Still Life with Crows

September 26, 2011
When a Kansas farming community is beset by a series of unusual murders, eccentric FBI Special Agent Aloysius Pendergast finds himself navigating cornfields and dealing with hostile local cops in order to unmask the killer in this fourth installment in the thriller series from Preston and Child. Although narrator Scott Brick takes a little while to hit his stride—some of the voices he lends to supporting characters are generic and his Midwestern accents are at times questionable—his narration proves effective and many of the characters he creates are colorful and appropriate. Among the highlights are his chilling depiction of the book’s mysterious killer and his rendition of an arrogant scientist researching genetically modified corn. While not every
aspect of this production qualifies as a home run, Brick’s significant talents shine through and make for an enjoyable
listening experience. A Grand Central paperback.

June 2, 2003
That FBI Special Agent Pendergast, one of the most charismatic thriller heroes in memory, dominates this latest novel from Preston/Child is the good news; that he's working the least interesting case of his literary career (other outings include The Cabinet of Curiosities
and Reliquary) is the bad. An unusual serial killer is wreaking havoc in a small corn-growing town in Kansas; he leaves outlandish signatures, such as a mutilated body within a circle of crows on stakes and a ring of broken corn stalks. On his own initiative, Pendergast, no stranger to bizarre murders, shows up to investigate, and the authors make much hay from the contrast between the lean, infinitely refined and impossibly erudite Pendergast, a distinct descendant of Sherlock Holmes, and the down-home milieu he finds himself in. As if to emphasize his ancestry, the authors give Pendergast a Watson here: one Corrie Swanson, a rebellious, pierced and tattooed teenage girl whom he hires as his driver and guide. Further killings occur, which rumor and Pendergast tie to a 19th-century massacre of a band of outlaws by Indians. (As Pendergast explains to Corrie, he arrives at this conclusion through a "form of mental concentration, one of my own devising, which combines the memory palace with elements of Chongg Ran, an ancient Bhutanese form of meditation.") Not surprisingly, the relatively hick local cops don't like Pendergast, nor do the local politicians, who hope their town will be chosen for a lucrative experiment in genetically modified crops. When Corrie is dragged off to the killer's hideaway in a massive cave system, however, cops and Pendergast unite in an extended underground cat-and-mouse chase that will entertain readers despite their likely disappointment at the absurd, even ludicrous, identity of the villain. This may be minor Preston/Child, but it is major Pendergast; those for whom he's the
cup of tea will drink deep.

March 15, 2003
FBI agent Pendergast investigates a series of bizarre murders in Medicine Creek, KS.

Copyright 2003 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2003
The authors of such hits as " Relic" (1992) and " The Cabinet of Curiosities "[BKL Je 1 & 15 02] bring back Special Agent Pendergast, the FBI man whose slightly archaic dialogue, unique mode of dress, and seemingly endless array of esoteric facts make him a fascinating lead character. This time out Pendergast is in Medicine Creek, Kansas, a small town that appears to be home to its very own serial killer. The novel begins with a gruesome murder, after which we're introduced to wily Sheriff Dent Hazen, a man who doesn't take kindly to out-of-towners investigating crimes on his turf. Just as we're getting to know Hazen, the pace kicks into high gear, with more bodies and a full-tilt investigation. As usual, Preston and Child deftly mix the real and the surreal, creating an atmosphere in which everything, for reasons we can't quite nail down, seems a tad off-kilter. Call it creeping paranoia, perhaps, or the dreadful certainty that something awful is about to happen. Whatever you call it, it's a recipe for success.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2003, American Library Association.)

October 6, 2003
This latest Preston and Child thriller, even in abbreviated form, offers gore galore, mutilations, bizarre ritual murders, an obstreperous sheriff, a young woman in jeopardy, a town consumed by terror and a spooky local legend—in short, an abundance of traditional suspense novel ingredients. Compensating for this apparent lack of imagination is the thriller's remarkable hero, Special Agent Pendergast, who's on leave from the FBI. This somewhat ethereal, cerebral specialist in macabre murders is a cross between Sherlock Holmes and Mulder of The X-Files
, but with his courtly Southern manner and combat expertise, he's very much his own man. Narrator Auberjonois, a familiar stage and screen presence, uses an appropriately silky accent and a playfully sarcastic tone for Pendergast. Auberjonois is equally successful with the other characters, especially the hard-headed but good-hearted Sheriff Dent Hazen, who emerges as a Wilfred Brimley minus the bluster; 18-year-old town rebel Corrie Swanson; and the killer, whose method of communication would challenge any vocal interpreter. Equally important, Auberjonois narrates the tale with the sort of mesmerizing intensity that can, and does, turn a fairly familiar yarn into a scary campfire chillfest. Simultaneous release with the Warner hardcover (Forecasts, June 2).

June 15, 2003
Our favorite mysterious FBI Agent Pendergast returns from his last adventure (Cabinet of Curiosities), arriving in tiny Medicine Creek, KS, just in time to investigate a series of gruesome murders. Life in rural Medicine Creek usually revolves around the local turkey-processing plant and growing corn, but all hell breaks loose when a female corpse is found in a clearing in a cornfield, surrounded by a ring of dead crows impaled on arrows. Things only get worse when a second body is displayed in another clearing, just a few feet from the horribly mauled, crumpled figure of local drifter Lonny Gasparilla-his thumb torn off and his hair pulled out by the roots. Gasparilla's dying breath names his attacker as the devil with the face of a child, and Agent Pendergast is immersed in another case rife with myth, the supernatural, and an over-the-top monstrous killer. The Preston-Child team scores another big winner, perfect for the summer; highly recommended for all popular fiction collections. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 3/15/03.]-Rebecca House Stankowski, Purdue Univ. Calumet Lib., Hammond, IN

Copyright 2003 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.