Review by Booklist Review
Picking up shortly after the events detailed in Verses for the Dead (2018), the new Aloysius Pendergast thriller pits the rebellious FBI agent against the person or persons responsible for the dozens of dismembered feet washing up on a Florida beach. Unfortunately for Pendergast, solving this mystery will require him to do battle with some of his colleagues, law-enforcement people with their own ideas of how to go about catching a killer. Red herrings and dead ends abound in this especially intricately plotted entry in the Pendergast series, which is also noteworthy (as usual) for its finely drawn characters and its writing style, which overlays contemporary storytelling with a lightly ornate flavoring. Pendergast remains a thoroughly engaging maverick, working within the rule-bound FBI but always going his own way, and this fine novel showcases his intelligence, determination, and tolerate-no-idiots investigative style.--David Pitt Copyright 2020 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
When more than a hundred shoes containing severed human feet wash ashore on Florida's Sanibel Island in Preston and Child's exciting 19th Pendergast novel (after 2018's Verses for the Dead), eccentric FBI agent Aloysius Pendergast, who's vacationing in nearby Fort Myers with his ward, Constance Greene, joins the investigation. The arrogant Coast Guard commander in charge is sure the shoes belong to convicts executed at a Cuban prison, but Pendergast thinks otherwise and enlists the aid of oceanographer Pamela Gladstone to analyze currents in the Gulf of Mexico to determine their source. The stakes rise as it becomes clear that a mole within the investigation is tipping off those responsible for the crime. Pendergast and Gladstone wind up captured by some nasty villains, and a handful of Pendergast's friends, including the resourceful Constance, must rush to the rescue in an extended, nail-biting climax. After a string of so-so entries in this bestselling series, Preston and Child have returned to the quality storytelling they're known for. Agent: Eric Simonoff, WME. (Feb.)
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
FBI Special Agent Aloysius Pendergast finds evil afoot in his latest action-filled adventure (Verses for the Dead, 2018, etc.).Imagine Florida beachcombers' shock when they discover a shoe with a severed foot inside. Soon they see dozens more feet, all in identical shoes, bobbing toward the beach. Police and FBI ultimately count more than a hundred of them washing up on Sanibel and Captiva Islands' tranquil shores. Pendergast teams up with the junior Special Agent Armstrong Coldmoon to investigate this strange phenomenon. Oceanographers use a supercomputer to analyze Gulf currents and attempt to determine where the feet entered the ocean. Were they dumped off a ship or an island? Does each one represent a homicide? Analysts examine chemical residues and pollen, even the angle of each foot's amputation, but the puzzle defies all explanation. Attention focuses on Cuba, where "something terrible was happening" in front of a coastal prison, and on China, the apparent source of the shoes. The clever plot is "a most baffling case indeed" for the brilliant Pendergast, but it's the type of problem he thrives on. He's hardly a stereotypical FBI agent, given for example his lemon-colored silk suit, his Panama hat, and his legendary insistence on working aloneuntil now. Pendergast rarely blinksperhaps, someone surmises, he's part reptile. But equally odd is Constance Greene, his "extraordinarily beautiful," smart, and sarcastic young "ward" who has "eyes that had seen everything and, as a result, were surprised by nothing." Coldmoon is more down to earth: part Lakota, part Italian, and "every inch a Fed." Add in murderous drug dealers, an intrepid newspaper reporter, coyotes crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, and a pissed-off wannabe graphic novelist, and you have a thoroughly entertaining cast of characters. There is plenty of suspense, and the action gets bloody. Great storytelling, a quirky hero, and a quirkier plot make this a winner for adventure fans. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
