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188th out of 523 books
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351 voters
My rating:
add to my books
Still Life With Crows (Pendergast #4)
"Medicine Creek, Kansas. In a town where nothing changes, where Main Street is a two-block stretch of old and dusty businesses, a ghastly murder has taken place. The unknown victim has been placed in a small clearing in a sea of corn, mutilated and arranged in an elaborate tableau. Within twenty-four hours the sheriff is assuring a flood of reporters and tense residen...more
Mass Market Paperback, 592 pages
Published
July 1st 2004
by Warner Books
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You can't beat Preston and Child for macabre mystery genre. In this book we find Special Agent Aloysius Pendergast arriving mysteriously in Medicine Creek, Kansas. A nowhere town headed nowhere, until the Kansas State University takes an interest in the town as a site to test genetically altered corn.
Unfortunately a series of bizarre murders threatens that plan from ever becoming a reality. Agent Pendergast is in a race to prevent more murders while trying to keep from being run out of to...more
Unfortunately a series of bizarre murders threatens that plan from ever becoming a reality. Agent Pendergast is in a race to prevent more murders while trying to keep from being run out of to...more
I have a little crush on Aloysius Pendergast, I do believe. He's a great character; very Sherlock Holmes-esque, but rather more bizarre -- he makes Sherlock Holmes seem like a normal guy.
Anyhoo, I really enjoyed this; I thought it was a lot better than Brimstone, which is the other Pendergast novel I've read (yes, I know I'm reading them all out of order); the secondary characters were fleshed out nicely, and there was a lot of good humor as the natives of a tiny Kansas town try to f...more
Anyhoo, I really enjoyed this; I thought it was a lot better than Brimstone, which is the other Pendergast novel I've read (yes, I know I'm reading them all out of order); the secondary characters were fleshed out nicely, and there was a lot of good humor as the natives of a tiny Kansas town try to f...more
The fourth book in the series has plenty of thrills, chills and surprises but the format changes from the usual Preston/Child way of tackling this saga. The backdrop of New York City is left behind, Special Agent Pendergast takes a small "vacation" which is only a cover up for tackling yet another gruesome case, this time taking place in remote town of Medicine Creek, Kansas. Quite a change from the mysterious urban setting we see Pendergast in, his usual friends and helpers are missin...more
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As usual high quality writing but some might feel the ending was a tad below the previous books. One always likes to have clues to the murderer before they're revealed and some might argue there were not enough but I thought there were enough once you got to a certain point in the novel. This tale takes us away from NYC to a hamlet sized town named Medicine Creek which is suffering from economic depression. Things even get worse as locals are murdered in the cornfields amidst peculiar ritual pra...more
Oh what fun to rediscover Preston and Child! I enjoy the spontaneity of limiting myself to what is available in an airport bookstore when looking for an easy, thrilling tale to read on the airplane. (Happily when I fly out of Austin I have access to BookPeople. Thank you, Austin, for having only local vendors in your airport.) Still Live with Crows is exactly the sort of thing I look for in a traveling book: rollicking good fun in a SyFy Original Film sort of way. I've read a number of Pres...more
I have read every book that Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child have written and some that they have written individually this one is my favorite .
Set in the small town of Medicine Creek Kansas, Its the story of a dying town thats in competition with another small town to have a big company built that would save the towns economy . While town big shots try there best to make their town the winner a deranged murder is running around killing people. This madman is literally killing their chanc...more
Set in the small town of Medicine Creek Kansas, Its the story of a dying town thats in competition with another small town to have a big company built that would save the towns economy . While town big shots try there best to make their town the winner a deranged murder is running around killing people. This madman is literally killing their chanc...more
This is one of my favorite Pendergast novels. Here, the agent is ostensibly on vacation in America's heartland when he comes across a horrific murder and believes at first that a serial killer is working in a small farm town. The town's near dead and its only hope for survival is receiving a field of bioengineered corn developed by KSU.
However, other deaths begin occurring and Pendergast enlists the aid of the local goth, a teen named Corrie Swanson. The authors credit their kids...more
However, other deaths begin occurring and Pendergast enlists the aid of the local goth, a teen named Corrie Swanson. The authors credit their kids...more
Still Life with Crows, by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child: In Medicine Creek, Kansas, a town where little changes, where Main Street is a two-block stretch of dusty businesses, a peculiar and grisly murder has taken place. The body mutilated and placed carefully in an elaborate tableau in the middle of the endless cornfields. Now eagle-eyed and even-tempered FBI Agent Pendergast arrives to turn upside down this small community to find the killer who must be one of them. The killings are ti...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Hali Sowle
rated it
The 4th book in the Pendergast series takes place away from the usual location of NYC. In the very small town of Medicine Creek, KS a brutal murder has taken place and the killer has taken the time to decorate the murder scene with the bodies of dead crows. Special Agent Pendergast is on vacation, trying to put some space between himself and the terrible happenings in the basement of the house on Riverside Drive that belonged to his ancestor, but Pendergast's idea of a vacation is to investiga...more
On the back of my edition of 'Still Life With Crows' there is a blurb that states: "These guys are masters at scaring the hell out of people".
In this case, this was certainly true. I've been reading a slew of horror and suspense novels lately, and this one was certainly one of the scariest. Some other reviewers weren't too fond of the setting, but I loved it. I've always enjoyed 'small town horror' settings. No, this isn't the same as Salem's Lot or Ghost Story, but neither does ...more
In this case, this was certainly true. I've been reading a slew of horror and suspense novels lately, and this one was certainly one of the scariest. Some other reviewers weren't too fond of the setting, but I loved it. I've always enjoyed 'small town horror' settings. No, this isn't the same as Salem's Lot or Ghost Story, but neither does ...more
After staring at the cover for a few days post-pick up from the library, I finally gave in to my determination and curiosity. It was constantly thrilling, but parts were a bit gruesome (the crime scenes), but I could not put it down. There was quite a bit of humor in it, contributed by Corrie, a goth girl in the small town who really just wants to be left alone, so she dresses and acts out. She becomes Special Agent Pendergast's "assistant" and really turns into a character anyone can ...more
This was a wonderfully tightly plotted story with a stunning twist to the conclusion that literally left me breathless - and gave me the biggest case of the creeps I have had from a book in years!
Those who have read the Pendergast novels know all about Agent Pendergast's predilection for luxury, so it is a surprise to find him showing up in a small town in Kansas to investigate an unusual death with ritualistic aspects. While folks in the town are all stirred up over it, there is an ...more
Those who have read the Pendergast novels know all about Agent Pendergast's predilection for luxury, so it is a surprise to find him showing up in a small town in Kansas to investigate an unusual death with ritualistic aspects. While folks in the town are all stirred up over it, there is an ...more
As an abridged book, not bad editing.
This is the first time in the series that we get Agent Pendergast out of New York (though he's technically stationed out of New Orleans). It was good to get a new setting. Also, this mystery doesn't involve science fiction, just good old fashion secret keeping. Apparently, even in a small town, some secrets can be kept. I won't spoil the full reveal of why the murderer is staging his murders like he is, as it is quality creeptastic.
G...more
This is the first time in the series that we get Agent Pendergast out of New York (though he's technically stationed out of New Orleans). It was good to get a new setting. Also, this mystery doesn't involve science fiction, just good old fashion secret keeping. Apparently, even in a small town, some secrets can be kept. I won't spoil the full reveal of why the murderer is staging his murders like he is, as it is quality creeptastic.
G...more
I love Preston and Child and this book did not disappoint! Only reason I can't give this book 5 stars is because of Pendergast. Wait, before you start throwing shoes, lemme just say that he's one of the most exciting and interesting literary characters I've ever come across! But, give the guy a flaw!!!!! If not, I'm wondering if it'll be revealed in a future work that everyone's favorite special agent has some kinda supernatural background. And how was he able to lie on the ground and see... Eh,...more
Serial murders in the corn. Monstrous crime scenes. Sounds good enough. Gore was quite high, but not gross. Body count - satisfactory. Even Pendergast reigned in his superhuman capabilities; there was even one thing that could be counted as his personal failure of sorts.
I liked this book, despite several laughable scenes and cliche plot devices. It wasn't as creepy as Relic, but at least included a nice chase sequence. I was mildly uneasy, but not spooked out - the best combination f...more
I liked this book, despite several laughable scenes and cliche plot devices. It wasn't as creepy as Relic, but at least included a nice chase sequence. I was mildly uneasy, but not spooked out - the best combination f...more
Still Life With Crows starts rather slow, but is always interesting, more for the character build-up than for any sort of action I've come to expect from the dynamic duo of Preston and Child. It is in the second half of the book where the action picks up, and the last 100 pages are non-stop action, jumping nimbly between as many as 5 characters, a feat that doesn't slow the pace at all, which is no small feat.
Special Agent Pendergast is on vacation from his last bit of excitement in ...more
Special Agent Pendergast is on vacation from his last bit of excitement in ...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
I've read many mysteries and thrillers and this is one of only a few that has stayed with me days after I've finished it because of some memorable characters.
Corrie Swanson is a Goth teenager, bored with life in her dying rural town and alienated by her alcoholic mother, whom Pendergast chooses as his driver and his assistant when he arrives in Medicine Creek, Kansas. The pairing of the austere FBI agent and the animated teen is brilliant and her observations of her town, the other ...more
Corrie Swanson is a Goth teenager, bored with life in her dying rural town and alienated by her alcoholic mother, whom Pendergast chooses as his driver and his assistant when he arrives in Medicine Creek, Kansas. The pairing of the austere FBI agent and the animated teen is brilliant and her observations of her town, the other ...more
I love the Pendergast novels in general, but this one was somehow a little disappointing to me. It's a decent read, and definitely has some thrills, but after going through almost the entire Preston/Child repertoire before reading this one, it just wasn't entirely up to snuff for me. Pendergast is, well, Pendergast, and the "assistant" he finds in this novel is a decent addition to his overall gallery of supporting cast, but the rest of the characters are almost too throw-away compar...more
Agent Pendergast goes to Kansas to investigate a serial killer killing people in a cornfield in what is thought a ritualistic manner. The area is home to an Indian folklore where the Indians retailiate aginst the people of the city for the persecution/killing of their tribe; throw in a huge subterranean cavern and some mystical presences. Case is solved when a local woman is discovered to have given birth to and then raised her child in the caverns because of her fathers stringent beliefs abou...more
285 pages in, 279 to go, I got tired of yet another Pendergast novel in which all the cops/FBI agents are either arrogant jerks, ignorant jerks, ignorant arrogant jerks, or redshirts. Yawn.
I figured out who the killer is AND how Corrie's story would be resolved about a hundred pages ago, so I decided to read the end just to see. I skipped to the last 30 pages and got it almost note-perfect. Guess I don't need to read the rest of the pages in between.
I like the characte...more
I figured out who the killer is AND how Corrie's story would be resolved about a hundred pages ago, so I decided to read the end just to see. I skipped to the last 30 pages and got it almost note-perfect. Guess I don't need to read the rest of the pages in between.
I like the characte...more
Ryssa Edwards
rated it
·
review of another edition
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
kindle-library-reads,
forty-eight-by-oct-2012
I got this book from the library for my Kindle.
Next to Cabinet of Curiousities, this is my favorite Pendergast book that I've read so far. I liked the small town, I liked Corrie Swanson, I like the whole who gets the genetically altered corn in their town theme.
The characters were not surprising or artfully drawn. They didn't need to be. That would have been distracting. This was a well told story. The prose was smooth and carried the story along steadily, building to excitin...more
Next to Cabinet of Curiousities, this is my favorite Pendergast book that I've read so far. I liked the small town, I liked Corrie Swanson, I like the whole who gets the genetically altered corn in their town theme.
The characters were not surprising or artfully drawn. They didn't need to be. That would have been distracting. This was a well told story. The prose was smooth and carried the story along steadily, building to excitin...more
Sharon
rated it
Recommends it for:
anyone who loves a good mystery
Recommended to Sharon by:
Saw the movie Relic, then read the book and searched out novels
Sadly, this Preston/Child novel left me wanting. I wasn't sure at first whether the setting had a lot to do with this feeling. It was hard that Still Life With Crows followed on the heels of Relic, Reliquary, and The Cabinet of Curiosities, all set in - and under - New York City and all saturated with fantastic imagination and mystery. The plot in this "fourth Pendergast installment" seemed slow developing and predictable. At least to me.
On the upside, these authors are mas...more
On the upside, these authors are mas...more
If the F.B.I. employed Mary Poppins she would be Aloysius Pendergast. He is "practically perfect in every way". He has any tool he needs readily at his disposal. He is the composite gentleman and deals with every situation in a calm and rational manner. He seems a little bit larger than life. But in the Agent Pendergast novels it seems to work. This one takes place in a small rural town where unusual "tableau" murders have taken place. As usual, Agent Pendergast is working "...more
This my second excursion with Preston and Child and their one of a kind character, Agent Pendergast. I enjoyed it very much and look forward to reading more by this pair. The writing is great and their ability to generate suspense and actual jolts of surprise is exceptional. I rate the "Cabinet of Curiosities" slightly higher than this one, but only because it kept me guessing all the way to the end and this one only kept me guessing 90% of the way. The depiction of a small Kansas ...more
Agent Pendergast's crime-solving adventures continues in Still Life with Crows. This time, he gets away from NYC and enters a different way of life, and almost a different time period, when he sets out to inveestigate a grisly murder in the cornfields of Kansas. The opening scene is gruesome and unforgettable. A murdered woman is found in the middle of a cleared cornfield with arrowheads and dead birds surrounding her. The murders continue from there.
The rest of the book seems t...more
The rest of the book seems t...more
I kept having the feeling that I had read this book before. When I joined GoodReads, I transferred the names of books I had read since 2004 0r 200--so maybe I had. At any rate, it is a good suspenseful story with Pendergast of the FBI as a terrific solver of mysteries, this time along with a Goth type high school dropout, Corrie Snodgrass. The setting is so beautifully described that one can picture it easily. One murder becomes two, with a couple of dead dogs. There is even some Indian lor...more
Rory
rated it
Recommends it for:
Anyone who enjoys a good mystery or horror novel
Recommended to Rory by:
My mom
I really enjoyed this. The environment was described in such great detail that I could almost smell the cornfields. The characters were interesting and the story kept my attention. It was a bit gory (though I don't mind that), and the twist was pretty effed up and disturbing.
This was the first Pendergast book I read because I didn't have any of the others, and while I did on occasion feel like I was missing something, it didn't really matter that much.
Pendergast's c...more
This was the first Pendergast book I read because I didn't have any of the others, and while I did on occasion feel like I was missing something, it didn't really matter that much.
Pendergast's c...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ask Preston &...: Whatever Happened to Corrie? | 17 | 100 | Sep 17, 2011 09:26am |
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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
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“Where are you from, Mr. Pendergast? Can't quite place the accent.”
“New Orleans.”
“What a coincidence! I went there for Mardi Gras once."
“How nice for you. I myself have never attended.”
Ludwig paused, the smile frozen on his face, wondering how to steer the conversation onto a more pertinent topic.”
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More quotes…
“New Orleans.”
“What a coincidence! I went there for Mardi Gras once."
“How nice for you. I myself have never attended.”
Ludwig paused, the smile frozen on his face, wondering how to steer the conversation onto a more pertinent topic.”
