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The Book of the Dead is the seventh book in the Agent Pendergast series and Book Three of the Diogenes Trilogy. It was published by Grand Central Publishing (then Warner Books) and released on May 30, 2006. The Book of the Dead is the eleventh novel co-written by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child. Its initial release reached #4 on the New York Times Best Seller list.

Plot Summary[]

The story revolves around Aloysius Pendergast, who finds himself wrongly imprisoned for crimes committed by his brother Diogenes. While Aloysius awaits trial, Vincent D'Agosta and Eli Glinn work to uncover the truth and clear his name, despite the risks involved. Meanwhile, Diogenes seizes the opportunity to carry out his grand plan, which involves manipulating events at the Museum of Natural History and attempting to win over Constance Greene, Aloysius's ward.

At the museum, Nora Kelly is tasked with organizing an exhibit featuring an ancient Egyptian tomb with a dark history. As strange incidents and accidents occur, suspicions arise, but the exhibit's opening proceeds regardless, drawing in various characters with connections to Pendergast and setting the stage for further intrigue and danger.

Returning Characters[]

Mentioned: Mike Decker, Corrie Swanson,Cornelia Delamere Pendergast, Karl Rocker, Margos's Mother, Charlie Prine

New Characters[]

  • Digby Greenlaw (Assistant director for administration)
  • Seamus McCorkle
  • Eddie Visconti (NYPD)
  • Albert Chichester
  • Carlos Lacarra
  • Mayor Skylar

Locations[]

  • Diogenes also mentions he owns a home on Long Island
  • Diogenes mentions travel in Florence, Milan, Lucerne, Strasbourg, Luxembourg, Brussels, Amsterdam, Berlin, Warsaw, Vienna, Ljubljana, Venice, Pescara, Foggia, Naples, Reggio di Calabria, Messina, and Milazzo

Timeline[]

  • It has been about 1 month since Dance of Death, starting around March 20th, 2005
  • The book Ends April 12th
  • When Pendergast uses the memory crossing to see his younger self and Diogenes, he says it is 30 years ago. Diogenes is 7, and Pendergast is 9, so this would make Pendergast about 39 at present.

Notes:[]

  • Margo is sent to the Feversham Clinic by Pendergast, a Clinic that Pendergast uses often, he sent Bill Smithback there after the Surgeon Copycat Killings, and has been there himself.
  • Mistake: Laura Hayward says they have hair evidence against Pendergast, this is not true, Diogenes has left Hairs at the scene of Mike Decker's Murder, but Pendergast took those

Character Deaths[]

Body Count: 8

  • Carlos Lacarra
  • Theodore DeMeo
  • Adrian Wicherly
  • 4 killed in the Egyptan tomb incident (60 incident, a dozen severely including Collopy

Spoiler*******************************************************************************************************
Diogenes does not die in this novel, he is thought to be dead but he reappears in The Obsidian Chamber

  • Pendergast Kill Count: 1
  • Constance Kill Count: 1
  • Diogenes Kill Count: Responsible for 6th deaths
  • Pendergast injuries: Shivved, Beat up (broken ribs)
  • Constance is Shot

Antagonist(s)[]

Agent Coffey is knocked down to a GS-11 and has a notice of censure placed in his jacket. He is relocated to the North Dakota field office in Black Rock because of his scandal with the Prison

Note from the Authors[]

We are frequently asked in what order, if any, our books should be read.

The question is most applicable to the novels that feature Special Agent Pendergast. Although most of our novels are written to be stand-alone stories, very few have turned out to be set in discrete worlds. Quite the opposite: it seems the more novels we write together, the more “bleed-through” occurs between the characters and events that comprise them all. Characters from one book might appear in a later one, for example, or events in one novel could spill into a subsequent one. In short, we have slowly been building up a universe in which all the characters in our novels, and the experiences they have, take place and overlap.

Reading the novels in a particular order, however, is rarely necessary. We have worked hard to make almost all of our books into stories that can be enjoyed without reading any of the others, with a few exceptions.

Here, then, is our own breakdown of our books:

Relic was our first novel, and the first to feature Special Agent Pendergast, and as such has no antecedents.

Reliquary is the sequel to Relic.

The Cabinet of Curiosities is our third Pendergast novel, and it stands completely on its own.

Still Life with Crows is next. It is also a self-contained story (although people curious about Constance Greene will find a little information here as well as in The Cabinet of Curiosities).

Brimstone is next, and is the first novel in what we informally call the Pendergast trilogy. Although it is also self-contained, it does pick up some threads begun in The Cabinet of Curiosities.

Dance of Death is the middle novel of the Pendergast trilogy. While it can be read as a stand-alone book, readers may wish to read Brimstone before Dance of Death.

The Book of the Dead is the last, culminating novel in the Pendergast trilogy. For greatest enjoyment, the reader should read at least Dance of Death first.

We have also written a number of self-contained tales of adventure that do not feature Special Agent Pendergast. They are, by date of publication, Mount Dragon, Riptide, Thunderhead, and The Ice Limit.

Thunderhead introduces the archaeologist Nora Kelly, who appears in all the later Pendergast novels. The Ice Limit introduces Eli Glinn, who appears in Dance of Death and The Book of the Dead.

In closing, we want to assure our readers that this note is not intended as some kind of onerous syllabus, but rather as an answer to the question In what order should I read your novels? We feel extraordinarily fortunate that there are people like you who enjoy reading our novels as much as we enjoy writing them.

With our best wishes,

Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child

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