WHAT do you get when you put together a couple of good thriller writers, a macabre murder or three and zombies?
Cemetery Dance by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child is what. This is the latest Pendergast novel, featuring the odd and enigmatic FBI Special Agent.
Pendergast turns up after a New York Times reporter is horribly killed in his own home. It turns out that he's one of Pendergast's friends, which is only slightly reassuring for Lieutenant Vincent D'Agosta.
D'Agosta is a hot-headed, New York cop with a penchant for jumping in with both feet and ignoring his superiors. Pendergast doesn't actually seem to have any superiors, in fact no one is entirely sure who's in charge of him.
As the pair join up to undertake a slightly unorthodox investigation into the journalist's death, their iconoclasm starts to worry D'Agosta's boss and some-time girlfriend, Captain Laura Hayward.
Before long more bodies start turning up, but it's when someone is killed by an already dead suspect that things start going a bit wonky.
Actually, Cemetery Dance is a classic thriller. There are plenty of twists, realistic police work and solid supporting characters in this novel.
It's interesting that two authors put it together – one wonders how they separate the work load... one does all the dialogue and the other all the action scenes?
Still it doesn't detract from the work's quality. This is solid journeyman writing; nothing truly flashy but plenty of good bits that keep the reader entertained.
The addition of a bit of racism and xenophobia, a smidgen of history and religious fanaticism adds to the book, giving it a bit more depth.
Tantalising glimpses of Pendergast's life — just exactly who or what is he? — also adds to the story.
Again, having read the other eight Pendergast novels will assist the reader, but Cemetery Dance can be happily read on its own.
Cemetery Dance by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child is published by Orion Books and is available in good bookstores and online.