story kept me rivitated throughout. Preston/Child do an excellent job of building to the climatic ending. Each page was gripped within my fingers my eyes reading as fast as possible, eager to turn to the next page.

The ending turned out to be nice and sweet and may not be their best, but it does fit this book well and the style it was written in. As I am discovering, through reading works by these two wonderful authors, is that you must pay attention to the little things. Words, comments and statements may all handle little clues.

The part I love most about Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child's books is how they so easily bring the rest of their stories into each new one. Characters and events do not appear in each and every story, but they are all linked in the vast world created by the authors. It is quite creative and a beautiful way to write. It gives them an edge when so much of today's writting rehash the same old stories.

I highly recommend this book to anyone, willing to take a thrill ride through a wild mystery tour. I would also recommend any of the other books written by these two others. But, be warned, once you start you wont be able to stop. Have fun and good reading.

Rating:
Summary: A fascinating read spoiled by too many coincidences
Review: The Cabinet of Curiosities is a fascinating, engrossing read, yet several flaws weaken its impact, especially in the final hundred pages. The style and skill of Preston and Child seems to mesh together quite well, and this book reads as if one individual alone had written it. The novel itself is at heart a horror novel, but a lot of research also went into making it a medical thriller with what sounds like a firm scientific background; unfortunately, later events move out of the realm of science in a way that cheapens some of the impressive groundwork that has been laid out early on.

In the nineteenth century, many amateur scientists scoured the world for rare and spectacular examples of animals, plants, and the like, lovingly adding each new treasure into their own private showcase; such collections came to be dubbed cabinets of curiosities. In time, some began charging the public to tour their special collections, at which time a lot of con men also entered into the game, creating numerable atrocious fakes by such means as sewing the parts of two different dead animals together, passing off mummified monkeys as mysterious pygmies, etc. Eventually, museums put the cabinets of curiosities out of business, often buying up their genuine articles. In one cabinet in the late 1800s, an individual began experimenting on human beings, murdering innocent men, women, and children in pursuit of a dream of increasing his own lifespan. A charnel house containing thirty-six of his victims has just been dug up by a construction crew, and archaeologist Nora Kelly has been called to the scene by a mysterious FBI agent named Pendergast. So begins an unofficial investigation into the case of an unknown mass serial killer predating Jack the Ripper. The New York Museum of Natural History, Dr. Kelly's employer, soon occupies a central position in the hunt for not only a killer from the past but a new, copycat killer who is terrorizing New York.

Nora's boyfriend, an annoyingly quintessential reporter for the New York Times, insinuates himself into the case, alienating Nora by his absence of integrity, and a downtrodden beat cop finds himself taking pride in his own work for the first time in years as he assists Special Agent Pendergast. The FBI man is a unique fellow, an extremely pale specter of a man who seems to be two steps in front of everyone besides the killer, and Nora finds herself drawn further and further into the mystery of all these old and new deaths despite its harmful effect on her position in the museum. Pendergast seems at first to be a successor to Sherlock Holmes, a master sleuth unmatched by any intellect, yet time reveals several of his investigative methods to be rather unusual and slightly unbelievable. Still, the story moves along at a fast pace as all of the main characters close in on the secrets of the mystery. Plenty of danger, action, and even death ensue, yet in the most climactic moments, the plot breaks down. Actions become far too convenient to be believable, and a substratum of the story is constructed out of thin air. There is a surprise or two toward the end, but the story loses the grounding in reality it had enjoyed for the first five hundred pages. There is a sideshow of comedy to placate the reader to some degree, as a certain police sergeant struts around envisioning himself to be a master sleuth who has single handedly caught the serial killer dubbed The Surgeon.

I cannot say I did not enjoy this book; it was a fascinating read for the most part. There are just too many shortcuts and unexplained secrets at the end, turning a criminal/medical thriller into an unsatisfying caricature of itself. This reader can only accept so many coincidences, I am afraid. Horror fans will find a definite creep factor in several of the scenes, although I would not go so far as to call the book scary by any means. If the ending had just been fleshed out a little more, I would have sung this book's praises as a horror novel screaming to be read.

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Summary: An Action-Packed, Knuckle-Twisting Tale!
Review: Book Title: The Cabinet of Curiosities
Reviewed by: LottaHoney

Douglas Preston and Lincoln Childs' The Cabinet of Curiosities is about an archaeologist, Nora Kelly, who is drawn into assisting a manipulative FBI agent, Agent Pendergast, into discovering who is responsible for a New York City serial killer who is modeling his gruesome murders from a 19th century Maniac!
The story begins at a construction site where a wealthy land-developer is breaking ground for a new high-rise tower. At the site, hidden tunnels are unearthed and bones of previous 19th century low-class, poor and homeless people are discovered. But the plot begins to thicken and begin a slow boil after this find as it is realized that the 130 year-old bones have unusual evidence of skilled, surgical cuts that are identical to the present New York City killer.
This novel is terrific as it allows you to enter the archaeological world of the New York City Museum of Natural History with its various Cabinets of Curiosities - formerly a layperson's unusual finds of medical monstrosities, dinosaur eggs, and other odd finds during travels around the world that are eventually donated to New York Museums at the decline of these Admission Price-Only Cabinets of Curiosities with the advent of Free Admission museum exhibits.
It is discovered that a crazed scientist is removing the spinal cords and neurons found at the base of the spine to create a fluid to prolong life. The descriptions of the surgical procedure on live patients are not for the weak-at-heart.
I am finding this to be an interesting read, as I love medicine and 19th Century settings. Needless to say, this novel is a great find for me. And, it is highly suggested!

Reviewed by LottaHoney
Lotta's Bookshelves

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Summary: Great read!! Could hardly put it down!
Review: If you read "the Relic" from these same authors and liked it you will enjoy this book. I absolutly love the humor the author's use in this story to lighten things up a bit. This book really opens up your imagination and takes you back in history to another time and place. The characters fit in each situation, even Detective Pendergast who is quiet a character! He cracks me up with his comments and dry humor.
You will not be disappointed in this book!! I highly recommend it! Lincoln and Child have done it again!!!

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Summary: Great and Suspensful
Review: This is my first murder mystery book. I thought that this book was fantastic! When you think you have the polt down there's another twist that changes the whole thing. I found this to be one of my favorite books!

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Summary: Very enjoyable, but disappointing ending
Review: I read many thrillers, suspense novels, and some horror novels. "The Cabinet of Curiosities" was a great read with sympathetic characters and a fascinating, Sherlock Holmesian, mysterious hero. The villain was well fleshed out. Especially imaginative was the combination of the arcane and the diabolical. For the most part this was a great summer read, except for the disappointing climax, which was totally over-the-top and gave new meaning to the words "ludicrous" and "deux ex machina", if that is possible. What was previously a great example of the "Grand Guignol" atmosphere quickly devolved, e.g. there was over-reliance on the "Memory Palace" device as others have noted here. An intriguing read, if flawed at the end. Nevertheless, I'll give the benefit of the doubt and I'll possibly try some of their earlier works, I've read here that they're getting better all the time. I'm looking forward to their next production. - This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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Summary: A Wonderful NYC based mystery which you can't put down!!
Review: This was my first Child & Preston novel and certainly not my last. Their writing style is very unique with a very well edited final product. The book itself had a very enjoyable plot which kept the suspense going until the last page. I enjoyed the fact that the chapters alternated characters, which forced me in the end to almost die of anticipation! The story itself reminded me of "The Bone Collector", also about a madman cutting people up all over the city. The end of the book is very suspenseful and these authors do an incredible job at extending the ending as much as possible (which is good because I did not want it to end).

The characters are indeed interesting, but the good guy vs. bad guy analogies made me roll my eyes in the beginning of the story. Most characters were indeed cookie cut right out of the mold, aka the cop and the donut cliché. And of course the main character, Pendergast, was a modern day Sherlock Holmes, this is unfortunately a trait almost all new mystery novels are accustomed with. Reaserch for this book was done very well as the medical and science references in this book added to the realistic way this story unfolded.

However one negative aspect of this story line was the science fiction elements that the authors sometimes used. Although the story is believable, it is very imaginative at the same time. Without giving anything away, the story is based on a mostly non realistic idea.

Overall, I enjoyed this book more than several I have read so far this summer and can say this makes a perfect "any time" read, not exclusively a beach or plane read. Im excited to see what their next book "Still Life With Crows" has in store.

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Summary: A Facinating Read And Interesting Look Back At Science
Review: In "The Cabinet of Curiosities", Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child present us with a murder mystery that spans 130 years, and presents us with a killer that may be almost 2 centuries old. The basic plot-A gruesome discovery of corpses, obviously murdered in the late 1800's, is discovered underground at the site of a Mnahattan construction project. FBI Special Agent Pendergast, the protaganist of Preston and Child's "Relic" and "Reliquary" takes an interest in the case and hires Nora Kelly, the archelogist from their book "Thunderhead", to help him discover who killed these innocents and why. Then, the killings begin happening again, and the search takes on a frantic case. Plus, Pendergast has an interest in the case that is more than he lets on. And the mystery begins.

The story involves the NY Museum of Natural History, the setting for "Relic", and delves into the history of such museums. "Cabinets of Curiosity" were the 19th-centuy equivalent of these museums, where men who had collected rare specimins from around the globe would display them for the public at a price. These disappeared with the advent of the modern museum, but in their heyday were quite active. Even PT Barnum had one.

I will discuss the story no further, except to say that it is tightly written, expertly researched, and a whole lot of fun, while being very scary at times. As a science-based potboiler, it does fine. This is just the second Preston/Child book I've read, the first beign "Riptide", which had a similar exellent premise that sort of fell apart in the end. This time, the book holds together throughout, with only a couple of logical gaps that are easily ignored if you treat the book like a summer movie, which it really is. It ain't Shakespere, but it does have an intelligence that many novels lack, and an attentive reader will even pick up clues to a sequel to this story, but only if you look hard enough.

My biggest problem is that the "regular" villans, AKA not the criminal, but the objects in the way of the hero's solving the case, are pure characatures. Pendergast is, while seemingly more brillianty that Sherlock Holmes, at least portayed as having faults despite his "good guy" status, and Dr. Kelly takes much prodding before she commits herself wholesale to the endeavour. No, it's the beaurucrats that are poorly drawn. A Police Captain, named Custer in a very obvious reference to the reckless General, is just a cardboard cutout, a straw man who possesses no positive traits and seems like a total incompetent. In fact, the entire NY Police Dept. comes off as morons, which is rather unfair, and in fact the entire sub-plot that involves them is thin and rather pointless. Also, Kelly's nemesis, VP at the Museum she works at and a total jackass, is just one big lawyer joke. Perhaps the authors are trying to say something about cuts in science funding in favor of profits, but it comes off as clumsy and poorly written. The villan however, is much more interesting, and not so broadly drawn. I much better villan. Perhaps 100 pages could have been shaved off the book without the intrusiveness of the NYPD Captain and the lawyer.

In the end, however, the book reads exceedingly well, even the unnecessary parts are good, and it's probably one of the better "sorta true" science thrillers I've read outside of Michael Chricton's last two novels. I'm going to read "Relic", and see how that reads.

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Summary: Was I Reading the Same Book as Other Reviewers??
Review: Cabinet of Curiosities, the latest in a string of works by Child & Preston, involves the discovery of a mass grave in present day NYC -- the charnel house of a mad scientist on a quest for the secret of eternal life. Excellent premise, I'll give the authors that much credit. Also intriguing is the background of New York in the 1800's and the various "cabinets of curiosities" housed there -- lots of excellent resources for the authors. Unfortunately, the material could not prop up the bad writing and the poor characterizations of this novel.

After reading this novel, I have to wonder if I've actually read the same book that other reviewers are crowing about. I found the pacing of the novel extremely slow and the characters to be wooden and one-dimensional. Archaeologist Nora Kelly was mildly interesting, Smithback was atrocious! What newspaper would hire a guy like that? He was bumbling in every sense of the word, and not charmingly so. And Agent Pendergast? Despite his extraordinary gift of "memory crossing" (much too unbelievable, even for a story like this) I found him to be the most singularly dull character in the entire book. There was nothing original about this character whatsoever -- in fact, once the reader has finished with the first description of the man pulling up in his Rolls Royce, it's easy to predict every nuance of the character...his mannerisms, his dress, his living accomodations (at the Dakota, no less!), I found myself rolling my eyes and thinking, "Of course." And if he does possess the gift of "memory crossing," then why is there an investigation at all? It seems as though he could simply "cross" to the scene of the crime, and if he can affect people during that time period (as evidenced by him tossing a handful of coins to Mary Greene's little sister), then he should have easily been able to stop the killer before he actually murdered anyone.

Even the writing, at times, was painful and amateurish. Overall, this book is a waste of time to plow through -- the authors had an excellent resource and base for a story, but they blew it. Perhaps mixing characters from several previous books (as mentioned by other reviewers) was their downfall...I can't be sure, but I can be sure that I won't be going back to read any of their other work.

For an excellent historical mystery set in 1800's NYC, check out Caleb Carr's Alienist series. Excellent stories, superb characterizations, and solid writing technique.

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Summary: Worth Reading But Below Par For These Two Talented Authors
Review: I'm a huge fan of Preston and Child and have read and immensely enjoyed all their co-authored books. This is a good book, but falls short of others classics like The Relic, Riptide, and The Ice Limit. All the usual elements that make their other books appear to be there: interesting characters, unusual locations, a mysterious, twisting plot, and of course suspense throughout. Here some of the high technology and gadgets we've become accustomed to give way to a more historical bent, and more traditional means of murder-mystery solving via research, investigation, and a dash of intuition and luck.

My main criticism of this book is that I feel it too-frequently crosses the line between amazing and ridiculous. I'm willing to stretch it for a suspense thriller, but some things are just too outrageous to accept. Pendergast in particular seems to have insight that goes well beyond reasonable. Yes, he is a genius, but most geniuses I've heard of still cannot see the future or things in the past from another person's viewpoint, nor predict with absolute clarity what a free-thinking individual will or will not do, not to mention [SPOILER ALERT] giving a calm, extremely long-winded explanation while mortally wounded that is completely unnecessary at the time.

Some of the characters are one-dimensionally cartoonish, mostly the police and other authority figures. Take the overused cliches of real-estate-developing billionaire, impatient mayor, uncooperative boss of protagonist, and fat, clueless, inept police chief who won't listen to reason, who muddle up the investigation time and time again, even though we know the same lead characters have already proven themselves by solving a number of other crimes that no one else could. And guess what? It's election time and the mayor's minions are riding everyone's butts because he needs this case solved fast! Yep.

However...I found myself liking it despite these flaws. If you expect this and it doesn't bother you, you will probably love it. It seemed to me that Lincoln and Child tried too hard to outdo themselves, and it was unnecessary. I'd opt for more human dialogue, a less-complex but more believable plot, and a BIT more secondary character development. The suspense will live up to your expectations and you could do far worse if you're looking for a light summer read.