In ten words or less: Agent
Pendergast discovers that his wife survived a hunting accident.
Review: Mysterious FBI Agent Aloysius Pendergast’s wife died
in a hunting accident while in Africa. Helen was an excellent shot, but
apparently her rifle misfired, and she was mauled to death by the beast. Her
brother, Judson Esterhazy, invites Pendergast on a hunting trip to remote Scotland, where he shoots Pendergast
and leaves him to die in a marsh. Before the wounded Pendergast sinks into the
mire, Esterhazy tells him that Helen is still alive.
How Pendergast manages to survive to outwit his
brother-in-law is a twisted tale, indeed. He travels to Louisiana and New York,
searching for clues to Helen’s whereabouts. Her body is exhumed—and the DNA
evidence proves that it is Helen buried in the plot. Penderfast’s friends worry
that his grief has taken hold of the man’s usually brilliant mind.
Why bother? “Cold Vengeance” continues the last volume, when
Pendergast realizes that he knew very little about his late wife’s past. There
is less of the supernatural, and more human evil, in this volume than in some
of the other Pendergast novels. In some ways it is disconcerting to see the
level headed and methodical FBI agent in the grip of such grief. With a
cliffhanger ending, readers will be impatient for the next adventure.
