A review by jakekilroy
The Obsidian Chamber by Douglas Preston, Lincoln Child

4.0

Well, this was a return to form! It has one of the most gripping beginnings in all of the series, and it operates and succeeds without much Pendergast for the first half. Central characters are given new dimensions that make sense and there isn't even really a perp or crime to really solve, since you're getting everyone's perspective, really. It was just a solid serving of everyone doing interesting stuff without too much thrill. Still, there were the characters who are initially presented as fascinating and then immediately downgraded to dull, predictable, and lacking nuance (when it would've taken the same effort to give them even a marginal quality of complex personality). It's just a baffling failure of show-not-tell. Guy who's been on a sharp, top-ranking FBI leader with insanely cool and specialized experience? Apparently has the strategy of a 1980s space marine (criminals must be insane, nothing beats sheer force, etc). Coroner has seen everything in his career? Never seen someone slashed in the back. Drug dealers can't figure out who their mystery prisoner is? Read an entire article about the government's most secret operation with history and names as part of an FBI newsletter you can find on Google (and it's the only thing they can find). I love this series, but even on the better outings, there can be some real eye rolls in the later half of the blood bucket. The ending, for instance, is prosperous, stupid, and out of character (for more than one). Incredible.