Continuation of the Dr. Leng arch.Constance "uses" time machine to return to NYC in 1880 to rescue her older sister, younger brother, and her younger self. Book is essentially .a 50% plot, ending precipitously without an ending - which the authors promise for the next book. ( )

Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child’s The Cabinet of Dr. Leng is the twenty-first novel in the Pendergast series focused on FBI Special Agent Aloysius Pendergast. The story begins following the events of Bloodless, which introduced a time machine in the vein of Michael Crichton’s Timeline that can use quantum tunneling to peer into parallel realities that feature a different time rather than traveling back along the time of one’s own reality. Constance Greene used the device to travel to a New York City of the 1880s in order to save some version of her siblings from their grisly fates and to extract vengeance from Dr. Enoch Leng, Pendergast’s ancestor and the man who experimented on and killed her sister to develop his Arcanum, eventually using it to prolong his own and Constance’s life. For his part, Pendergast decides not to follows Constance’s directions and reconstructs the machine she destroyed in order to save her from Leng, a threat in any timeline. In this, the novel returns the series to one of its strongest previous entries while offering the chance for Preston & Child to flex their historical fiction skills.

Meanwhile in the present, Lt. Vincent D’Agosta finds himself returning to the Museum of Natural History, the site of two of Pendergast’s earliest cases, in order to investigate a classic locked-room mystery. Out in Denver, Special Agent Armstrong Coldmoon investigates a murder on a nearby Reservation. His superiors and the local police think the case is open-and-shut, but his doubts reveal the duplication and theft of Native American artwork and items of cultural patrimony with links to D’Agosta’s case. Soon, Pendergast’s two former partners find themselves working together to uncover how many items were stolen and where they ended up.

The story concludes on a cliffhanger, with a teaser promising a final confrontation between Pendergasts past and present. In expanding upon a narrative that began in The Cabinet of Curiosities, Preston & Child find themselves on safe ground so that long-time fans can follow the narrative leaps time travel brings to the story. The B-story focused on D’Agosta and Coldmoon gives each a chance to shine while affording them the opportunity to learn from each other’s insights. A good addition to the Pendergast series that promises an exciting conclusion in the forthcoming twenty-second novel. ( )

Let it be known that I am a true fan of [[Douglas Preston]], but not so much a fan of the Pendergast world. This book was part of a raffle winning package of books, so I thought I'd try Pendergast again at no expense. But I just don't get it. Perhaps the FBI stuff is just too outlandish for me and, for someone who knows better, folks, it is off-the-scale outlandish. The idea that an FBI agent would be composed of these characteristics, or get away with what he gets away with, just breaks my mind, I can suspend disbelief with the best of 'em, but Pendergast is a bridge way too far. The supernatural/time-travel elements were interesting, as was the relationships between the characters. I also didn't care for the way this book ended - as an author, if you have to pen an apology for breaking your narrative into two books after the last page of the first book, get an editor or shove the whole thing down the publisher's gullet, please.

I will keep reading Preston but leave Pendergast to his peculiarities.

2 bones!! ( )

Three stories on 2 timelines. This seems to be the way this series is written but I found it boring. Perhaps if I had read the earlier books in the series I would be more forgiving.

I received a review copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.com. ( )

Entertaining for sure. Somewhat abundand amount of deus-ex-maccina solutions though. ;) ( )