Reliquary (Pendergast, Book 2) | 
 enlarge | Authors: Douglas Preston, Lincoln Child
Publisher: Tor Books
Category: Book
List Price: $7.99
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Rating:  184 reviews
Sales Rank: 13171
Media: Mass Market Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 480
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 6.7 x 4.2 x 1.4
ISBN: 0812542835
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.52
EAN: 9780812542837
ASIN: 0812542835
Publication Date: July 15, 1998
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: very usable copy - Loc 75r3
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Product Description
Hidden deep beneath Manhattan lies a warren of tunnels, sewers, and galleries, mostly forgotten by those who walk the streets above. There lies the ultimate secret of the Museum Beat. When two grotesquely deformed skeletons are found deep in the mud off the Manhattan shoreline, museum curator Margo Green is called in to aid the investigation. Margo must once again team up with police lieutenant D'Agosta and FBI agent Pendergast, as well as the brilliant Dr. Frock, to try and solve the puzzle. The trail soon leads deep underground, where they will face the awakening of a slumbering nightmare.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 179 more reviews...
 A macabre & exhilirating listening adventure November 20, 2008
Reliquary is the sequel to Relic which first introduced us to FBI special agent Pendergast. This story picks up where the original story ended, but we are now drawn outside the halls of the venerable museum in which the first story took place. Now, we are taken below ground - deep below ground. We are introduced to a dark world, peopled with strange characters living in alien blackness. Outcasts from the world above, these "mole" people have fled the daylight to escape the trappings of traditional society, as well as societal injustice and inequality. But there's something else dwelling in the darkness with them; creatures from the Devil's Attic that prowl the silent darkness, feeding on them.
But the mole people aren't enough to satisfy their appetite. When the creatures venture beyond the boundaries of their underground lair and kill the daughter of a prominent New Yorker, Special agent Pendergast must once again become involved.
Assisted by his old friends at the museum, Margo Green & Dr Frock, as well his invaluable side-kick, NY police sergeant Vincent D'Agosta, not to mention the erstwhile journalist William Smithback, Pendergast and crew struggle to unravel the mystery without becoming the next victims.
Their adventure takes them from the most luxe and exclusive Park Avenue penthouse, to disgusting sewage drains, down a labyrinth of old, crumbling subway tunnels, to ancient & abandoned train stations - straight into the very heart of monsters' lair.
This is an excellent un-abridged audio recording of an old and favorite book.
Another interesting Preston/Child book November 4, 2008
I agree with most people that this book did not live up to Relic, but it is still a great story. It reads well as an independent book and the setting is very interesting below NYC. I think that it took a little bit too long to really get going, but when it did it was really strong.
Reliquary October 25, 2008
Preston and Childs books are just incredible! Very complex, full of ideas you've never been exposed to before (and at times, thankfully). I learn something every time I read one, and I Love Agent Pendergrast!
Into the Deep ... October 24, 2008
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
'The Reliquary' is a sequel (of sorts) to 'The Relic', but you don't have to read 'The Relic' first to enjoy this associated but independent novel. It's time to get together again with Dr. Margo Green - Assistant Curator of New York Museum Of Natural History, Lt. Vincent D'Agosta - a New York City Detective, Agent Pendergrast from the FBI, Bill Smithback - crime reporter for the New York Post, and Dr. Whitney Frock - now retired Evolutionary Biologist and wheelchair bound.
It's been eighteen months since the Mbwun beast terrorized the Museum Of Natural History, when two skeletons are pulled from the Humboldt Kill canal (called The Cloaca because of its murky raw sewage). One is discovered to be that of wealthy debutant Pamela Wisher (a Paris Hilton type society girl), but the other doesn't even seem to be human. Dr. Margo Green is called in by the Medical Examiner to attempt to identify the skeleton. When the remains are identified to be those of Margo's old colleague Greg Kawakita, Lt. D'Agosta and Agent Pendergrast join her in her search to find out what Greg had been up to, and how his bones became so deformed. The answer lies in two places; the remnants of Greg's burnt out laboratory, and in the tunnels underneath New York from which the two skeletons were flushed from.
Margo's old friend Bill Smithback heads straight to Pamela's upper crust mother to get an exclusive scoop from her. Amazingly, she takes him in and obtains his help with her Take Back Our City campaign. He also manages a meeting with Mephisto, leader of the underground community called Route 666. Mephisto tells Smithback of a new group of "mole people" living deeper, below the Devil's Attic, that he calls "Wrinklers".
When Margo, D'Agosta, Pendergrast, and Smithback put their heads together, they discover a connection between the Wrinklers and what Greg Kawakita was working on before he died. They must unravel the puzzle before the city is torn apart by Mrs. Wisher's Tack Back The City campaign, the angry "mole people" who live far beneath Wisher's elegant apartments, and a police department under pressure to solve the grisly rash of murders. In order to do this, the four must travel deep below New York, into the subterranean tracks, tunnels, aqueducts, old sewers, abandoned stations, and once elegant private waiting rooms.
What really heightened my enjoyment of this book is that prior to it, I read an interesting non-fiction book called 'The Mole People' by Jennifer Toth. Written in 1993, she actually went into the tunnels and spoke with members of the underground society called "moles" or "mole people". In the author's notes at the end of 'Reliquary', Preston and Child also mention Toth's work. If you have the chance or are interested, read 'The Mole People' first and it will enhance what Preston and Child have written about the society in 'Reliquary'. It's just a suggestion, along with reading 'The Relic' first. Both books really augment the pleasure of reading 'Reliquary'. Enjoy!
 Readable, But this is Probably the Weakest Pendergast Book July 23, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Recently, I read an interview with Douglas Preston where he commented that RELIQUARY was probably the least successful of the "Agent Pendergast" books that he co-writes with Lincoln Child. After reading this book, I'm inclined to agree with him.
RELIQUARY is the second Pendergast novel and a direct sequel to the first book RELIC. It pretty much re-introduces all the major characters of THE RELIC and many additional ones. And this is the major flaw with RELIQUARY: there are simply too many characters and plot threads in this book, which don't really tie together in a satisfaying manner.
There's also a "been there, done that" quality to RELIQUARY that makes it a rather tiresome read. Preston and Child reuse many of the plot devices from THE RELIC, and there is little in this novel that is particularly original or inspired.
And most importantly, Pendergast only plays a supporting role in RELIQUARY, and the novel suffers in every scene where he is absent. Characters like Margot, Smithback and D'Agosta are simply not interesting enough to carry scenes on their own, and all of the other supporting characters are either too bland or cartoonish. I think the smartest move that Preston and Child ever made was to elevate Pendergast as the central character in this series, starting with the next entry, CABINET OF THE CURIOUSITIES.
That being said, I didn't hate RELIQUARY. It's a decent adventure story, and there's no denying that Preston and Child are very intelligent writers. Still, this is far from their best effort, and I wouldn't recommend this to anybody as their first Pendergast book.
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