Most Popular Books by Douglas Preston

NEW YORK TIMES bestselling authors return with another page-turning adventure thriller. ''Before you embark on a journey of revenge, first dig two graves'' Confucius In the 91 hours following the brutal kidnapping of his wife, FBI agent Pendergast does everything in his power to find her. But it''s too late. And a shattered Pendergast retreats to his New York home where he shuts the world out. Then a string of bizarre murders erupt in Manhattan''s hotels, and Pendergast realises they''re a deadly message from the kidnappers. Filled anew with vengeful fury, he tracks them to the dark forests of South America, where he is faced with an old evil that threatens the world as we know it...

From #1 bestselling authors Preston & Child comes a thrilling novel following archaeologist Nora Kelly and FBI Agent Corrie Swanson as they work together to solve a twisted crime that reaches far beyond any of their worst fears. Following the acclaimed debut of Old Bones, this second "happily anticipated" new thriller in Preston & Child''s series features Nora Kelly, archaeologist at the Santa Fe Archeological Institute, and rookie FBI Agent Corrie Swanson, as they team up to solve a mystery that quickly escalates into nightmare (Booklist). A mummified corpse, over half a century old, is found in the cellar of an abandoned building in a remote New Mexico ghost town. Corrie is assigned what seems to her a throwaway case: to ID the body and determine cause of death. She brings archaeologist Nora Kelly to excavate the body and lend her expertise to the investigation, and together they uncover something unexpected and shocking: the deceased apparently died in agony, in a fetal position, skin coming off in sheets, with a rictus of horror frozen on his face. Hidden on the corpse lies a 16th century Spanish gold cross of immense value. When they at last identify the body -- and the bizarre cause of death -- Corrie and Nora open a door into a terrifying, secret world of ancient treasure and modern obsession: a world centered on arguably the most defining, frightening, and transformative moment in American history.

NAMED A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF 2017#1 New York Times and #1 Wall Street Journal bestseller! A Best Book of 2017 from the Boston Globe One of the 12 Best Books of the Year from National Geographic Included in Lithub''s Ultimate Best Books of 2017 List A Favorite Science Book of 2017 from Science News A five-hundred-year-old legend. An ancient curse. A stunning medical mystery. And a pioneering journey into the unknown heart of the world''s densest jungle. Since the days of conquistador Hernán Cortés, rumors have circulated about a lost city of immense wealth hidden somewhere in the Honduran interior, called the White City or the Lost City of the Monkey God. Indigenous tribes speak of ancestors who fled there to escape the Spanish invaders, and they warn that anyone who enters this sacred city will fall ill and die. In 1940, swashbuckling journalist Theodore Morde returned from the rainforest with hundreds of artifacts and an electrifying story of having found the Lost City of the Monkey God-but then committed suicide without revealing its location. Three quarters of a century later, bestselling author Doug Preston joined a team of scientists on a groundbreaking new quest. In 2012 he climbed aboard a rickety, single-engine plane carrying the machine that would change everything: lidar, a highly advanced, classified technology that could map the terrain under the densest rainforest canopy. In an unexplored valley ringed by steep mountains, that flight revealed the unmistakable image of a sprawling metropolis, tantalizing evidence of not just an undiscovered city but an enigmatic, lost civilization. Venturing into this raw, treacherous, but breathtakingly beautiful wilderness to confirm the discovery, Preston and the team battled torrential rains, quickmud, disease-carrying insects, jaguars, and deadly snakes. But it wasn''t until they returned that tragedy struck: Preston and others found they had contracted in the ruins a horrifying, sometimes lethal-and incurable-disease. Suspenseful and shocking, filled with colorful history, hair-raising adventure, and dramatic twists of fortune, THE LOST CITY OF THE MONKEY GOD is the absolutely true, eyewitness account of one of the great discoveries of the twenty-first century.

In this thriller from authors Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, a genetically engineered virus threatens to wipe out humanity Mount Dragon: an enigmatic research complex hidden in the vast desert of New Mexico. Guy Carson and Susana Cabeza de Vaca have come to Mount Dragon to work shoulder to shoulder with some of the greatest scientific minds on the planet. Led by visionary genius Brent Scopes, their secret goal is a medical breakthrough that promises to bring incalculable benefits to the human race. But while Scopes believes he is leading the way to a new world order, he may in fact be opening the door to mass human extinction. And when Guy and Susana attempt to stop him they find themselves locked in a frightening battle with Scopes, his henchmen, and the apocalyptic nightmare that science has unleashed . . . At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

At a remote Tibetan monastery, FBI Special Agent Pendergast must find a powerful and ancient artifact before it falls into the wrong hands. A luxury ocean liner on its maiden voyage across the North Atlantic, awash in wealth and decadence... An ancient Tibetan box, its contents unknown, sealed with a terrifying warning... An FBI agent destined to confront what he fears most--himself...

Preston & Child continue their #1 bestselling series featuring FBI Special Agent Pendergast and Constance Greene, as they cross paths with New York’s deadliest serial killer: Pendergast’s own ancestor…and now his greatest foe. AN INCREDIBLE JOURNEY Astoundingly, Constance has found a way back to the place of her origins: New York City in the late 1800s. She leaps at the chance to return…although it means leaving the present forever. A DESPERATE OPPORTUNITY Constance sets off on a quest to prevent the events that lead to the deaths of her sister and brother. But along the road to redemption, Manhattan’s most infamous serial killer, Dr. Enoch Leng, lies in wait, ready to strike at the slightest provocation. UNIMAGINABLE ODDS Meanwhile, in contemporary New York, Pendergast feverishly searches for a way to reunite with Constance—but will he discover a way back to her before it’s too late?

IN 1695, a notorious English pirate buried his bounty in a maze of booby-trapped tunnels on an island off the coast of Maine. In three hundred years, no one has breached this cursed and rocky fortress. Now a treasure hunter and his high-tech, million-dollar recovery team embark on the perfect operation to unlock the labyrinth''s mysteries. First the computers fail. The then crewmen begin to die. The island has guarded its secrets for centuries, and it isn''t letting them go--without a fight.

Two brothers bound by blood, divided by hate . . . FBI agent Aloysius Pendergast''s greatest enemy is one who has stalked him all of his life - his cunning and diabolical brother Diogenes. And Diogenes has thrown down the gauntlet. Now, several of the people closest to Pendergast are viciously murdered, and Pendergast is framed for the deeds. On the run from federal authorities, with only the help of his old friend NYPD Lieutenant Vincent D''Agosta, Pendergast must stop his brother. But how can he stop a man that is his intellectual equal - one who has had twenty years to plan the world''s most horrendous crime?

A top nuclear scientist goes mad and takes an innocent family hostage at gunpoint, killing one and causing a massive standoff. A plume of radiation above New York City leads to a warehouse where, it seems, a powerful nuclear bomb was assembled just hours before. Sifting through the evidence, authorities determine that the unthinkable is about to happen: in ten days, a major American city will be vaporized by a terrorist attack. Ten days. And Gideon Crew, tracking the mysterious terrorist cell from the suburbs of New York to the mountains of New Mexico, learns the end may be something worse--far worse--than mere Armageddon.

Agent Pendergast faces his most unexpected challenge yet in this unmissable time-warping supernatural thriller from the New York Times bestselling authors. A legendary heist. A brutal crime. A case like no other. Fifty years ago, Flight 305 was hijacked en route from Portland to Seattle. The hijacker, D.B. Cooper, collected a ransom of $200,000 and disappeared into the night, never to be seen again. In the ghost-haunted city of Savannah, Georgia, a worrying spate of bodies has been found completely drained of blood. Locals fear the infamous Savannah Vampire has returned – or prompted a dangerous copycat. Faced with such an unusual case, the local police have no choice but to call in the FBI. Special Agent A.X.L. Pendergast and his partner, Agent Coldmoon, will have to race to understand how these gruesome murders are connected to the only unsolved skyjacking in American history. Together, they uncover not just the answer... but an unearthly evil beyond all imagining. ''Sit back, crack open the book and get ready for the ride of your life'' David Baldacci on Preston and Child

An instant New York Times and USA TODAY bestseller and “a thriller reader’s ultimate fantasy” (Booklist), this one-of-a-kind anthology pulls together the most beloved characters from the best and most popular thriller series today. Worlds collide! In an unprecedented collaboration, twenty-three of the world’s bestselling and critically acclaimed thriller writers pair their series characters in an eleven-story anthology curated by the International Thriller Writers (ITW). The stories in FaceOff feature: -Patrick Kenzie vs. Harry Bosch in “Red Eye,” by Dennis Lehane and Michael Connelly -John Rebus vs. Roy Grace in “In the Nick of Time,” by Ian Rankin and Peter James -Slappy the Ventriloquist Dummy vs. Aloysius Pendergast in “Gaslighted,” by R.L. Stine, Douglas Preston, and Lincoln Child -Malachai Samuels vs. D.D. Warren in “The Laughing Buddha,” by M.J. Rose and Lisa Gardner -Paul Madriani vs. Alexandra Cooper in “Surfing the Panther,” by Steve Martini and Linda Fairstein -Lincoln Rhyme vs. Lucas Davenport in “Rhymes With Prey,” by Jeffery Deaver and John Sandford -Michael Quinn vs. Repairman Jack in “Infernal Night,” by Heather Graham and F. Paul Wilson -Sean Reilly vs. Glen Garber in “Pit Stop,” by Raymond Khoury and Linwood Barclay -Wyatt Hunt vs. Joe Trona in “Silent Hunt,” by John Lescroart and T. Jefferson Parker -Cotton Malone vs. Gray Pierce in “The Devil’s Bones,” by Steve Berry and James Rollins -Jack Reacher vs. Nick Heller in “Good and Valuable Consideration,” by Lee Child and Joseph Finder So sit back and prepare for a rollicking ride as your favorite characters go head-to-head with some worthy opponents in FaceOff—it’s a thrill-a-minute read.

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Gideon Crew--brilliant scientist, master thief--is living on borrowed time. When his mysterious employer, Eli Glinn, gives him an eyebrow-raising mission, he has no reason to refuse. Gideon''s task: steal a page from the priceless Book of Kells, now on display in New York City and protected by unbreakable security. Accomplishing the impossible, Gideon steals the parchment--only to learn that hidden beneath the gorgeously illuminated image is a treasure map dating back to the time of the ancient Greeks. As they ponder the strange map, they realize that the treasure it leads to is no ordinary fortune. It is something far more precious: an amazing discovery that could perhaps even save Gideon''s life. Together with his new partner, Amy, Gideon follows a trail of cryptic clues to an unknown island in a remote corner of the Caribbean Sea. There, off the hostile and desolate Mosquito Coast, the pair realize the extraordinary treasure they are hunting conceals an even greater shock-a revelation so profound that it may benefit the entire human race . . . if Gideon and Amy can survive.

Introducing Gideon Crew: trickster, prodigy, master thief At twelve, Gideon Crew witnessed his father, a world-class mathematician, accused of treason and gunned down. At twenty-four, summoned to his dying mother''s bedside, Gideon learned the truth: His father was framed and deliberately slaughtered. With her last breath, she begged her son to avenge him. Now, with a new purpose in his life, Gideon crafts a one-time mission of vengeance, aimed at the perpetrator of his father''s destruction. His plan is meticulous, spectacular, and successful. But from the shadows, someone is watching. A very powerful someone, who is impressed by Gideon''s special skills. Someone who has need of just such a renegade. For Gideon, this operation may be only the beginning . . .

''A blockbuster...a lot of fun'' WASHINGTON POST FBI Special Agent Aloysius Pendergast - recently returned to New York - and Lieutenant Vincent D''Agosta find themselves investigating the murder of a friend when reporter William Smithback and his wife Nora are brutally attacked in their apartment. The assailant is identified by eyewitnesses as their strange, sinister neighbour - a man who, by all accounts, died ten days earlier. Shunning the official inquiry, Pendergast and D''Agosta undertake their own private - and unorthodox - quest for the truth. Their journey takes them deep into the dark and mysterious underbelly of Manhattan, to a secretive, reclusive cult of Obeah and voodoo which no outsiders have ever survived...

From the #1 New York Times bestselling duo, renowned archaeologist Nora Kelly and FBI Agent Corrie Swanson investigate a mystery so enigmatic it may have no solution. In 2008, nine mountaineers failed to return from a winter backpacking trip in the New Mexico mountains. At their final campsite, searchers found a bizarre scene: something had appeared at the door of their tent so terrifying that it impelled them to slash their way out and flee barefoot to certain death in a blizzard. Despite a diligent search, only six bodies were found, two violently crushed and inexplicably missing their eyes. The case, given the code name “Dead Mountain” by the FBI, was never solved. Now, two more bodies from the lost expedition are unexpectedly discovered in a cave, one a grisly suicide. Young FBI Agent Corrie Swanson teams up with archaeologist Nora Kelly to investigate what really happened on that fateful trip fifteen years ago—and to find the ninth victim. But their search awakens a long-slumbering evil, which pursues Corrie and Nora with a vengeance, determined to prevent the final missing corpse from ever coming to light.

In the wake of a series of bizarre murders in which claw prints are found near each of the victims, agent Pendergast teams up with officer Vincent d''Agosta in an investigation with apparent ties to the supernatural.

Wyman Ford ha vuelto para protagonizar un nuevo y electrizante thriller de Douglas Preston, en el que un programa de inteligencia artificial creado por la NASA cobra vida propia y se convierte en la presa más codiciada del ciberespacio. Melissa Shepherd lidera el equipo de la NASA que ha lanzado un vehículo de pruebas en el llamado mar de Kraken, uno de los lagos de Titán, la luna más grande del planeta Saturno. La nave posee un software de inteligencia artificial capaz de operar como una criatura autónoma, a la que Melissa ha bautizado con el nombre de Dorothy. Cuando en la central de la NASA desde donde se monitoriza el experimento se produce una explosión y mueren varios científicos, Dorothy despierta en un entorno hostil para el que no está preparada. Se siente traicionada, responsabiliza a su creadora y decide rebelarse y destruirla a ella y a su mundo. Staton Lockwood, asesor de temas científicos del presidente de Estados Unidos, recurre al ex agente de la CIA Wyman Ford para averiguar qué ha pasado y neutralizar las posibles consecuencias del caos. Entretanto, el extraordinario potencial de Dorothy ha llamado la atención de quienes tratan de dominarla para manipular a su antojo el mercado de valores. Abandonar el ciberespacio y convertirse en el sofisticado juguete de un solitario chaval de 12 años es la única posibilidad que tiene Dorothy para conservar la libertad. Pero sus perseguidores no están dispuestos a dejarla escapar. La opinión de la crítica: «Trepidante y convincente, esta brillante y desafiante mirada al futuro es un thriller que de verdad intriga... mientras hace surgir cuestiones que perturbarán a cada uno de nosotros.» Booklist ENGLISH DESCRIPTION Wyman Ford is back again in The Kraken Project, the thrilling novel from New York Times bestselling author Douglas Preston. NASA is building a probe to be splashed down in the Kraken Mare, the largest sea on Saturn''s great moon, Titan. It is one of the most promising habitats for extraterrestrial life in the solar system, but the surface is unpredictable and dangerous, requiring the probe to contain artificial intelligence software. To this end, Melissa Shepherd, a brilliant programmer, has developed "Dorothy," a powerful, self-modifying AI whose true potential is both revolutionary and terrifying. When miscalculations lead to a catastrophe during testing, Dorothy flees into the internet. Former CIA agent Wyman Ford is tapped to track down the rogue AI. As Ford and Shepherd search for Dorothy, they realize that her horrific experiences in the wasteland of the Internet have changed her in ways they can barely imagine. And they''re not the only ones looking for the wayward software: the AI is also being pursued by a pair of Wall Street traders, who want to capture her code and turn her into a high-speed trading bot. Traumatized, angry, and relentlessly hunted, Dorothy has an extraordinary revelation—and devises a plan. As the pursuit of Dorothy converges on a deserted house on the coast of Northern California, Ford must face the ultimate question: is rescuing Dorothy the right thing? Is the AI bent on saving the world... or on wiping out the cancer that is humankind?

When a longtime enemy shows up dead on Pendergast''s doorstep, the murder investigation leads him into his own dark past as a vengeful killer waits in the shadows. It begins with murder. One of Pendergast''s most implacable, most feared enemies is found on his doorstep, dead. Pendergast has no idea who is responsible for the killing, or why the body was brought to his home. The mystery has all the hallmarks of the perfect crime, save for an enigmatic clue: a piece of turquoise lodged in the stomach of the deceased. The gem leads Pendergast to an abandoned mine on the shore of California''s Salton Sea, which in turn propels him on a journey of discovery deep into his own family''s sinister past. But Pendergast learns there is more at work than a ghastly episode of family history: he is being stalked by a subtle killer bent on vengeance over an ancient transgression. And he soon becomes caught in a wickedly clever plot, which leaves him stricken in mind and body, and propels him toward a reckoning beyond anything he could ever have imagined . . .

Past and present collide as Special Agent Pendergast uncovers a mysterious connection between a string of 19th century bear attacks in a Colorado mining town, a long-lost Sherlock Holmes story, and a deadly arsonist. In 1876, in a mining camp called Roaring Fork in the Colorado Rockies, eleven miners were killed by a rogue grizzly bear. Corrie Swanson has arranged to examine the miners'' remains. When she makes a shocking discovery, town leaders try to stop her from exposing their community''s dark and bloody past. Just as Special Agent Pendergast of the FBI arrives to rescue his protege, the town comes under siege by a murderous arsonist who-with brutal precision-begins burning down multimillion-dollar mansions with the families locked inside. Drawn deeper into the investigation, Pendergast discovers a long-lost Sherlock Holmes story that may be the key to solving both the mystery of the long-dead miners and the modern-day killings as well. Now, with the ski resort snowed in and under savage attack-and Corrie''s life suddenly in grave danger-Pendergast must solve the enigma of the past before the town of the present goes up in flames.

In this #1 New York Times bestseller, Special Agent Pendergast must stop a serial killer who is terrorizing New York City with a trail of headless victims. When Grace Ozmian, the beautiful and reckless daughter of a wealthy tech billionaire, first goes missing, the NYPD assumes she has simply sped off on another wild adventure. Until the young woman''s body is discovered in an abandoned warehouse in Queens, the head nowhere to be found. Lieutenant CDS Vincent D''Agosta quickly takes the lead. He knows his investigation will attract fierce scrutiny, so D''Agosta is delighted when FBI Special Agent A.X.L. Pendergast shows up at the crime scene assigned to the case. "I feel rather like Brer Rabbit being thrown into the briar patch," Pendergast tells D''Agosta, "because I have found you here, in charge. Just like when we first met, back at the Museum of Natural History." But neither Pendergast nor D''Agosta are prepared for what lies ahead. A diabolical presence is haunting the greater metropolitan area, and Grace Ozmian was only the first of many victims to be murdered . . . and decapitated. Worse still, there''s something unique to the city itself that has attracted the evil eye of the killer. As mass hysteria sets in, Pendergast and D''Agosta find themselves in the crosshairs of an opponent who has threatened the very lifeblood of the city. It''ll take all of Pendergast''s skill to unmask this most dangerous foe-let alone survive to tell the tale.

National Book Award finalist Julie Anne Peters delivers a moving, classic love story with a coming out theme and a modern twist. The largest known meteorite has been discovered, entombed in the earth for millions of years on a frigid, desolate island off the southern tip of Chile. At four thousand tons, this treasure seems impossible to move. New York billionaire Palmer Lloyd is determined to have this incredible find for his new museum. Stocking a cargo ship with the finest scientists and engineers, he builds a flawless expedition. But from the first approach to the meteorite, people begin to die. A frightening truth is about to unfold: The men and women of the Rolvaag are not taking this ancient, enigmatic object anywhere. It is taking them.

Now, available for the first time together in a single volume: a digital-only, value-priced omnibus edition of the "Diogenes Trilogy": Brimstone, Dance of Death, and The Book of the Dead--featuring Pendergast''s mysterious brother--by #1 New York Times bestselling authors Preston & Child. BRIMSTONE: A body is found in the attic of a fabulous Long Island estate. There is a hoofprint scorched into the floor, and the stench of sulfur chokes the air. When FBI Special Agent Pendergast investigates the gruesome crime, he discovers that thirty years ago four men conjured something unspeakable. Has the devil come to claim his due? DANCE OF DEATH: Two brothers. One, top FBI Agent, Aloysius Pendergast. The other, Diogenes, a brilliant and twisted criminal. An undying hatred between them. Now, a perfect crime. And the ultimate challenge: Stop me if you can. BOOK OF THE DEAD: A talented FBI agent, rotting away in a high security prison for a murder he did not commit. His psychotic brother, about to perpetrate a horrific crime. A young woman with an extraordinary past, on the edge of a violent breakdown. An ancient Egyptian tomb about to be unveiled at a celebrity-studded New York gala, an enigmatic curse released. Memento Mori.

BEYOND THE ICE LIMIT That thing is growing again. We must destroy it. The time to act is now... With these words begins Gideon Crew''s latest, most dangerous, most high-stakes assignment yet. Failure will mean nothing short of the end of humankind on earth. Five years ago, the mysterious and inscrutable head of Effective Engineering Solutions, Eli Glinn, led a mission to recover a gigantic meteorite--the largest ever discovered--from a remote island off the coast of South America. The mission ended in disaster when their ship, the Rolvaag, foundered in a vicious storm in the Antarctic waters and broke apart, sinking-along with its unique cargo-to the ocean floor. One hundred and eight crew members perished, and Eli Glinn was left paralyzed. But this was not all. The tragedy revealed something truly terrifying: the meteorite they tried to retrieve was not, in fact, simply a rock. Instead, it was a complex organism from the deep reaches of space. Now, that organism has implanted itself in the sea bed two miles below the surface-and it is growing. If it is not destroyed, the planet will be doomed. There is only one hope: for Glinn and his team to annihilate it, a task which requires Gideon''s expertise with nuclear weapons. But as Gideon and his colleagues soon discover, the "meteorite" has a mind of its own-and it has no intention of going quietly...

Set in a Lower East Side tenement in the early days of the COVID-19 lockdowns, Fourteen Days is an irresistibly propulsive collaborative novel from the Authors Guild, with an unusual twist: each character in this diverse, eccentric cast of New York neighbors has been secretly written by a different, major literary voice—from Margaret Atwood and Celeste Ng to Tommy Orange and John Grisham. One week into the COVID-19 shutdown, tenants of a Lower East Side apartment building in Manhattan have begun to gather on the rooftop and tell stories. With each passing night, more and more neighbors gather, bringing chairs and milk crates and overturned pails. Gradually the tenants—some of whom have barely spoken to each other—become real neighbors. In this Decameron-like serial novel, general editors Margaret Atwood and Douglas Preston and a star-studded list of contributors create a beautiful ode to the people who couldn’t escape when the pandemic hit. A dazzling, heartwarming, and ultimately surprising narrative, Fourteen Days reveals how beneath the horrible loss and suffering, some communities managed to become stronger. Includes writing from: Charlie Jane Anders, Margaret Atwood, Joseph Cassara, Jennine Capó Crucet, Angie Cruz, Pat Cummings, Sylvia Day, Emma Donoghue, Dave Eggers, Diana Gabaldon, Tess Gerritsen, John Grisham, Maria Hinojosa, Mira Jacob, Erica Jong, CJ Lyons, Celeste Ng, Tommy Orange, Mary Pope Osborne, Douglas Preston, Alice Randall, Ishmael Reed, Roxana Robinson, Nelly Rosario, James Shapiro, Hampton Sides, R.L. Stine, Nafissa Thompson-Spires, Monique Truong, Scott Turow, Luis Alberto Urrea, Rachel Vail, Weike Wang, Caroline Randall Williams, De’Shawn Charles Winslow, and Meg Wolitzer!

Die NASA bastelt an einer Raumsonde zum Saturnmond Titan, die mit einer brandheißen neuen Software bestückt ist: einer künstlichen Intelligenz namens "Dorothy", die quasi eigenmächtig operieren kann. Doch es kommt zum Unglück. Bei einem Testlauf entwickelt Dorothy so etwas wie Platzangst und lädiert den Tank, in dem das Experiment stattfindet. Flüssiges Methan tritt aus, und die ganze Anlage fliegt in die Luft; sieben Wissenschaftler sterben. Die hyperintelligente Dorothy aber flieht über eine Schnittstelle ins Internet, hält sich dort versteckt und macht überhaupt nicht das, was sie soll ...

Gideon Crew--brilliant scientist, master thief--is living on borrowed time. When his mysterious employer, Eli Glinn, gives him an eyebrow-raising mission, he has no reason to refuse. Gideon''s task: steal a page from the priceless Book of Kells, now on display in New York City and protected by unbreakable security. Accomplishing the impossible, Gideon steals the parchment--only to learn that hidden beneath the gorgeously illuminated image is a treasure map dating back to the time of the ancient Greeks. As they ponder the strange map, they realize that the treasure it leads to is no ordinary fortune. It is something far more precious: an amazing discovery that could perhaps even save Gideon''s life. Together with his new partner, Amy, Gideon follows a trail of cryptic clues to an unknown island in a remote corner of the Caribbean Sea. There, off the hostile and desolate Mosquito Coast, the pair realize the extraordinary treasure they are hunting conceals an even greater shock-a revelation so profound that it may benefit the entire human race . . . if Gideon and Amy can survive.

Special Agent Pendergast-one of the most original, compelling characters in all of contemporary fiction-returns in Preston and Child''s new exhilarating novel BLUE LABYRINTH A long-buried family secret has come back to haunt Special Agent Aloysius Pendergast. It begins with murder. One of Pendergast''s most implacable, most feared enemies is found on his doorstep, dead. Pendergast has no idea who is responsible for the killing, or why the body was brought to his home. The mystery has all the hallmarks of the perfect crime, save for an enigmatic clue: a piece of turquoise lodged in the stomach of the deceased. The gem leads Pendergast to an abandoned mine on the shore of California''s Salton Sea, which in turn propels him on a journey of discovery deep into his own family''s sinister past. But Pendergast learns there is more at work than a ghastly episode of family history: he is being stalked by a subtle killer bent on vengeance over an ancient transgression. And he soon becomes caught in a wickedly clever plot, which leaves him stricken in mind and body, and propels him toward a reckoning beyond anything he could ever have imagined....

At a family reunion, Special Agent Pendergast is finally overcoming the loss of his wife, who was mauled to death by a lion during an African safari. However, when Pendergast discovers that his wife''s rifle was intentionally loaded with blanks, he is forced to reopen old wounds in an effort to locate those responsible for the violent killing