This is #12 in the series of Preston and Child books that feature Aloysius Pendergast, FBI agent extraordinaire. It is the fifth Preston and Child book that I have read and the fourth in the Pendergast series, the previous being (in the order of my reading), #14, #10 and #6. Yes, I have been reading them in reverse order. Not a recommended strategy as this series has a lot of characters and plot elements that carry over from one book to the next.
One thing that is common in all of the Pendergast books is a plot which requires you to suspend disbelief. Pendergast is an FBI agent who seems to operate without supervision or rules, lives in a mansion and travels in a chauffeured Rolls Royce. He has a ward who is 140 years old and a brother and a son who are both serial killers. And in this novel we learn that his late wife was the product of a Nazi experiment.
All of this ridiculousness would normally make me toss the book in my fireplace (ok, my fireplace is electric so that might be less dramatic than it sounds). But Preston and Child are talented wordsmiths who keep the (ridiculous) story rolling along at a brisk pace.
If you think you can tolerate an “out there” plot, then this might be the series for you. But start at #1.
5 out of 10.