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The Helen Trilogy: Fever Dream, Cold Vengeance, and Two Graves Omnibus
Now, available for the first time together in a single a digital-only, value-priced omnibus edition of the Helen Fever Dream, Cold Vengeance, and Two Graves-featuring Special Agent Pendergast--by #1 New York Times bestselling authors Preston & Child.FEVER Yesterday, Special Agent Pendergast still mourned the loss of his beloved wife, Helen, who died in a tragic accident in Africa twelve years ago. Today, he discovers she was murdered. Tomorrow, he will learn her most guarded secrets, leaving him to Who was the woman I married? Why was she murdered? And, above all . . . Who murdered her?Revenge is not It is essential.COLD Devastated by the discovery that his wife, Helen, was murdered, Special Agent Pendergast must have retribution. But revenge is not simple. As he stalks his wife's betrayers--a chase that takes him from the wild moors of Scotland to the bustling streets of New York City and the darkest bayous of Louisiana--he is also forced to dig further into Helen's past. And he is stunned to learn that Helen may have been a collaborator in her own murder. Peeling back the layers of deception, Pendergast realizes that the conspiracy is deeper, goes back generations, and is more monstrous than he could have ever imagined--and everything he's believed, everything he's trusted, everything he's understood . . . may be a horrific lie.Nothing is what it seems.TWO For twelve years, he believed she'd died in an accident. Then, he was told she'd been murdered. Now, FBI Special Agent Aloysius Pendergast discovers that his beloved wife, Helen, is alive. And Pendergast must embark on a furious cross-country chase to rescue her. But all this turns out to be mere prologue to a far larger one that unleashes a chillingly--almost supernaturally--adept serial killer on New York City. His pursuit of the murderer will take Pendergast deep into the trackless forests of South America, to a hidden place where the evil that has blighted both his and Helen's lives lies in wait . . . a place where he will learn all too well the truth of the ancient Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves.
1488 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 6, 2016
192 people are currently reading
280 people want to read
About the author
Douglas Preston
180 books13.5k followersDouglas Preston was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1956, and grew up in the deadly boring suburb of Wellesley. Following a distinguished career at a private nursery school--he was almost immediately expelled--he attended public schools and the Cambridge School of Weston. Notable events in his early life included the loss of a fingertip at the age of three to a bicycle; the loss of his two front teeth to his brother Richard's fist; and various broken bones, also incurred in dust-ups with Richard. (Richard went on to write The Hot Zone and The Cobra Event, which tells you all you need to know about what it was like to grow up with him as a brother.)
As they grew up, Doug, Richard, and their little brother David roamed the quiet suburbs of Wellesley, terrorizing the natives with home-made rockets and incendiary devices mail-ordered from the backs of comic books or concocted from chemistry sets. With a friend they once attempted to fly a rocket into Wellesley Square; the rocket malfunctioned and nearly killed a man mowing his lawn. They were local celebrities, often appearing in the "Police Notes" section of The Wellesley Townsman. It is a miracle they survived childhood intact.
After unaccountably being rejected by Stanford University (a pox on it), Preston attended Pomona College in Claremont, California, where he studied mathematics, biology, physics, anthropology, chemistry, geology, and astronomy before settling down to English literature. After graduating, Preston began his career at the American Museum of Natural History in New York as an editor, writer, and eventually manager of publications. (Preston also taught writing at Princeton University and was managing editor of Curator.) His eight-year stint at the Museum resulted in the non-fiction book, Dinosaurs in the Attic, edited by a rising young star at St. Martin's Press, a polymath by the name of Lincoln Child. During this period, Preston gave Child a midnight tour of the museum, and in the darkened Hall of Late Dinosaurs, under a looming T. Rex, Child turned to Preston and said: "This would make the perfect setting for a thriller!" That thriller would, of course, be Relic.
In 1986, Douglas Preston piled everything he owned into the back of a Subaru and moved from New York City to Santa Fe to write full time, following the advice of S. J. Perelman that "the dubious privilege of a freelance writer is he's given the freedom to starve anywhere." After the requisite period of penury, Preston achieved a small success with the publication of Cities of Gold, a non-fiction book about Coronado's search for the legendary Seven Cities of Cibola. To research the book, Preston and a friend retraced on horseback 1,000 miles of Coronado's route across Arizona and New Mexico, packing their supplies and sleeping under the stars--nearly killing themselves in the process. Since then he has published several more non-fiction books on the history of the American Southwest, Talking to the Ground and The Royal Road, as well as a novel entitled Jennie. In the early 1990s Preston and Child teamed up to write suspense novels; Relic was the first, followed by several others, including Riptide and Thunderhead. Relic was released as a motion picture by Paramount in 1997. Other films are under development at Hollywood studios. Preston and Child live 500 miles apart and write their books together via telephone, fax, and the Internet.
Preston and his brother Richard are currently producing a television miniseries for ABC and Mandalay Entertainment, to be aired in the spring of 2000, if all goes well, which in Hollywood is rarely the case.
Preston continues a magazine writing career by contributing regularly to The New Yorker magazine. He has also written for National Geographic, Natural History, Smithsonisan, Harper's,and Travel & Leisure,among others.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/dougla...
As they grew up, Doug, Richard, and their little brother David roamed the quiet suburbs of Wellesley, terrorizing the natives with home-made rockets and incendiary devices mail-ordered from the backs of comic books or concocted from chemistry sets. With a friend they once attempted to fly a rocket into Wellesley Square; the rocket malfunctioned and nearly killed a man mowing his lawn. They were local celebrities, often appearing in the "Police Notes" section of The Wellesley Townsman. It is a miracle they survived childhood intact.
After unaccountably being rejected by Stanford University (a pox on it), Preston attended Pomona College in Claremont, California, where he studied mathematics, biology, physics, anthropology, chemistry, geology, and astronomy before settling down to English literature. After graduating, Preston began his career at the American Museum of Natural History in New York as an editor, writer, and eventually manager of publications. (Preston also taught writing at Princeton University and was managing editor of Curator.) His eight-year stint at the Museum resulted in the non-fiction book, Dinosaurs in the Attic, edited by a rising young star at St. Martin's Press, a polymath by the name of Lincoln Child. During this period, Preston gave Child a midnight tour of the museum, and in the darkened Hall of Late Dinosaurs, under a looming T. Rex, Child turned to Preston and said: "This would make the perfect setting for a thriller!" That thriller would, of course, be Relic.
In 1986, Douglas Preston piled everything he owned into the back of a Subaru and moved from New York City to Santa Fe to write full time, following the advice of S. J. Perelman that "the dubious privilege of a freelance writer is he's given the freedom to starve anywhere." After the requisite period of penury, Preston achieved a small success with the publication of Cities of Gold, a non-fiction book about Coronado's search for the legendary Seven Cities of Cibola. To research the book, Preston and a friend retraced on horseback 1,000 miles of Coronado's route across Arizona and New Mexico, packing their supplies and sleeping under the stars--nearly killing themselves in the process. Since then he has published several more non-fiction books on the history of the American Southwest, Talking to the Ground and The Royal Road, as well as a novel entitled Jennie. In the early 1990s Preston and Child teamed up to write suspense novels; Relic was the first, followed by several others, including Riptide and Thunderhead. Relic was released as a motion picture by Paramount in 1997. Other films are under development at Hollywood studios. Preston and Child live 500 miles apart and write their books together via telephone, fax, and the Internet.
Preston and his brother Richard are currently producing a television miniseries for ABC and Mandalay Entertainment, to be aired in the spring of 2000, if all goes well, which in Hollywood is rarely the case.
Preston continues a magazine writing career by contributing regularly to The New Yorker magazine. He has also written for National Geographic, Natural History, Smithsonisan, Harper's,and Travel & Leisure,among others.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/dougla...
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
February 2, 2025
This is the second omnibus in the Pendergast series that I read, this time focusing on his deceased wife Helen, and I have plenty of thoughts about this trilogy, which starts off strong and finishes a little OTT.
Book 1 is where Pendergast discovers that his wife's death 12 years before - what seemed to be an attack by a man-eating lion - was actually set up in order to murder her. Pendergast naturally begins chasing down the leads for this murder, and we get to see a lot of his home turf of Louisiana, which was delightful.
Vincent D'Agosta is back to help his friend, which I was very pleased by, as I love the detective and he's very good at getting at what Pendergast can't.
I also loved that most of the novel was spent chasing a ghost. Helen seems like a fascinating character with a lot of hidden history, and it's interesting to see how Pendergasts memories of her match up with who it seems she really is.
The killer was revealed much earlier in this novel, so we have the interesting view of him and how he both hides himself from Pendergast but also seems like an ally, and it was fun trying to piece together his full motivations without having the full story - which only really comes out in book 3.
The drama was good, and I was delighted to see that when D'Agosta gets almost fatally wounded that Laura Hayward steps in to help Pendergast, much to her own annoyance. It's gratifying to see her disapproval of his methods and style, with the undercurrent of trying to understand him for Vincent's sake, since he cares about Pendergast so much.
Book 2 was where things got a little more... out there. We open with a firefight in the Cairngorms between Pendergast and the man who betrayed him in the previous novel, which ends with Pendergast being shot and told that his wife is still alive as he sinks into the swamp. We then have weeks of Pendergast faking his own death, before he finally tried to catch the man as he slipped away. From there, we go back to New York and Pendergasts continued hunt for the man, as well as proof that his wife could be alive. There are several revelations in the novel, culminating with Constance being kidnapped from prison and Pendergast saving her from a boat full of the real organisation behind his wife's death - Nazis. Bear in mind, this book is set in the early 2000s, so the Nazi angle did blindside me slightly, and it gave the last ten chapters or so the feel of an action movie rather than a thriller or mystery, even up to the epilogue where Helen and Pendergast are reunited - although of course this ends in a firefight where she is snatched by Nazis and taken away from him once more.
Book 3 is split into 2 parts, with the first part being Pendergast hunting down the people who took his wife and chasing them across the United States and over the border into Mexico, where sadly *SPOILER ALERT* Helen dies, for real this time, leaving Pendergast to bury her body in the desert and sink into a deep depression.
Part 2 opens several weeks later, with Pendergast slowly slipping towards suicide, and his friends all very worried about him. D'Agosta and Laura try and get him out of his funk by engrossing him in the case of a new serial killer, and this does indeed get his attention temporarily at first - based on his evidence, he assumes the killer is Diogenes, but this is quickly replaced by the wild theory that the killer is actually a son Pendergast never knew about. He discovers a second son who has escaped his twin brothers captivity and makes his way to the last known place he has heard of his father being, which is where he finally meets Pendergast. After several tense chase sequences, Alban admits that he is Pendergasts son, before kidnapping his wayward brother back, forcing Pendergast to follow him to Brazil. This is where the book semi lost me.
The premise of a hidden city of Nazis living in the Brazilian jungle since the 1940s, doing genetic and eugenic experiments on fetuses and unborn babies, leading to the creation of Alban and his twin, who were of course made from the DNA of Pendergast and his wife Helen, who fell pregnant the first time they had sex (2 weeks after meeting), and was then forcibly taken back to the nazi city because she was also a product of their experiments who had been given privileges to live in the USA. That's all kinda wild and far fetched, but given that this series started with a south American plant that forcibly altered human DNA into that of a reptile, I can accept it and understand it.
What did break my suspension of disbelief though was Pendergasts planned capture and torture by the Nazis and then his subsequent taking down of the entire fortress and town essentially as a one man army, especially when half the troops are supposed to be specifically engineered to be 'perfect humans'. It was like the boat assault from book 2, except that was a little more believable since it was only 12 men against 1 and not a whole town.
Alban escaped because Pendergast couldn't bring himself to kill him, so obviously he will show up in another book, and the non-killer twin who he names Tristham, returns to New York with him.
Parts of this trilogy I did really enjoy were the mystery of Helens murder and the painting in book 1. It was a fun puzzle, it kept getting more interesting and intricate, and even though I probably could have guessed where the finale was going, it was still a very enjoyable mystery to read.
Vincent was on top form as usual, giving up everything for his friend, and this time he nearly lost his life in the process. The development of his and Laura's relationship has been something I've enjoyed in all the books so far, and I am happy to see it come as far as it has, especially when she's so concerned about him when he nearly dies.
I was also happy to see Corrie Swanson return, now she's older and slightly more mature, and yet still can't help sticking her nose into things, to the point where she is the one who uncovers the Nazi angle and gives the information to Pendergast, before he rudely sends her away. Although that part infuriated me, since she has nobody else to rely on besides him at times, I do like that it gave her courage and confidence and that she was comfortable enough to step in and try to help her Dad when he needed it. She's a firecracker, and I can't wait to see where she goes next, especially if D'Agosta and Laura take her under their wing along with Pendergast.
The big part of this novel that I didn't enjoy was Dr Felder. He was annoying. He was a doctor supposed to be treating Constance for her mental illness, but instead he started delving into her past and trying to trip her up in her story. He acted so unprofessionally the entire time, and it just really irritated me that had he done any of his due diligence then the books would have gone very differently and Helen might have survived.
The fact that he went to the lengths that he did in order to find out about Constance was a little creepy and obsessive, and I was honestly disappointed when he didn't get killed in the cellar.
Overall, not my favourite of the Pendergast books so far, although I loved learning more about Pendergast and his history and his life, it felt less like the novels I enjoyed previously and more like an action movie. I'm absolutely going to continue the series, but I am hoping for a return to more of the first 4 books than more like this trilogy.
Book 1 is where Pendergast discovers that his wife's death 12 years before - what seemed to be an attack by a man-eating lion - was actually set up in order to murder her. Pendergast naturally begins chasing down the leads for this murder, and we get to see a lot of his home turf of Louisiana, which was delightful.
Vincent D'Agosta is back to help his friend, which I was very pleased by, as I love the detective and he's very good at getting at what Pendergast can't.
I also loved that most of the novel was spent chasing a ghost. Helen seems like a fascinating character with a lot of hidden history, and it's interesting to see how Pendergasts memories of her match up with who it seems she really is.
The killer was revealed much earlier in this novel, so we have the interesting view of him and how he both hides himself from Pendergast but also seems like an ally, and it was fun trying to piece together his full motivations without having the full story - which only really comes out in book 3.
The drama was good, and I was delighted to see that when D'Agosta gets almost fatally wounded that Laura Hayward steps in to help Pendergast, much to her own annoyance. It's gratifying to see her disapproval of his methods and style, with the undercurrent of trying to understand him for Vincent's sake, since he cares about Pendergast so much.
Book 2 was where things got a little more... out there. We open with a firefight in the Cairngorms between Pendergast and the man who betrayed him in the previous novel, which ends with Pendergast being shot and told that his wife is still alive as he sinks into the swamp. We then have weeks of Pendergast faking his own death, before he finally tried to catch the man as he slipped away. From there, we go back to New York and Pendergasts continued hunt for the man, as well as proof that his wife could be alive. There are several revelations in the novel, culminating with Constance being kidnapped from prison and Pendergast saving her from a boat full of the real organisation behind his wife's death - Nazis. Bear in mind, this book is set in the early 2000s, so the Nazi angle did blindside me slightly, and it gave the last ten chapters or so the feel of an action movie rather than a thriller or mystery, even up to the epilogue where Helen and Pendergast are reunited - although of course this ends in a firefight where she is snatched by Nazis and taken away from him once more.
Book 3 is split into 2 parts, with the first part being Pendergast hunting down the people who took his wife and chasing them across the United States and over the border into Mexico, where sadly *SPOILER ALERT* Helen dies, for real this time, leaving Pendergast to bury her body in the desert and sink into a deep depression.
Part 2 opens several weeks later, with Pendergast slowly slipping towards suicide, and his friends all very worried about him. D'Agosta and Laura try and get him out of his funk by engrossing him in the case of a new serial killer, and this does indeed get his attention temporarily at first - based on his evidence, he assumes the killer is Diogenes, but this is quickly replaced by the wild theory that the killer is actually a son Pendergast never knew about. He discovers a second son who has escaped his twin brothers captivity and makes his way to the last known place he has heard of his father being, which is where he finally meets Pendergast. After several tense chase sequences, Alban admits that he is Pendergasts son, before kidnapping his wayward brother back, forcing Pendergast to follow him to Brazil. This is where the book semi lost me.
The premise of a hidden city of Nazis living in the Brazilian jungle since the 1940s, doing genetic and eugenic experiments on fetuses and unborn babies, leading to the creation of Alban and his twin, who were of course made from the DNA of Pendergast and his wife Helen, who fell pregnant the first time they had sex (2 weeks after meeting), and was then forcibly taken back to the nazi city because she was also a product of their experiments who had been given privileges to live in the USA. That's all kinda wild and far fetched, but given that this series started with a south American plant that forcibly altered human DNA into that of a reptile, I can accept it and understand it.
What did break my suspension of disbelief though was Pendergasts planned capture and torture by the Nazis and then his subsequent taking down of the entire fortress and town essentially as a one man army, especially when half the troops are supposed to be specifically engineered to be 'perfect humans'. It was like the boat assault from book 2, except that was a little more believable since it was only 12 men against 1 and not a whole town.
Alban escaped because Pendergast couldn't bring himself to kill him, so obviously he will show up in another book, and the non-killer twin who he names Tristham, returns to New York with him.
Parts of this trilogy I did really enjoy were the mystery of Helens murder and the painting in book 1. It was a fun puzzle, it kept getting more interesting and intricate, and even though I probably could have guessed where the finale was going, it was still a very enjoyable mystery to read.
Vincent was on top form as usual, giving up everything for his friend, and this time he nearly lost his life in the process. The development of his and Laura's relationship has been something I've enjoyed in all the books so far, and I am happy to see it come as far as it has, especially when she's so concerned about him when he nearly dies.
I was also happy to see Corrie Swanson return, now she's older and slightly more mature, and yet still can't help sticking her nose into things, to the point where she is the one who uncovers the Nazi angle and gives the information to Pendergast, before he rudely sends her away. Although that part infuriated me, since she has nobody else to rely on besides him at times, I do like that it gave her courage and confidence and that she was comfortable enough to step in and try to help her Dad when he needed it. She's a firecracker, and I can't wait to see where she goes next, especially if D'Agosta and Laura take her under their wing along with Pendergast.
The big part of this novel that I didn't enjoy was Dr Felder. He was annoying. He was a doctor supposed to be treating Constance for her mental illness, but instead he started delving into her past and trying to trip her up in her story. He acted so unprofessionally the entire time, and it just really irritated me that had he done any of his due diligence then the books would have gone very differently and Helen might have survived.
The fact that he went to the lengths that he did in order to find out about Constance was a little creepy and obsessive, and I was honestly disappointed when he didn't get killed in the cellar.
Overall, not my favourite of the Pendergast books so far, although I loved learning more about Pendergast and his history and his life, it felt less like the novels I enjoyed previously and more like an action movie. I'm absolutely going to continue the series, but I am hoping for a return to more of the first 4 books than more like this trilogy.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 8, 2018
I’d give the first two books in this trilogy five stars. The final book tended to get bogged down. This trilogy saw the character of Pendergast fleshed out through his relationships with other characters, especially his wife Helen. The characters of Vincent D’Agosta and Laura Hayward are also developed. As the series has developed the wooden characters from the first novels have really developed. The use of Nazis as protagonists is a bit old hat, but Preston and Child tell their stories so well, it’s hard to be disappointed.
September 1, 2021
Intriguing and Disturbing
As usual, I enjoy the complex plot, characters and location descriptions of these authors. It disturbs me that there is an increase in the gory descriptions and cruelness that are the bases of the story. I do not enjoy such emphasis on inhumane treatment and attitudes. I understand that is part of the story. However, I prefer previous emphasis on the problem solving and strategies used in the investigation.
As usual, I enjoy the complex plot, characters and location descriptions of these authors. It disturbs me that there is an increase in the gory descriptions and cruelness that are the bases of the story. I do not enjoy such emphasis on inhumane treatment and attitudes. I understand that is part of the story. However, I prefer previous emphasis on the problem solving and strategies used in the investigation.
July 24, 2024
Take a Trip with Aloysius Pendergrass for Mystery and Delightful Entertainment
Excellent!! That summarizes this trilogy of novels. You will meet some of the most interesting people in the world and go on long and brief journeys with the characters in these books. Lincoln Child has surpassed himself and other writers as he compiled these novels. Congratulations, Mr. Child!!
Excellent!! That summarizes this trilogy of novels. You will meet some of the most interesting people in the world and go on long and brief journeys with the characters in these books. Lincoln Child has surpassed himself and other writers as he compiled these novels. Congratulations, Mr. Child!!
July 4, 2019
Spellbinding
I really enjoyed this trilogy! It is fast paced and fills in a lot of the questions raised in previous books. The suspense and plot will keep you reading long past bedtime 🌙!
I really enjoyed this trilogy! It is fast paced and fills in a lot of the questions raised in previous books. The suspense and plot will keep you reading long past bedtime 🌙!
October 19, 2021
Pendergast at his best!
I'm hooked on Preston and Child and of course, Pendergast! I've read most of this series and The Helen Trilogy so far is my favorite of all! If you've never read any of their books, I suggest you get started now!
I'm hooked on Preston and Child and of course, Pendergast! I've read most of this series and The Helen Trilogy so far is my favorite of all! If you've never read any of their books, I suggest you get started now!
June 1, 2024
The Helen Trilogy
Wow!! I don't really.know what else to say. These books were a more personal case for A. X. L. Pendergast, but eventually was solved. I don't know where Lincoln an Child get their ideas, but some of the things that happened in these books, were a doozy!
Wow!! I don't really.know what else to say. These books were a more personal case for A. X. L. Pendergast, but eventually was solved. I don't know where Lincoln an Child get their ideas, but some of the things that happened in these books, were a doozy!
October 24, 2024
Amazing Story
A long but definitely fascinating tale which continues the saga of Agent Pendergast. His various escapades and locales are unimaginable. To read thru all the stories takes a while but certainly worthwhile.
Looking forward to his next tale.
A long but definitely fascinating tale which continues the saga of Agent Pendergast. His various escapades and locales are unimaginable. To read thru all the stories takes a while but certainly worthwhile.
Looking forward to his next tale.
February 12, 2019
Just reread this trilogy. I love the Pendergast series.
September 22, 2019
Terrific read
Yet again another In-put-down able read!
This fills the gaps in the stories that I’ve previously read . Looking for the next read now.
Yet again another In-put-down able read!
This fills the gaps in the stories that I’ve previously read . Looking for the next read now.
November 20, 2019
Fun, but stretches the bounds of believability
A lot of action for agent Pendergast. A riveting read but at times seemed a little too fantastic even for my favorite special agent. Interesting reveals into agent Pendergasts character.
A lot of action for agent Pendergast. A riveting read but at times seemed a little too fantastic even for my favorite special agent. Interesting reveals into agent Pendergasts character.
May 29, 2021
What a page turner! Action, adventure and intrigue. I couldn’t wait to see what Agent Pendergast would do to save himself next. Loved the sub stories too.
January 22, 2024
Third time reading
The authors open your mind, accelerate your heartbeat, help you laugh at clumsy characters and cheer for a great ending leading to the next ride.
The authors open your mind, accelerate your heartbeat, help you laugh at clumsy characters and cheer for a great ending leading to the next ride.
May 9, 2022
Excellent! Kept me on the edge of my seat.
Great book for mystery and crime! Preston and Child continue to lead you down the winding path of Agent Pendergast life
Great book for mystery and crime! Preston and Child continue to lead you down the winding path of Agent Pendergast life
Read
January 4, 2019Great Read
This book is packed from Cover to Cover with nail-biting action. You won't want to put it down as you turn page after page.
If you're not a reader if the Pendergrass series I suggest you take the time to get acquainted with Agent Pendergrass before trying to wrap your mind around this book...
This book is packed from Cover to Cover with nail-biting action. You won't want to put it down as you turn page after page.
If you're not a reader if the Pendergrass series I suggest you take the time to get acquainted with Agent Pendergrass before trying to wrap your mind around this book...
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews