June 28, 2021
A prologue to Preston and Child’s disappointing 20th thriller featuring FBI agent Aloysius Pendergast (after 2020’s Crooked River) depicts the notorious unsolved 1971 plane hijacking by D.B. Cooper in the Pacific Northwest. In the present, Pendergast and his partner, Armstrong Coldmoon, have been dispatched to Georgia to investigate several baffling murders. As the victims were drained of blood through one of their multiple stab wounds, the killer is dubbed the Savannah Vampire. Pressure to close the case quickly comes from a boorish U.S. senator, who fears bad press about the crimes will imperil his reelection bid. Pendergast’s ward, Constance Greene, assists by befriending a reclusive hotel owner rumored to have prolonged her life by drinking human blood. How the plane hijacking ties in with the current action will surprise readers, but the lack of real scares, an outlandish solution to the central mystery, and a lead who’s more action hero than Sherlockian sleuth render this a lesser series entry. X-Files fans will best appreciate this one. Agent: Eric Simonoff, WME.