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The Wheel of Darkness (Pendergast #8)

3.87 of 5 stars 3.87 · rating details · 10,778 ratings · 623 reviews

Pendergast has taken Constance on a whirlwind Grand Tour, hoping to give her closure and a sense of the world that she's missed. They head to Tibet, where Pendergast intensively trained in martial arts and spiritual studies. At a remote monastery, they learn that a rare and dangerous artifact the monks have been guarding for generations has been mysteriously stolen. Pender...more

Hardcover, 388 pages

Published August 28th 2007 by Warner Books (first published 2007)

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Oct 14, 2007 Joel rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Anyone who likes the Pendergast series

This is the latest book in the "Pendergast series" from Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. It's their superhero FBI agent at it once again, saving lost pieces of art, relics and outwitting everyone all while making you, the reader, feel like you need to go out and start buying Hugo Boss suits and driving around in vintage luxury cars.

Actually, this book is a departure from the usual behavior of Agent Pendergast. He actually becomes a victim of sorts in this book and it's interesting to see Pres...more

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Sep 17, 2007 Steven Turek rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: thriller

After a leaving their last book soaked with uncertainty, Preston and Child return with a very disappointing conclusion. Many a thread are left untied with the conclusion of this book. In their past books they have treated the unknown with science and explanation, but here they delve way too deeply into the supernatural. The ending is remenicent of the deus ex machina endings of ancient Greek theatre. The authors build up the suspense, but then take the easy way out by having very improbable thin...more

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Mar 04, 2008 Tom Kouhsari rated it 1 of 5 stars

There are two types of people who rate this book highly. Those that have never read the rest of the Pendergast series and those whose understanding of the rest of the Pendergast series is skin deep.

This book is an insult to the rest of the series. I wonder if Preston and Child just got to the point where they said "I bet we can write any piece of garbage and put our names on it and put the name Pendergast in it and people will still love it"

Anyway, you could easily have written this book and rep...more

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Aug 03, 2008 ScottK rated it 5 of 5 stars

I love most of what these guys Douglass Preston and Lincoln Child write together. But I esecially love the story line of FBI agent Aloysius Pendergast and his "ward" Constance Greene.Yeah the books are a bit over the top and Agent Pendergast gets away with ALOT of stuff no Real FBI agent would, but the books are great. Always some end of the world /Crazy person with a venetta to destroy everything plot , and yet always different and fresh. This one takes place on a brand new Ocean Liner called B...more

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Dec 06, 2007 Corky rated it 5 of 5 stars

Needing a rest from the wrath Diogenes Pendergast bestowed upon them FBI agent Aloysius Pendergast and his ward, Constance Greene, seek peace of mind at a remote Tibetan monastery. The abbot asks Agent Pendergast to recover a stolen relic, the cryptic Agozyen, which in the wrong hands, could wipe out humanity. Constance joins Aloysius as y follow the trail to a luxury cruise ship, the Britannia which is making its maiden voyage. Brutal murders suggests the relic's evil might already have been re...more

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Apr 02, 2013 Patricia Kurz rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery-thriller

The beauty of this series is AXP's interest in and contribution to the story; in this one he opened and he closed the story, but the plot was so fragmented that it was hard to decide if this book was about Constance or Pendergast. At the end, even though Constance's role is revealed as being key, I found this episode weak and not believable.

But the story itself is what lacks the ability to hold interest. There is a monastery, there are monks. There are trusts made and broken. AXP takes off and l...more The beauty of this series is AXP's interest in and contribution to the story; in this one he opened and he closed the story, but the plot was so fragmented that it was hard to decide if this book was about Constance or Pendergast. At the end, even though Constance's role is revealed as being key, I found this episode weak and not believable.

But the story itself is what lacks the ability to hold interest. There is a monastery, there are monks. There are trusts made and broken. AXP takes off and leaves Constance at the monastery to question the most secluded monk... too easy, really. An important and dangerous artifact is stolen from the monastery and the monks ask Pendergast to retrieve it.

Then there is an ocean voyage and many red herring bad characters. There is an apparently prime story line about the ship's captains, but those also relate to the found/missing artifact. There are ghostly characters, cliched sea characters, a luxury liner about to go Titanic and a half dozen or so odd deaths -- all in service to the missing artifact.

So, the crime is solved, but not before AXP falls under its spell and "disappears" -- by becoming bad AXP ---- for way too long. Constance tries to guide him back to his good self and ultimately AXP's strong thoughts of home and a visit from his dead(?) brother bring him back around to sanity. The ship is not lost and the bedeviled characters regain their sea legs. There is a reappearance of a former nemesis, and the book closes with suggestion of greater devastation to come. Lots of people die.

It is disappointing on many levels. I think that when AXP disappears early on from his own book, you can expect it to be a poorer cousin of the better books. It's as if the star of a series dies mid-season and they have to absent him and make an explanation -- like it was all a dream or some such thing. Except for a rather enjoyable chapter where AXP plays blackjack to foil the card counters on board, it was mostly without Pendergast's usual charm.

Still, if you follow the series, the story does offer information necessary to go forward to the next, hopefully realistic and harrowing adventure.
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Nov 27, 2012 Giovanni rated it 3 of 5 stars

La Ruota nel Buio si colloca all'interno del filone, molto in voga, del connubio tra sovrannaturale, misteri legate all'arte e genere thriller. Le vicende ruotano attorno alla ricerca da parte del protagonista, l'agente speciale – sui generis – Pandergast,di un antico artefatto tibetano che potrebbe scatenare la fine del mondo se caduto in mani sbagliate. Pandergast è forse l'anello più debole del romanzo: emulo dei detective della Belle Epoque per la sovrumana capacità di osservazione di cui è...more

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Nov 11, 2012 Benjamin Thomas rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: audio-books, thriller

The least impressive of the Pendergast series so far. This one is quite a departure from Preston and Child's normal Pendergast novels, primarily because even while touching elements of the supernatural, the explanations for the various phenomenon Pendergast and company encounter has always been grounded in scientific explanation. That's not the case here and the ending even smacks of Deux Ex Machina.

Also contributing to the novel's inability to favorably compare to the previous books in the seri...more

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Sep 01, 2012 Dina Rae rated it 4 of 5 stars

I started this blog six months ago and have reviewed several books from guest authors. All of them, like me, have been published by small/medium sized publishing houses. As a new add-on to my blog, I would also like to review best-sellers from large publishing houses. Much of my reading comes from audio. I love to listen to books on my Ipod, computer, or car DVD player. The small publishing houses have yet to jump on this bandwagon and I wish they would. I love to read, but prefer listening to a...more I started this blog six months ago and have reviewed several books from guest authors. All of them, like me, have been published by small/medium sized publishing houses. As a new add-on to my blog, I would also like to review best-sellers from large publishing houses. Much of my reading comes from audio. I love to listen to books on my Ipod, computer, or car DVD player. The small publishing houses have yet to jump on this bandwagon and I wish they would. I love to read, but prefer listening to a professional actor read me the story while doing mundane things like housework, driving, walking the dogs, and even working. (Shh! Don't tell my boss!) This week I read Wheel of Darkness by two of my favorite authors.
As usual, these two authors open the story with a bit of history, religion, and art, all researched and all fascinating. This story focuses on the Tibetan monks and their ancient beliefs in mediation and spirituality. A mystery begins with one of their most guarded treasures being stolen from the monastery by a surviving mountain climber of the Himalayas. Pendergast, a familiar FBI agent, takes his dead brother's girlfriend, Constance, to the border of Tibet to meet the monks and find out what happened. As a personal favor, he promises to retrieve their treasure which has supernatural powers once in the wrong hands. Through their investigation, they learn the thief sold the artifact then wound up dead.
The murderer now in possession of the Tibetan treasure books a cruise on a luxury ocean liner. Like a Sherlock Holmes mystery, the authors quickly sets up the crime and the list of suspects. Lots of details are given about the mechanics of an ocean liner, the staffs' duties, and the blackjack card counting scam. More murder and more mystery take place on the ship, leading up to a mass hysteria. Eventually, Pendergast and Constance save the day.
My thoughts: I love these two writers and should probably give this book five stars, but was torn between four or three stars. The caliber of writing, research, characters, and plot are all outstanding. However, when comparing this to some of their other books such as Book of the Dead, Cemetery Dance, and Brimstone, they drop the ball in terms of predictability and momentum. (Yes, they have the challenge of outdoing their brilliant selves when being reviewed by a fan!)
What they did right they always do right-research, dialogue, and suspense. What they did wrong: The exact relationship between Pendergast and the monks is vague. He supposedly spent a year of his life with the monks, but the why/how/when was vague. Another ongoing problem is how Pendergast deducts many things without plausible rationale. Example: A weak line of reasoning went into his list of suspects. Pendergast constantly walks into situations that allow him to deal and blackmail other characters into helping him solve his mystery. Example: In the casino he happens to witness a counting blackjack scheme which he uses as a means of making a deal with the head of security. The ending was good, but predictable. I still liked the book and would recommend it to mystery lovers who enjoy learning new things.(less)

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Jan 09, 2012 Martin Gibbs rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: zzzgarbage

I'm sorry, no. I loved the Relic and the Reliquary (there really are folks who live in the undergound subway tunnels, and it is a fascniating study). There was a possibility of truth to both, because there possibly are plant chemicals that could warp your brain and turn you into a monster.

But this?

I have never thrown out a book, until I read this. For long and long, it seemed Preston and Child wrote things that bordered on paranormal, but still had a logical explanation. They still held my inter...more

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Jan 02, 2011 Johnny rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: thriller, mystery

The eighth novel in the Pendergast series pits the modern Sherlock against an evil that even his pedantry and self-discipline cannot defeat. One might class even a portion of this novel as emulating Greek tragedy since the nemesis proves, in many ways, to be one’s own ego. That portion of the mystery is fascinating, even though the careful reader can see the two authors (Preston and Child) placing the tendrils to the web early and often. I particularly liked the use of Constance Greene in this n...more The eighth novel in the Pendergast series pits the modern Sherlock against an evil that even his pedantry and self-discipline cannot defeat. One might class even a portion of this novel as emulating Greek tragedy since the nemesis proves, in many ways, to be one’s own ego. That portion of the mystery is fascinating, even though the careful reader can see the two authors (Preston and Child) placing the tendrils to the web early and often. I particularly liked the use of Constance Greene in this novel, Pendergast’s ward. Her motivation and the eventual revelations concerning her make her more than the convenient female Robin to Pendergast’s Batman, Bucky to Pendergast’s Captain America. Indeed, there are places in this book where Pendergast’s Captain America wholesomeness and typical altruistic aura falls away like overripe fruit. If for nothing else, those scenes are worth the price of admission.
The book opens in a Tibetan monastery. Not only is this appropriate to how the mystery will unravel (and I use the verb purposefully) but it offers an incredibly well-rendered setting for the events and conversations which occur within this mysterious venue. Several twists away from the expected occur in these early scenes which set the stage for the big surprise (at least to me) at the end. On the other hand, the big surprise at the end seemed telegraphed to me at the end of the last book.

Another venue is a super luxury passenger liner. During certain descriptions in this portion of the novel, I almost had to look at the cover to be certain that I wasn’t reading Clive Cussler. Unlike Cussler, however, the emphasis was less on the technology of the vessel and more on the actual operation of the vessel, including passenger operations. Naturally, this provided an opportunity for an excursus into a card-counting scenario that allowed Agent Pendergast to show his stuff.

By far the most satisfying aspect of this adventure was seeing the psychological effect of the macguffin on its victims. Portions of this read like descriptions in a Stephen King novel (at least, in Needful Things), but they are worth considering. The most dissatisfying aspect of this adventure was a supernatural phenomenon which was not explained. Normally, there is some rational explanation for those aspects of the Pendergast novels which seem, at first, inexplicable. Here, however, the authors leave the understanding open. I usually like open-ended phenomena, but I’m not used to seeing such a diabolus ex machina in the work of these authors. As a result, it drops my rating, but not my enthusiasm for the series as a whole.
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Dec 14, 2010 J. Holloway rated it 5 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Oct 20, 2010 Marie rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is the first book by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child that I have read. Had I read any of the authors previous novels, I would have instinctively known who the hero was, but without that prior knowledge, it was a little fuzzy up until the end. Because of this, at first I was mildly disenchanted because I could not figure out who the hero or the villian was, although I knew from the way the story was written that both had to exist. Since the chapters were short, I kept plowing through. Half...more

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Sep 01, 2010 E Wilson rated it 3 of 5 stars

I didn't realize this was one of a series of books. I got it on
CD from the library and listened to it in the car.
I couldn't quite figure out Pendergast. He seemed more like a
superhero than an FBI agent. How does he have so much money that
he can pay $50,000 to a couple to give up their suite on a ship?
And how can he get the captain of the ship to turn back after he
and his friend, Constance, miss it? And how can he narrow down his
suspects from hundreds of people on the ship to just a handful by
j...more

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Oct 05, 2009 Mary Taitt rated it 3 of 5 stars

The Wheel of Darkness, by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child have written another exciting, spellbinding and upsetting book, one that I didn't want to put down from the beginning to the end. It was interesting engaging. Special agent Pendergast of the FBI and his ward, Constance Green are weary of the world after their last upsetting adventures, and go to a Tibetan Monastery to be healed. But someone has stolen the dangers Agogen which could destroy the world, and...more

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Oct 01, 2009 Lance Greenfield Mitchell rated it 3 of 5 stars

The story begins as Special Agent Aloysius Pendergast and his young side-kick, Constance Greene, climb a perilous Himalayan mountain path to an ancient Tibetan monastery where the monks need some help. Their inner sanctum has been violated and a dangerous treasure has been stolen. The artefact must be recovered before it wreaks havoc on the human race.

The trail takes the agents on a maiden voyage cruise aboard the world's newest, biggest ocean liner. The sophistication of the on-board automatio...more

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Jul 12, 2009 Kristen rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: borrowed

This story breaks from past Preston/Child tales in that there is no gruesome and puzzling murder in the opening scene. The pacing is rather slow and I had to force myself to continue reading. The chase leads to an ocean liner at which point the story felt like an episode of "Murder She Wrote" and I couldn't help but picture Angela Lansbury as Pendergast. Pendergast breaks a card counting scheme in the casino, but not much else of interest occurs until the end of the book. The ship gets hijacked...more

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Feb 09, 2013 Brent rated it 3 of 5 stars

I'm not usually a fan of thrillers and mysteries, but after noticing the popularity of these "Preston & Child" books I thought I'd give it a try when I saw this in a library discard pile. I must say that I did have a lot of fun with this book. So much so that I read it in a day (fortunately we just has a blizzard here in NY so there wasn't much else to do).

I learned that this is the eighth in a series starring the hero FBI agent Aloisious (?) Pendergast. Obviously I can't compare this to th...more

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May 25, 2009 Teresa Watson rated it 5 of 5 stars

One thousand years ago, a box was delivered to the Gsalrig Chongg monastery in Tibet. Inside the box was the Agozyen, which means "Darkness". It has been safeguarded by the monks, never opened. After his harrowing adventure and the death of his brother, FBI Agent Pendergast and his ward, Constance Greene have traveled to Gsalrig Chongg to rest and recuperate. Two weeks before they are due to leave, Pendergast is summoned by the monks, who reveal that someone has stolen the Agozyen. They ask him...more

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Aug 26, 2012 Deb rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: audiobooks, mystery-thriller

This tale takes Agent Aloysius Pendergast and his side-kick, Constance Greene, to Tibet where an ancient relic, the Agozyen, has been stolen from a Tibetan monastery. The monastery's abbot has ask them to recover this relic for if it falls into the wrong hands, its magic could wipe out humanity. They follow the thief's bloody trail to a luxury ocean liner, The Britannia, making it's maiden voyage. It is here that they find themselves facing a serial killer and a possessed captain bent on destroy...more

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Jul 17, 2012 Nicholas rated it 2 of 5 stars

Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child are great at writing thrilling mysteries with strange twists and solutions. The brilliant thing is that what seems to be supernatural or magic is always in illusion created through science or psychology. The formula creates a deep thrill ride into a very real world. All of that is lost with this installment into the adventures of FBI agent Pendergast.

Wheel of Darkness follows agent Pendergast as he deals with the fallout from the previous book The Book of the De...more

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Apr 07, 2013 Andi rated it 3 of 5 stars

I definitely recommend reading the Pendergast series in order, or else you'll lose a lot of plot momentum. I don't know that this book would make a lot of sense if read alone.

It's only a three-star book in contrast with something like "Cabinet of Curiosities" -- some of the books in this series are tighter and more engaging than others, but they're all necessary to weave the ongoing narrative. This is still a damn good read!

Special Agent Pendergast is forced to wander far from home in this insta...more

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Apr 25, 2013 Michelle rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2013-i-read

Let me start by saying that I have read a majority of the books in this particular series, not all in order, but I was excited to read this one in particular as it features one of my fav characters, Constance Green. I also thought that having the story take place in the open seas was a good change of pace which is why I'm shocked that this is surprisingly my least favorite. So much so that if I had started with this book I'm almost sure I would have been my last.

It's not that it was poorly writt...more

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May 25, 2009 Ty rated it 4 of 5 stars

i have been a big fan of Preston & Child ever since their first book together, "Relic", which was a fantastic action novel. the movie was good, but, as they say, the book was better... :) "The Wheel of Darkeness", continues with the Agent Pendergast story line started in Relic and carried on through about 10 books already. i had let this one sit on the shelf for a long time because i had found the last 3 books in the series, which the authors call the Diogenes trilogy, somewhat disappointing...more

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Feb 10, 2012 Darren Vincent rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012

Underwhelming.

I am not new to Preston and Child's books, together or as a solo authors, but this one did not feel like it was written by the same guys that have written the many books that I love. As much as I have read by them, I have not yet read the entire Diogenes Trilogy, and maybe that is the problem. I thought I was reading the first book in that trilogy. After reading this book, I am not sure if I want to read the trilogy.

I did not like Pendergrast in this novel. I don't remember dislik...more

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Mar 04, 2011 Tracey rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: pulp

It was ..different. I was jonesing for some more Pendergast/Diogenes history [which I have since tasted in bk 10 — note that I have bk 9 and haven't read it yet.]

But I do like Tibet, and I still loved the Pendergast action therein, although it seemed a bit OOC for him. (I've learned to accept that when Constance is involved, anything goes with Pendergast; I think that's part of his mystery).

However, Constance herself doesn't get the same pass. While I might have wanted to know more about Constan...more

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Sep 06, 2011 Jeane rated it 3 of 5 stars

So this is one of those books that you might want to read in order from the Pendergast series (it's book #8), but you don't have to. I read this for a brand new book club I just joined and was a tad bit lost on parts where they refer back to events in other books, but it didn't make the book any less enjoyable. Pedergast's character is basically a Bruce Wayne. He's ridiculously rich, he can do whatever he wants cause he has the money to, he's a great detective, he basically knows everything abou...more

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Oct 03, 2007 Annah rated it 3 of 5 stars

Kind of like an old boyfriend who I'm tired of but keep hanging out with out of guilt. This book had it's moments of fun, and Pendergast is always great to read about. Problem is, he didn't really DO much in this book. It had a really good premise, but just got lazy and ended with a fizzle. Did I love it? No. Will I read the next Lincoln-Child bit of fluff that comes out? You betcha.

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Jul 28, 2011 Amelia added it

The book starts off well enough..gathering momentum as the characters get on to the ocean liner and things start to heat up with grotesque murders and suicides. Pendergast and Constance play their bit well until the 'apparition' arrives. After that, the book begins to lose its way. It starts to feel that the authors (yeah, there are two!!) want to put so much stuff into one single story. So you have the monks of Tibet, a scary painting, ocean liners and opulence, murders, gambling, FBI style for...more

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Dec 30, 2009 Cornerofmadness rated it 3 of 5 stars

I'm still reading this all out of order. Got this one from the library sale (apparently, it fell in the tub or was left in the rain or something since it was badly water damaged). Even though I missed out on something momentous in the last book, that really didn't impact my ability to follow this one.

It opens with FBI agent Aloysius Pendergast heading to a monastery in Tibet with his ward, Constance Greene. They're there to heal from whatever happened last book and Constance, in spite of there n...more
I'm still reading this all out of order. Got this one from the library sale (apparently, it fell in the tub or was left in the rain or something since it was badly water damaged). Even though I missed out on something momentous in the last book, that really didn't impact my ability to follow this one.

It opens with FBI agent Aloysius Pendergast heading to a monastery in Tibet with his ward, Constance Greene. They're there to heal from whatever happened last book and Constance, in spite of there never being a woman taught at this monastery, is taken on as a student. However, Pendergast quickly finds out that there in a catch to this. The monks have had something stolen from them, the Agozyen, something the monks have guarded for centuries.

Pendergast leaves to find this for them and Constance stays behind long enough to suss out why the monks need it back so desperately even though they have never looked in the box that holds the Agozyen. She catches up with Pendergast just in time to board the Britannia, a luxury ocean liner on her maiden voyage. The Agozyen is a force of evil designed to cleanse the world once it become corrupt (and what could be more corrupt than million and billionaires on a cruise ship?)

Trapped on board with the Agozyen and the killer who stole it, Pendergast and Constance have to find the culprit but it's quickly obvious they're too late to stop him from taking the Agozyen from the box as crew and passages' begin to get killed or go mad. Locked aboard a ship, Pendergast exposed to this ancient evil, it's a race to see what wins, good or evil.

All in all, it's a good read but not great. There are others in this series I've liked much better. Part of my problem with this is the plot relies heavily on someone in power acting incredibly stupid. It wouldn't have worked otherwise and I hate that sort of plot device. Also, it spends a lot of time with the various crew and passengers. While they're interesting, Pendergast takes the back seat many times in his own story. It's worth the read but I didn't love it.
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About Douglas Preston

Douglas Preston was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1956, and grew up in the deadly boring suburb of Wellesley. Following a distinguished career at a private nursery school--he was almost immediately expelled--he attended public schools and the Cambridge School of Weston. Notable events in his early life included the loss of a fingertip at the age of three to a bicycle; the loss of his two fr...more Douglas Preston was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1956, and grew up in the deadly boring suburb of Wellesley. Following a distinguished career at a private nursery school--he was almost immediately expelled--he attended public schools and the Cambridge School of Weston. Notable events in his early life included the loss of a fingertip at the age of three to a bicycle; the loss of his two front teeth to his brother Richard's fist; and various broken bones, also incurred in dust-ups with Richard. (Richard went on to write The Hot Zone and The Cobra Event, which tells you all you need to know about what it was like to grow up with him as a brother.)

As they grew up, Doug, Richard, and their little brother David roamed the quiet suburbs of Wellesley, terrorizing the natives with home-made rockets and incendiary devices mail-ordered from the backs of comic books or concocted from chemistry sets. With a friend they once attempted to fly a rocket into Wellesley Square; the rocket malfunctioned and nearly killed a man mowing his lawn. They were local celebrities, often appearing in the "Police Notes" section of The Wellesley Townsman. It is a miracle they survived childhood intact.

After unaccountably being rejected by Stanford University (a pox on it), Preston attended Pomona College in Claremont, California, where he studied mathematics, biology, physics, anthropology, chemistry, geology, and astronomy before settling down to English literature. After graduating, Preston began his career at the American Museum of Natural History in New York as an editor, writer, and eventually manager of publications. (Preston also taught writing at Princeton University and was managing editor of Curator.) His eight-year stint at the Museum resulted in the non-fiction book, Dinosaurs in the Attic, edited by a rising young star at St. Martin's Press, a polymath by the name of Lincoln Child. During this period, Preston gave Child a midnight tour of the museum, and in the darkened Hall of Late Dinosaurs, under a looming T. Rex, Child turned to Preston and said: "This would make the perfect setting for a thriller!" That thriller would, of course, be Relic.

In 1986, Douglas Preston piled everything he owned into the back of a Subaru and moved from New York City to Santa Fe to write full time, following the advice of S. J. Perelman that "the dubious privilege of a freelance writer is he's given the freedom to starve anywhere." After the requisite period of penury, Preston achieved a small success with the publication of Cities of Gold, a non-fiction book about Coronado's search for the legendary Seven Cities of Cibola. To research the book, Preston and a friend retraced on horseback 1,000 miles of Coronado's route across Arizona and New Mexico, packing their supplies and sleeping under the stars--nearly killing themselves in the process. Since then he has published several more non-fiction books on the history of the American Southwest, Talking to the Ground and The Royal Road, as well as a novel entitled Jennie. In the early 1990s Preston and Child teamed up to write suspense novels; Relic was the first, followed by several others, including Riptide and Thunderhead. Relic was released as a motion picture by Paramount in 1997. Other films are under development at Hollywood studios. Preston and Child live 500 miles apart and write their books together via telephone, fax, and the Internet.

Preston and his brother Richard are currently producing a television miniseries for ABC and Mandalay Entertainment, to be aired in the spring of 2000, if all goes well, which in Hollywood is rarely the case.

Preston continues a magazine writing career by contributing regularly to The New Yorker magazine. He has also written for National Geographic, Natural History, Smithsonisan, Harper's,and Travel & Leisure,among others.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/dougla...(less)

More about Douglas Preston...

Books by Douglas Preston

The Cabinet of Curiosities (Pendergast, #3)

Brimstone (Pendergast, #5; Diogenes, #1)

The Book of the Dead (Pendergast, #7; Diogenes, #3)

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title link	preview: The Wheel of Darkness
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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39028.The_Wheel_of_Darkness?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1169235778l/39028.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39028.The_Wheel_of_Darkness?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]The Wheel of Darkness by Douglas Preston[/url]

The Wheel of Darkness (Pendergast #8)

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