Crooked River

By: Douglas Preston, Lincoln Child

Narrated by: Jefferson Mays

Length: 13 hrs and 1 min

Publisher's summary

From the #1 New York Times bestselling authors: Racing to uncover the mystery of several severed feet found floating in the Gulf of Mexico, Agent Pendergast is faced with the most inexplicable challenge of his career.

A startling crime with dozens of victims. Appearing out of nowhere to horrify the quiet resort town of Sanibel Island, Florida, dozens of identical, ordinary-looking shoes float in on the tide and are washed up on the tropical beach—each one with a crudely severed human foot inside.

A ghastly enigma with no apparent solution. Called away from vacation elsewhere in the state, Agent Pendergast reluctantly agrees to visit the crime scene—and, despite himself, is quickly drawn in by the incomprehensible puzzle. An early pathology report only adds to the mystery. With an ocean of possibilities confronting the investigation, no one is sure what happened, why, or from where the feet originated. And they desperately need to know: are the victims still alive?

A worthy challenge for a brilliant mind. In short order, Pendergast finds himself facing the most complex and inexplicable challenge of his career: a tangled thread of evidence that spans seas and traverses continents, connected to one of the most baffling mysteries in modern medical science. Through shocking twists and turns, all trails lead back to a powerful adversary with a sadistic agenda and who—in a cruel irony—ultimately sees in Pendergast the ideal subject for their malevolent research.

©2020 Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child (P)2020 Grand Central Publishing

Critic reviews

"Jefferson Mays gives a sensationally entertaining performance of this latest entry in Preston and Child's Pendergast mystery series. Mays's dry cultured elocution perfectly represents Pendergast's personality.... The real tour de force in Mays's performance is his utter attention and commitment to the plot. He is your perfect partner in suspending disbelief, the open sesame to the pleasures of this kind of high-voltage blam-pow adventure. Kudos." (AudioFile magazine)

"Exciting. Nail-biting. Quality storytelling."—Publishers Weekly

"[An] action-filled adventure [...] There is plenty of suspense, and the action gets bloody. Great storytelling, a quirky hero, and a quirkier plot make this a winner for adventure fans."—Kirkus

"Preston and Child know how to craft compelling stories that are both baffling and surprising. The cast of characters feels authentic and moves the story forward in unexpected ways.... the authors are masters of the procedural with a gothic flair."—Associated Press

BRAVO! BRAVO! BRAVO!

I love Pendergast, Constance and Moon - strong characters that have become real. The three prong plot made it extremely interesting. Mays is an excellent reader. I can’t wait for the next book to come out.

Pendergast returns

A mysterious occurrence washes ashore over 100 identical green shoes...complete with amputated feet still in them.

The FBI calls on Agent Pendergast to "have a look ".
What follows is one of Pendergasts farthest reaching and most violent cases.
He is assisted by his junior partner, Agent Coldmoon, Constance Greene, Roger Smithback, and assorted others.

This is, as I said, a violent story. The nature of the crime and the backgrounds of the people involved, requires this. As a result, we have Agent Pendergast: Action Hero ".

Along the way we learn more about Agent Coldmoon, who I believe will be headlining his own title soon. We also see Constance Greene in full on bad ass mode. (Absolutely no one should EVER get on her bad side).

We don't see much of Pendergasts usual unorthodox methods (mind palaces and the like) but we still get to watch him run his investigation in his own unique style.

A fun read that was difficult to put down. Recommended!

Note: Jefferson May's does a fine job performing the book. He is an excellent choice as the new voice of the Pendergast books.

Love the new suits

First off I would like to give credit to Jefferson Mays for stepping in to Rene Auberjonois shoes with great respect for his predecessor's work. You can tell he worked very hard to keep the voices similar to what we listeners have grown accustomed to, and he did a very outstanding job.
As for the book, it was classic Pendergast, sporting a new look for most of the novel, although I did keep thinking of Anthony Hopkins in that final scene of "Silence of the Lambs."
Aloysius and Constance are trying for a retreat, when they are interrupted by a new case involving feet in identical, generic shoes floating ashore Sanibel Island. It ultimately involves old colleagues and interesting new ones (that just don't know what to think of the Agent), finding themselves in mortal danger the closer they get to solving the mystery. As the usual scenario goes, there are two mysteries going on, this time with Constance seeking out the ghost of a haunted mansion.
My only complaint could be the Agent showing more flaws than the Pendergast we've grown accustomed to. I like the somewhat super human of past books, that seemed to have been gradually replaced by Constance. All and all, the book was well worth my time.

Engaging story, as always

The story kept me engaged. I was a little disappointed with the change of narrators, but Jefferson Mays did a fine job.

Very interesting mystery!

Loved it! The plot and ending were a complete surprise. A quick read for sure.

Excellent

Charles
The new Pendergast novel is excellent.it takes a recent headline story and creates a plausible back story. I listed to the story with some trepidation since this is the first book since longtime narrator Rene Auberjeunois. No worries, Jefferson Mays did an outstanding job.

Slow start

This one was hard to get into, but I enjoyed it in the end. Hang in there and you’ll be rewarded.

Excellent As Usual

Thank you again for another great story !! It was very exciting and well written.

Narrator horror

Why exactly the authors believed a narrator with a British accent would be the best choice for a Pendergast novel is beyond me. Hopefully they choose better next time.

Very cool mystery.

Always a great read with many unique aspects and 2 mysteries. Never dull. We can't get enough of Pendergast.