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The Relic is the first of the popular and long running Pendergast book series by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. At the time I am writing this there are 19 in the series. The good news for me is that since I thoroughly enjoyed this one I’m looking forward to many more by Preston/Child.

Aloysius X.L. Pendergast is a southern FBI agent who is very well educated, courteous and well spoken, and he’s also not above breaking a few rules to get things done. He has an interesting knack of breaking the ice with people by mentioning something that they are passionate about when he meets them for the first time. For example, if meeting a college professor he might say “I read your paper on *blah*� and the professor- thinking they are being set up asks a few follow up questions- and discovers “He actually DID read my paper...�. It’s pretty funny. I’ve seen many websites reference Pendergast as a modern literary equivalent to Sherlock Holmes - not a bad detective to be compared to.

Interestingly enough Pendergast isn’t in the book for quite some time as there is a lot of backstory to develop first. The book begins with a group of researchers investigating cultures in the Amazon basin. One of the goals was to find proof of a lost tribe known as the Kothoga. In a scene that could have easily been in an Indiana Jones movie (that’s actually how I visualized in my head while reading) a mysterious statue of a lizard god called Mbwun is discovered. (Skipping a lot to avoid spoilers). Years later this statue makes its way back to a New York museum as the centerpiece of a “Superstition� exhibition.

Shortly before the exhibition is set to open a there are some murders at the museum. Is it a return of the rumored “museum beast� ? Has the relocation of the Mbwun artifact awakened some curse ? In any case this is when things start getting interesting.

Aside from Pendergast there are many other likable characters in the book along with some nice character development. The first of which is Margo Green. Margo is a struggling grad student trying to get funding for her research. At first I wasn’t sure how much of a big part in the story she would play. As it turns out she is just as important as Pendergast and is critical to solving the mystery.

Bill Smithback plays the part of a reporter who has been hired by the museum to promote the exhibit. He is constantly at odds with the museum administration who want to avoid any controversial topics and seem to just want a tailored propaganda story. There are similar conflicts between the researchers and the same admin folks about striking a balance between funding the museum via cheap sensationalism vs using the exhibits as a way to educate the public. The researchers- being scientists - prefer the latter.

Vincent D’Agosta is a NYPD Lieutenant who has been brought in to investigate the murders. Like Pendergast he’s not shy to break a few eggs to make an omelet. For the most part, the higher you go up above Vincent in his chain of command - the lower the IQ. Pendergast enters later to assist him.

Greg Kawakita is a colleague of Margo’s - as well as a rival for research funding. He’s developing a gene sequencing algorithm that he hopes will bring him fame and more $$$. Another major museum character is Margo’s mentor - Dr Whitney Frock. Frock is an important figure in the museum but his controversial theories on evolutionary species development have lost him some of the support he once enjoyed.

The story has a lot of twists and turns. I enjoyed the science concepts that accompanied the storyline - admittedly as this isn’t exactly my area I just went along with it in spots - seems plausible though. As mentioned above, there is a lot of build up at the beginning. By the time you get to the opening of the exhibit there is nonstop action though. It was a lot of fun!

Unlike a lot of books - the epilogue was very important- it explains a lot and is a good setup for the second book.

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As for the Hollywood movie... I really thought the ambience and spooky atmosphere of exhibit was well done. It was very much what I pictured from the book. Penelope Ann Miller did a decent job of playing Margo. Likewise, Tom Sizemore was ok as D’Agosta. As for Pendergast... ummmm - there was NO Pendergast - in a Pendergast movie?!?! Unforgivable 😀. It is definitely a classic example of “The book was better than the movie�