crappyAs in most series, some are great. They’re what bring you to the series in the first place. Some are good but not that memorable and some just are bad. This was one of the great ones in this series.
Grove, a wealthy man, has died in the most bizarre way, burnt from the inside out with a cloven hoof burned into the flooring. D’Agosta, former NYPD and former character of other novels, is now on the Southampton PD after a failed career as a crime novelist. Grove happens to die in his jurisdiction. D’Agosta would have spent his time just roping off the crime scene, under utilitized but FBI Agent Aloysius Pendergast shows up, muscling into the case and bringing his friend into it.
The cast of suspects is very interesting, a lady married into nobility, a wealthy record producer, a weapon’s maker and an Italian count. Before long another of their number has died in a similar way. D’Agosta and Pendergast meet up with Hayward and she’s now a captain (another character from novels past) and D’Agosta meets Constance, Pendergast’s ward. Hayward gets involved in the case, which spawns a religious subplot with Reverend Buck, prisoner turned evangelical who thinks NYC is going to see the end of days and that he is god’s chosen to lead the masses.
The plot is full of assassins, subterfuge, memorable characters and backdrops of NYC and Italy. This one reminds me of the X-Files, just enough of the supernatural to make you think but enough of the mundane to ground it. The ending was way too Hollywood for my taste and not that believable but even that didn’t distract from how fun this one was.
