Part of Pendergast, book 9
First published 2009
FBI Special Agent Pendergast arrives in New York City to investigate an impossible murder. New York Times reporter William Smithback Jr. lies dead in his Upper West Side apartment, brutally killed alongside his injured wife Nora Kelly, an archeologist at the Museum of Natural History. Witnesses identify the attacker as Colin Fearing, a neighbor from their building. The problem: Fearing died and was buried ten days earlier. While Captain Laura Hayward runs the official investigation, Pendergast teams with Lieutenant Vincent D'Agosta for their own investigation. Their search leads them deep into Manhattan's hidden world, where they discover a secret cult practicing Obeah and voodoo. No outsider has ever emerged alive from this enclave. Pendergast must navigate deadly supernatural forces and uncover the truth behind the walking dead before more victims fall.
Genres: mystery, crime, horror, supernatural, thriller, detective
Vibes: dark, fast-paced, suspenseful
Tropes: amateur-sleuth, enemies-to-lovers, supernatural-elements
Setting: Manhattan, Museum of Natural History, New York City, Upper West Side
Period: 21st-century
435 pages · Hardcover · Grand Central Publishing
Content warnings: gore, graphic-violence, murder