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Brimstone is the fifth book in the Agent Pendergast series, and Book One of the Diogenes Trilogy. It was released by Grand Central Publishing (then Warner Books) on August 3, 2004, and is the ninth collaborative Preston-Child novel.

Plot Summary[]

Art critic Jeremy Grove is found dead, his face frozen in a mask of terror. His body temperature is grotesquely high; he is discovered in a room barricaded from the inside; the smell of brimstone is everywhere... and the unmistakable imprint of a claw is burned into the wall. As more bodies are discovered—their only connection the bizarre but identical manner of death—the world begins to wonder if the Devil has, in fact, come to collect his due. Teaming with Police Officer Vincent D'Agosta, Agent Pendergast is determined to solve this case that appears to defy everything except supernatural logic. Their investigation takes them from the luxury estates of Long Island to the crumbling, legend-shrouded castles of the Italian countryside, where Pendergast faces the most treacherous and dangerous adversary of his career.

-Publisher's synopsis

Spoiler Plot Summary[]

The fifth installment of the Special Agent Pendergrast series and the first in the Diogenes Trilogy, Brimstone (2004), a detective novel by American authors Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, tells the story of an FBI Agent who investigates a series of mysterious deaths that may be connected to the Devil himself. The narrative of Brimstone is continued in 2005's Dance of Death and concluded in 2006's The Book of the Dead.

Aloysius Xingu Leng Pendergrast, a special agent with the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, works out of the agency's branch in New Orleans, which is also his hometown. A Southern dandy who enjoys fine wine and cuisine, Pendergrast is a brilliant investigator who can speak at least six languages fluently and is a master of psychological manipulation. With his black hand-tailored wool suits and extremely pale complexion, Pendergrast is often likened to an undertaker in his appearance.

Pendergrast is invited to Southampton, New York to investigate the bizarre death of Jeremy Grove, a notoriously ruthless art critic. Grove's body is found in a locked attic roasted from the inside out, and beside his corpse, there is an impression of a cloven hoof, like one that belongs to a goat but much bigger. There is also a large burn mark on Grove's chest in the shape of a cross. Furthermore, the sulfuric smell of brimstone hangs in the air at the scene of the murder. Local investigators do their best to keep the lurid details of the death concealed, but a reporter named Bryce Harriman uncovers the strange facts of the case. He runs a sensationalist story attributing Grove's death to the devil incarnate, triggering panic throughout the New York area. The details surrounding the death, Harriman writes, are consistent with the horrors said to befall those who make pacts with Satan. The panic intensifies after record producer Nigel Cutforth is found dead in his Manhattan apartment from similar circumstances, only this time the impression of a Satanic face is found on the wall next to the corpse. Joining Pendergrast in his investigation are Sergeant Vincent D'Agosta—a New Yorker of Italian descent who recently rejoined the force following a stint as a crime writer—and D'Agosta's partner and sometime lover, Laura Hayward. As the three of them investigate the scenes of the crimes, a group of Messianic Christians led by ex-con preacher Wayne P. Buck gathers and sets up a tent encampment in Central Park across from Cutforth's apartment. Buck and his followers believe that the Satanic murders are a sign that the Second Coming of Jesus Christ is imminent. Pendergrast, D'Agosta, and Hayward follow a lead to the Italian countryside near Florence, Italy. Visiting a crumbling castle owned by the strange and suspicious Count Fosco, they discover that Fosco and three of his associates are murdering individuals as part of a presumed pact with Satan so they can uncover the location of an extremely rare Stradivarius violin. At this point in the narrative, Pendergrast reveals to his partners that he has a criminally insane brother named Diogenes, whom he believes is somehow connected to the crimes. Pendergrast does not know the whereabouts of Diogenes, but he has an ominously bad feeling about a certain date: January 28. This, Pendergrast assumes, will be the date of Diogenes' biggest and most heinous crime. Meanwhile, back in New York, the Messianic Christians are on the verge of an apocalyptic riot as they await the arrival of their lord and savior. After learning of Count Fosco's association with an ancient sect and its murder pact which he believes will grant him the rare violin, Pendergrast is knocked unconscious by Fosco. When he wakes up, he finds himself buried alive behind a wall of recently laid bricks, in a reference to the Edgar Allan Poe short story, "The Cask of Amontillado." Just as Pendergrast is about to run out of oxygen, however, his wicked brother bursts through the bricks to save him—though Pendergrast is certain that Diogenes has an evil ulterior motive for doing so. The book ends on this cliffhanger, and the narrative is continued in the sequel, Dance of Death.

Returning Characters[]

First Appearances[]

  • Constance Greene - Constance was hinted at in the last two novels, and Pendergast met a 6 year old Constance during a memory crossing in The Cabinet of Curiosities
  • Diogenes Pendergast - Wren asks about Diogenes in Still Life with Crows. Pendergast recieves a note from Diogenes, and tells D'agosta about it. Diogenes is later seen by D'agosta from a distance, but D'agosta doesn't know who he is, he just notices the two different colored eyes. The book ends with Diogenes uncovering Pendergast from his "tomb"
  • Anonymous CIA Man
  • Viola Maskelene
  • Mrs. Trask (An elderly caretaker is seen at the Riverside Mansion house but unnamed)
  • Lydia D'agosta
  • Vincent D'agosta Jr.
  • Lieutenant L. P. Braskie Jr. (Southampton Police Department)
  • Dr. Jack Dienphong (chief of the  FBI's  Forensic  Science  Division  on  Congress  Street)
  • Special Agent in Charge Carlton (chief  of  the  Southern  District  Field  Office)
  • Locke Bullard
  • Vazquez (Hitman)
  • Detective Sergeant Mandrel (Twenty-first Precinct- FBI)
  • Rupert Ritts (Editor at the New York Post)
  • Count Isidor Fosco
  • Pinkett/Pinchetti (Fosco's Assistant)
  • Milton Grable (NYPD Captain of Patrol)
  • Wayne Paul buck

Locations[]

References to other literary works[]

  • The entombing of Pendergast in the catacombs under Fosco's home bears a deliberate literary allusion to the 1846 short story "The Cask of Amontillado" by Edgar Allan Poe. The dialogue when Pendergast futilely urges the Count to let him go because he has something important to do also has a strong resemblance to the Confrontation dialogue between Valjean and Javert in the hit musical Les Misérables.
  • An alias D'Agosta uses on the telephone, Jack Torrance, is the name of the main character in The Shining, a 1977 novel by Stephen King.
  • The character of Count Fosco is a tribute to the classic character of the same name, a villain in Wilkie Collins's 1860 novel The Woman in White.
  • The character Count Fosco refers to there being all types of detectives including Navajo policemen, a subtle reference to Tony Hillerman's characters Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee, two fictional Navajo policeman.

Continuity[]

  • Takes place in October of 2004, only a few months after the events of Still Life with Crows
  • Vincent D'Agosta says it's been Five years since he's seen Pendergast
  • Pendergast receives a letter for Diogenes, with a date of January 28th, he says 91 days from now
  • Wren says that only five living people know about the basement of Riverside Drive, he must mean himself, Pendergast, Nora Kelly, Bill Smithback, and Constance.
  • Constance has her first chapter in this novel (chapter 7), she is described as being physically 19
  • D'agosta says he had been married to his ex-wife Lydia for 25 years, but been separated for 6 months

Notes[]

  • We find out Pendergasts first name in this novel, he tells it to D'agosta when he is disguised, and D'agosta asks him to spell it.
  • Constance and D'agosta meet
  • Laura Hayward says that Pendergrast has rarely had to testify against a client because most of them end up dead, as of this book, the readers have seen little evidence of that
  • When a hitman is staking out the riverside mansion he notices the people, in the house and coming and going, Pendergast, Proctor, Constance, D'agosta and Wren, he also talks about an elderly looking housekeeper, this could be Mrs. Trask
  • D'agosta stays the night at 891 Riverside Drive
  • Pendergast, who has said thus far he only drinks tea, drinks espresso when in Italy
  • Pendergast has a weakness for good Gelato
  • Pendergast says he has a Photographic memory
  • D'agosta and Hayward have their first date at Le Cirque, a French restaurant that closed in 2018. While dining, they see Michael Douglas and Madonna.

Spoiler Section[]

Antagonists[]

  • Locke Bullard (Deceased)
  • Wayne Paul buck (imprisoned)
  • Count Isidor Fosco (Deceased)

Notable Deaths[]

  • Jeremy Grove death
  • Nigel cut forth dead
  • Locke Bullard dead
  • Count Isidor Fosco

Body Count: 18

Pendergast kill count: 6

D'agosta Kill count; 5

Pendergast Injuries:[]

  • Shot in arm, winged
  • shut up behind a bricked wall for 40+ hours

D'agosta loses the tip of a finger

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