Jeg fik endelig taget mig sammen til at læse bogen af de to herrer Douglas Preston og Lincoln Child som jeg har haft liggen i x-antal år på min bogreol som paperback. Fandt først for sent ud af at det var bog 6 i Aloysious Pendergast serien og bog 1 Diogenes serien. Det var et irritations moment gennem hele bogen da der bliver refereret til gamle sager og personer fra de foregående bøger.Men på trods af dette og de gentagende referencer så er historien og handlingen faktisk rigtig god. Der er fart over feltet og det er sjældent du sidder og keder dig for hver gang der er mulighed for det så sker der et eller andet nyt som man ikke lige havde regnet med.Som ven til FBI-agent Aloysious Pendergast der er super intelligent og en mester i forklædning, så er man glad for at han tager ens sikkerhed meget alvorligt da hans lige så super intelligente, men dybt sindsyge bror Diogenes vil hænge Aloysious op på sine kriminelle handlinger.Her er der tale om en mand som i 20 år har planlagt den perfekte forbrydelse og som har været forsvundet fra jordens overflade for at finde det rigtig tidspunkt til at sætte sin plan i værk. Han myrder på bestaltisk vis uden at vise nogen nåde. For det gen har han ikke. Kun et ualmindeligt kæmpe had til sin bror som styrer hans handlinger og at få ham sat i fængsel for noget han ikke har gjort.Heldigvis har Aloysious sin makker fra NYPD Kommisær D'Agosta ved sin side til at hjælpe ham på trods af at D'Agosta risikerer sit parforhold go sit job for at hjælpe med at forpurre Diogenes ondskabsfulde plan som har mere end et mål.Diogenes mener at være i sin gode ret til at myrde Aloysious's venner på grund af noget som skete i deres barndom. Aloysious enten ikke kan huske det eller vil ud med hvad det er, men det har haft en vidtrækkende effekt på Diogenes.Vi kommer meget tæt på at få af vide hvad begivenheden er og heller ikke længere. Man må selv sidde og gætte sig til det, hvilket er lidt frustrerende. Vi får kun af vide at det forandrede Diogenes og den måde han ser verden på i dag. I nuancer af gråt, et monokromt univers af form og skygge uden farve.Den eneste glæde som Diogenes sætter pris på er diamanter og deres farve når lyset falder på dem. Det er kun der han kan se farver.Der dør en mængde venner til Alysious på de mest utrolige måder. Hele tiden er brormand foran ham og D'Agosta, men de får et heldigt break som gør at Diogenes plan falder fra hinanden. Men det gør ikke sagen bedre for Alysious for han er pludselig i politiets varetægt på vej mod fængsel og en mulig dødsdom.Hvis man vil vide mere så skal man fortsætte til næste bog, så det er lidt a la en cliffhanger ved slutningen.
This is definitely a better book in the Diogenes trilogy. Where Brimstone only teased with a few glimpses and mentions of Diogenes, this one made him integral. I really love the Pendergast and D'Agosta pairing but especially in this book. It was the first time I really felt that D'Agosta wasn't just running after Pendergast asking what the hell was going on, he had to spend the first part working things out by himself. I absolutely loved this storyline! Brimstone sets up the penultimate showdown between Aloysius and Diogenes, two enigmatic geniuses and brothers.One of the most notable aspects of this book is the tension from character development. Aloysius is fallible in this novel, surpassed by Diogenes, and needs to rely on D'Agosta much more than before - and is more compelling because of it. Diogenes threw down the gauntlet and Aloysius spends most of this book scrambling to keep up. Diogenes is chillingly brilliant, so brilliant he's crossed over into insanity. For this book, Preston and Child pulled together most of their joint works into one cohesive universe and that worked really well. I did find the outright references to some of their earlier novels (Relic, Reliquary and Thunderhead) wore thin pretty quickly. It was unnecessary and distracting.I liked Constance Green even less in this book but she still has that certain odd appeal, something about her makes me wonder.I really liked Diogenes. He intrigued me, his world intrigued me. I wanted to know what goes on inside his head. Quite simply, I wanted to know more about him, and that surprised me considering he's a homicidal psychopath!Like the first book in the trilogy, this one left me with burning questions. The ending is a great cliffhanger!
—Cassie
NOOOOOOOOOOO!I could feel it coming in book 5 and now here it is. I'm so frustrated with this story. I really am. I've been loving Pendergast so much, but I can't stand this. It's so obvious where this whole story is going and I hate it. I don't like knowing the end at the beginning, especially when the end is so full of crap. So I'm mad.Really, really, really, mad. And just a little bit heartbroken.I haven't quite decided what I'll do. I kept trying to read it but I was too frustrated. I made it to page 110. I'm considering my options. Possibly I'll skip ahead to book 8, but something in me rebels against skipping books. Le sigh. For now, I'm shelving this. (April 9, 2015)
—Natalie
I love these two authors, both together and as individual writers. They always put together a whopping good story.But, frankly their FBI Special Agent character Aloysius Pendergast is starting to wear a bit thin. He has always had a bit of unbelievability about him, but it is getting worse and worse. And now we have his evil brother, Diogenes, who is approaching godhood in his abilities to do evil things without being caught. And his whole reason for living is to torment his brother without killing him, for then he would have no reason for living.A bevy of repeating, normal characters are in this book and they are just fine. But the main characters exist on another plane and are able to do things way beyond a normal human being.As I said, these two main characters are really wearing thin...and there is one more book to go. If there is another book after this trilogy that features the Pendergast character, I won't be reading it.It gets three stars as the authors do keep the story moving.
—Jim
