The Cabinet of Curiosities
Warner Books 2003
ISBN 0-446-61123-9
Monika says:
At a construction site in New York a charnel house is discovered,
containing the bodies of thirty-six murder victims who had been hidden there
more than a hundred years ago. In order to establish whether the site is of
archaeological value, archaeologist Nora Kelly of the American Museum of
Natural History is summoned to inspect it. After her expedition to the Anasazi
(see Thunderhead), Nora has
difficulties to raise new funds for her research.
It turns out that all the victims were killed in a very unusual way, and
not long after their discovery New York is haunted by a copycat killer. Bill
Smithback, the reporter we already met in Relic
and Thunderhead, allegedly inspired
him with the article he wrote about the historical murders, at least that's
what the public accuses him of. In order to solve the mystery, he starts his
own investigation. Special Agent Pendergast, a character the reader will also
remember well from Relic and Reliquary, is investigating the case for
the FBI. They find out that the building where the victims were discovered once
housed a so called cabinet of curiosities, which was destroyed by fire a long
time ago. How do those 19th century murders relate to the killings
happening more than one hundred and twenty years later?
With The Cabinet of Curiosities
Lincoln and Child finally managed to write a book which is as dark as Relic, something I didn't dare hope for,
especially after reading The Ice Limit
which I found very disappointing. Even though it takes longer to get started
than Relic, the suspense builds up
continually until it becomes nearly unbearable right before the final showdown.
A few unexpected plot twists add some spice to the story. The first half of the
book reads like an ordinary mystery, then the "supernatural"
component typical for Lincoln and Child kicks in. Though I was expecting it,
they managed to surprise me, just like the way they developed Pendergast's character
took me by surprise, a development I found rather startling. I thoroughly
enjoyed that the point of view kept changing, letting the reader get by turns
into Pendergast's, Kelly's or Smithback's heads, as well as the fact that the
authors brought characters from different books together. Nora Kelly, a
character I found rather clichéd and one-dimensional in Thunderhead, finally evolves into a three-dimensional person in
this book.
But the chief attraction of The
Cabinet of Curiosities is it being set around the American Museum of
Natural History, the biggest museum of its kind in the world. Those who love
natural history will at least like this aspect of the story, the
above-mentioned cabinet is merely a variation of the theme. Lots of natural
history museums originated from such collections of "curiosities",
mostly piled up by eccentric and rich people. One of the highlights of the book
is the visit to the cabinet figuring in the title.
The Cabinet of Curiosities is a nice mix
between mystery, horror and science fiction and will certainly satisfy the fans
of the author team. It's not for the faint-hearted among you, though, since
there's a quite a lot of
bloodshed, but it's a bit less spooky than Relic.
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Monika
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