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* Still Life with Crows - 2003
* Brimstone - 2004
* Dance of Death - 2005
* Book of the Dead - 2006
* The Wheel of Darkness - 2007
* Cemetery Dance - 2009
* Fever Dream - 2010
* Cold Vengeance - 2011
* Brimstone - 2004
* Dance of Death - 2005
* Book of the Dead - 2006
* The Wheel of Darkness - 2007
* Cemetery Dance - 2009
* Fever Dream - 2010
* Cold Vengeance - 2011
to:
* Still Life with Crows ''Literature/StillLifeWithCrows'' - 2003
*Brimstone ''{{Literature/Brimstone}}'' - 2004
*Dance of Death ''Literature/DanceOfDeath'' - 2005
*Book of the Dead ''Literature/BookOfTheDead'' - 2006
*The Wheel of Darkness ''Literature/TheWheelOfDarkness'' - 2007
*Cemetery Dance ''Literature/CemeteryDance'' - 2009
*Fever Dream ''Literature/FeverDream'' - 2010
*Cold Vengeance ''Literature/ColdVengeance'' - 2011
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
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* Mount Dragon - 1996
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* Mount Dragon ''Literature/MountDragon'' - 1996
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* The Ice Limit - 2000
* Tyrannosaur Canyon - 2003
* Tyrannosaur Canyon - 2003
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* The Ice Limit ''Literature/TheIceLimit'' - 2000
*Tyrannosaur Canyon ''Literature/TyrannosaurCanyon'' - 2003
*
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* Riptide - 1998
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* Riptide ''{{Literature/Riptide}}'' - 1998
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* InterdisciplinarySleuth - Pendergast.
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* InstantMysteryJustDeleteScene: The authors commonly build suspense by switching back and forth between characters' story lines at critical moments.
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* AssholeVictim - As a rule of thumb, if someone is a complete {{jerkass}}, you can expect them to die a most satisfying death.
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* ButtMonkey: Smithback gets mangled quite often. By ''Cabinet of Curiosities'', he seems upset and nervous just to see Pendergast again. He's probably anticipating what horrors he'll get into thanks to his involvement with the FBI agent this time around.
to:
* ButtMonkey: Smithback gets mangled quite often. By ''Cabinet of Curiosities'', he seems upset and nervous just to see Pendergast again. He's probably anticipating what horrors he'll get into thanks to his involvement with the FBI agent this time around. [[spoiler: Sadly, this comes to its ultimate apex and becomes no longer an issue as of Cemetery Dance.]]
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* ButtMonkey: Smithback gets mangled quite often. By ''Cabinet of Curiosities'', he seems upset and nervous just to see Pendergast again. He's probably anticipating what horrors he'll get into thanks to his involvement with the FBI agent this time around.
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* ChewToy: Smithback gets mangled quite often. By ''Cabinet of Curiosities'', he seems upset and nervous just to see Pendergast again. He's probably anticipating what horrors he'll get into thanks to his involvement with the FBI agent this time around.
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* ''{{Thunderhead}}'' - 1999
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* ''{{Thunderhead}}'' ''{{Literature/Thunderhead}}'' - 1999
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* Thunderhead - 1999
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* Thunderhead ''{{Thunderhead}}'' - 1999
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* HollywoodVoodoo - In ''Cemetary Dance''. [[spoiler: It turns out to be a sham, of course.]]
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* HollywoodVoodoo - In ''Cemetary ''Cemetery Dance''. [[spoiler: It turns out to be a sham, of course.]]
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* NotSoStoic - Pendergast in ''Cemetary Dance'' and ''Fever Dream''.
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* NotSoStoic - Pendergast in ''Cemetary ''Cemetery Dance'' and ''Fever Dream''.
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* NotThatKindOfDoctor[=/=]OpenHeartDentistry - At the climax of ''The Cabinet of Curiosities'', the serial killer known as The Surgeon surgically exposes Smithback's spine, then leaves him to bleed to death while he goes off to fight Pendergast. Nora Kelly, a Dr. of ''archeology'', has to stitch Smithback back up (no small task; remember, ''exposed spine'') then administer IV fluid to prevent him from flatlining from blood loss. Lampshaded by Kelly's internal monologue remarking how insane the situation is; also, after being stabilized by Nora, Smithback still needs to be operated on by an actual doctor to treat his injury and save his life.
to:
* NotThatKindOfDoctor[=/=]OpenHeartDentistry - At the climax of ''The Cabinet of Curiosities'', the serial killer known as The Surgeon surgically exposes Smithback's spine, then leaves him to bleed to death while he goes off to fight Pendergast. Nora Kelly, a Dr. of ''archeology'', ''archaeology'', has to stitch Smithback back up (no small task; remember, ''exposed spine'') then administer IV fluid to prevent him from flatlining flat-lining from blood loss. Lampshaded by Kelly's internal monologue remarking how insane the situation is; also, after being stabilized by Nora, Smithback still needs to be operated on by an actual doctor to treat his injury and save his life.
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* NotThatKindOfDoctor / OpenHeartDentistry - At the climax of ''The Cabinet of Curiosities'', the serial killer known as The Surgeon surgically exposes Smithback's spine, then leaves him to bleed to death while he goes off to fight Pendergast. Nora Kelly, a Dr. of ''archeology'', has to stitch Smithback back up (no small task; remember, ''exposed spine'') then administer IV fluid to prevent him from flatlining from blood loss. Lampshaded by Kelly's internal monologue remarking how insane the situation is; also, after being stabilized by Nora, Smithback still needs to be operated on by an actual doctor to treat his injury and save his life.
to:
* NotThatKindOfDoctor / OpenHeartDentistry NotThatKindOfDoctor[=/=]OpenHeartDentistry - At the climax of ''The Cabinet of Curiosities'', the serial killer known as The Surgeon surgically exposes Smithback's spine, then leaves him to bleed to death while he goes off to fight Pendergast. Nora Kelly, a Dr. of ''archeology'', has to stitch Smithback back up (no small task; remember, ''exposed spine'') then administer IV fluid to prevent him from flatlining from blood loss. Lampshaded by Kelly's internal monologue remarking how insane the situation is; also, after being stabilized by Nora, Smithback still needs to be operated on by an actual doctor to treat his injury and save his life.
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* {{Tsundere}} - Margo, somewhat, in the film and in ''Reliquary'' (in the latter, it's due to her experience with Mbwun). Susana Cabeza de Vaca in ''Mount Dragon''.
to:
* {{Tsundere}} - Margo, somewhat, in the film and in ''Reliquary'' (in the latter, it's due to her experience with Mbwun). Susana Cabeza de Vaca in ''Mount Dragon''.Dragon'', who even gets together with Carson.
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* Tyrannosaur Canyon
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* Tyrannosaur Canyon
Canyon - 2003
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I can\'t remember - was it Dance of the dead or Book of the Dead?
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* Tyrannosaur Canyon
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* AnyoneCanDie
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* AnyoneCanDieAnyoneCanDie: A LOT. [[spoiler:Averted with Margo in Dance of Death - Diogenes missed.]]
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* CrazyPrepared - Agent Pendergast takes this to Batman-like levels.
* CreateYourOwnVillain - While Diogenes' evil was always presented as InTheBlood, in ''Book of The Dead'' it's revealed that he's the way he is because [[spoiler: when they were children, Pendergast shoved Diogenes into a family antique which turned out to be a device designed to drive the occupant insane. Pendergast is quite distraught when he realizes he created Diogenes all along (he'd suppressed the memory up until that point).]]
* CreateYourOwnVillain - While Diogenes' evil was always presented as InTheBlood, in ''Book of The Dead'' it's revealed that he's the way he is because [[spoiler: when they were children, Pendergast shoved Diogenes into a family antique which turned out to be a device designed to drive the occupant insane. Pendergast is quite distraught when he realizes he created Diogenes all along (he'd suppressed the memory up until that point).]]
to:
* CrazyPrepared - Agent ChewToy: Smithback gets mangled quite often. By ''Cabinet of Curiosities'', he seems upset and nervous just to see Pendergast takes again. He's probably anticipating what horrors he'll get into thanks to his involvement with the FBI agent this to Batman-like levels.
* CreateYourOwnVillain - While Diogenes' evil was always presented as InTheBlood, in ''Book of The Dead'' it's revealed that he's the way he is because [[spoiler: when they were children, Pendergast shoved Diogenes into a family antique which turned out to be a device designed to drive the occupant insane. Pendergast is quite distraught when he realizes he created Diogenes all along (he'd suppressed the memory up until that point).]]time around.
* CreateYourOwnVillain - While Diogenes' evil was always presented as InTheBlood, in ''Book of The Dead'' it's revealed that he's the way he is because [[spoiler: when they were children, Pendergast shoved Diogenes into a family antique which turned out to be a device designed to drive the occupant insane. Pendergast is quite distraught when he realizes he created Diogenes all along (he'd suppressed the memory up until that point).]]
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* CrazyPrepared - Agent Pendergast takes this to Batman-like levels.
* CreateYourOwnVillain - While Diogenes' evil was always presented as InTheBlood, in ''Book of The Dead'' it's revealed that he's the way he is because [[spoiler: when they were children, Pendergast shoved Diogenes into a family antique which turned out to be a device designed to drive the occupant insane. Pendergast is quite distraught when he realizes he created Diogenes all along (he'd suppressed the memory up until that point).]]
* CreateYourOwnVillain - While Diogenes' evil was always presented as InTheBlood, in ''Book of The Dead'' it's revealed that he's the way he is because [[spoiler: when they were children, Pendergast shoved Diogenes into a family antique which turned out to be a device designed to drive the occupant insane. Pendergast is quite distraught when he realizes he created Diogenes all along (he'd suppressed the memory up until that point).]]
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Moved to YMMV
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* HoYay - Pendergast and D'Agosta have made more than one reader wonder.
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[[index]]
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[[/index]]
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* [[Literature/TheRelic Relic]] - 1995
* {{Literature/Reliquary}} - 1997
* {{Literature/Reliquary}} - 1997
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* [[Literature/TheRelic Relic]] ''[[Literature/TheRelic Relic]]'' - 1995
*{{Literature/Reliquary}} ''{{Literature/Reliquary}}'' - 1997
*
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* The Cabinet of Curiosities - 2002
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* The Cabinet of Curiosities ''Literature/TheCabinetOfCuriosities'' - 2002
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** Job, [[spoiler:The killer in ''Still Life with Crows''.]]
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** Job, [[spoiler:The [[spoiler:the killer in ''Still Life with Crows''.]]
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* WhatTheHellHero: Laura Hayward gives one to Pendergast in ''Fever Dream'' when [[spoiler: D'Agosta gets shot.]]
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* WhatTheHellHero: WhatTheHellHero - Laura Hayward gives one to Pendergast in ''Fever Dream'' when [[spoiler: D'Agosta gets shot.]]
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* ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight - Pendergast lives on this trope.
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* DueToTheDead - Pendergast says goodbye to [[spoiler: the murdered Bill Smithback]] by way of a quiet tea ceremony [[BiggerOnTheInside in an inside zen garden in his apartment building.]]
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* MismatchedEyes: Diogenes.
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* MismatchedEyes: MartialPacifist - Pendergast.
* MismatchedEyes - Diogenes.
* MismatchedEyes - Diogenes.
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* HotBlooded - Both Vincent D'Agosta (all the time) and Laura Hayward (occasionally).
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* SureWhyNot - The fans agreed on the name 'Helen' for Pendergast's wife long before it ever appeared in {{canon}}. As of ''Fever Dream'' we know that's actually her name.
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* MismatchedEyes: Diogenes.
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* WhatTheHellHero: Laura Hayward gives one to Pendergast in ''Fever Dream'' when [[spoiler: D'Agosta gets shot.]]
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* AnyoneCanDie
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* {{Awesome McCoolname}} - Aloysius X[[spoiler:ingú]] [[MysteriousMiddleInitial L.]] Pendergast.
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* {{Awesome McCoolname}} - Aloysius X[[spoiler:ingú]] X[[spoiler:ingu]] [[MysteriousMiddleInitial L.]] Pendergast.
* BreakTheHaughty - What seems to be happening to Pendergast from ''Fever Dream'' on.
* NotSoStoic - Pendergast in ''Cemetary Dance'' and ''Fever Dream''.
* {{Omniglot}} - Pendergast. Who else?
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* TorchesAndPitchforks - A mob burned down the Pendergast Manor in New Orleans.
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* TorchesAndPitchforks - A mob burned down the Pendergast Manor mansion in New Orleans.
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* TheWatson - Anyone who works with Pendergast, but especially D'Agosta.
* WhiteHairedPrettyBoy - Subverted. Pendergast's hair is described as looking white and he sure is pretty, but he's still undoubtedly TheHero.
* WhiteHairedPrettyBoy - Subverted. Pendergast's hair is described as looking white and he sure is pretty, but he's still undoubtedly TheHero.
to:
* TheWatson - Anyone who works with Pendergast, but especially D'Agosta.
D'Agosta. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in the way Pendergast talks with him.
* WhiteHairedPrettyBoy -Subverted. Pendergast's hair is described as looking white and he sure is pretty, but he's still undoubtedly TheHero.Pendergast looks like one.
* WhiteHairedPrettyBoy -
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*** Neither can [[spoiler:Job, who thinks he's really playing with toys instead of horrifically murdering people.]] The resolution involves his mother wondering where it all went wrong, and Pendergast points out that he didn't know because he never experienced morality for himself.
to:
*** Neither can [[spoiler:Job, who [[spoiler:Job,]] in ''Still Life with Crows'', [[spoiler:who thinks he's really playing with toys instead of horrifically murdering people.]] The resolution involves his mother wondering where it all went wrong, and Pendergast points out that he didn't know because he never experienced morality for himself.
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** The end of ''Fever Dream'' seems to be setting up a new one.
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** The end of ''Fever Dream'' seems to be setting up a new one.and ''Cold Vengeance'', with the next book in the series presumably concluding the trilogy.
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* Reliquary - 1997
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* Reliquary {{Literature/Reliquary}} - 1997
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* UltimateJobSecurity - How Pendergast is even allowed in the country - let alone how he retains his FBI job - boggles the mind.
** He's damn good, ''and'' has been nearly fired many, ''many'' times.
*** I suppose that might put him in the category of BunnyEarsLawyer, then.
* TheUnfrozenCavemanLawyer - Constance adapts to the twenty-first century remarkably well.
** He's damn good, ''and'' has been nearly fired many, ''many'' times.
*** I suppose that might put him in the category of BunnyEarsLawyer, then.
* TheUnfrozenCavemanLawyer - Constance adapts to the twenty-first century remarkably well.
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* UltimateJobSecurity - How Pendergast is even allowed in the country - let alone how he has been threatened with getting fired ''countless'' times for unorthodox and occasionally downright ''illegal'' procedures, but still retains his FBI job - boggles at the mind.
** He's damn good, ''and'' has been nearly fired many, ''many'' times.
*** I suppose that might put him in the category of BunnyEarsLawyer, then.
* TheUnfrozenCavemanLawyer - Constance adapts to the twenty-first century remarkably well.FBI.
** He's damn good, ''and'' has been nearly fired many, ''many'' times.
*** I suppose that might put him in the category of BunnyEarsLawyer, then.
* TheUnfrozenCavemanLawyer - Constance adapts to the twenty-first century remarkably well.
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Catch-all tag for a series of novels by authors Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, most of which feature FBI Special Agent Aloysius X.L. Pendergast. The novels tend to feature a mix of the police procedural, horror, and thriller genres. More often than not, the stories involve events that seem supernatural, but are eventually show to have a rational (if somewhat far-fetched) explanation.
Note that the series has no official title. This entry is named for Agent Pendergast because he appears in it more than any other character.
The novels so far (in publication order) are:
'''Agent Pendergast Novels'''
* [[Literature/TheRelic Relic]] - 1995
* Reliquary - 1997
* The Cabinet of Curiosities - 2002
* Still Life with Crows - 2003
* Brimstone - 2004
* Dance of Death - 2005
* Book of the Dead - 2006
* The Wheel of Darkness - 2007
* Cemetery Dance - 2009
* Fever Dream - 2010
* Cold Vengeance - 2011
'''Other Novels'''
* Mount Dragon - 1996
* Riptide - 1998
* Thunderhead - 1999
* The Ice Limit - 2000
----
!!This series provides examples of:
* AnimatedAdaptation - InUniverse example: The end of ''Relic'' mentions a Saturday morning cartoon based on the events of the novel. Given how horrific those events were, it's not surprising that the show is mentioned as having been canceled.
* AntiVillain - The "BigBad" in ''Mount Dragon''. [[spoiler:Despite using his entire staff as guinea pigs and selling bioweaponry to more unscrupulous members of the US Military, he believes what he's doing is crucial to the human race.]]
* AppeaseTheVolcanoGod - Diogenes would have most likely thrown Constance into the volcano.
* ArbitrarySkepticism - You'd think that after a mutant dinosaur attacks the Museum of Natural History in New York, and after an army of human-dino hybrids attack the New York subway system, the citizens of New York and especially the bureaucratic decision-makers would be more open-minded concerning some of the wilder, seemingly paranormal events occurring in the later books.
* ArtifactOfDoom - The {{MacGuffin}}s in ''The Wheel of Darkness'' and ''Riptide''; the former (the Agozyen) being a [[spoiler: Tibetan painting that turns anyone who looks at it into a monsterous sociopath]], and the latter (the Sword of St. Michael) being [[spoiler: a sword forged from a meteor that's so radioactive it can kill everyone within a few square miles if taken out of its lead casket]].
* {{Awesome McCoolname}} - Aloysius X[[spoiler:ingú]] [[MysteriousMiddleInitial L.]] Pendergast.
* AwesomenessByAnalysis - Pendergast. D'Agosta also gets better at this.
* AxCrazy - [[spoiler: Diogenes.]]
* BadassInANiceSuit / SharpDressedMan - Pendergast.
* BattleButler - Proctor.
* BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy - John J. Audubon's artistic genius was the result of [[spoiler: a rare form of avian flu that altered his brain chemistry.]]
* TheBigEasy - Where Pendergast comes from.
* BigScrewedUpFamily - The Pendergasts (who were French BlueBlood originally). The more we learn about them, the more horrifying they become.
* BreakTheCutie - Never works out well for those who try it.
* BreakoutCharacter - The main character in ''Relic'' and ''Reliquary'' was anthropology post-grad Margo Green, with FBI Agent Pendergast being a supporting character alongside Lt. D'Agosta. Indeed, in the movie version of ''Relic'' the Pendergast character was removed completely to focus on Green and D'Agosta instead. However, Pendergast proved so popular that the authors made him the focus of the following books in the series, so much so that the series of novels has become informally named after him.
* BrownNote - The {{MacGuffin}} in ''The Wheel of Darkness'' [[spoiler: either drives everyone who sees it insane, or turns them into monsterous sociopaths.]]
** As does [[spoiler: Diogenes' light and sound show intended to be his "ultimate crime"]] in ''Book of the Dead''.
* CainAndAbel - Pendergast and his brother Diogenes. An inversion of the usual setup, since Diogenes is the ''younger'' of the pair.
* CrazyPrepared - Agent Pendergast takes this to Batman-like levels.
* CreateYourOwnVillain - While Diogenes' evil was always presented as InTheBlood, in ''Book of The Dead'' it's revealed that he's the way he is because [[spoiler: when they were children, Pendergast shoved Diogenes into a family antique which turned out to be a device designed to drive the occupant insane. Pendergast is quite distraught when he realizes he created Diogenes all along (he'd suppressed the memory up until that point).]]
* CompleteMonster - Subverted in the case of ''actual'' monsters. [[invoked]]
** The creature in question - Mbwun in ''Relic'' - is still responsible for horrific acts of violence, but it can't really help itself.
*** Neither can [[spoiler:Job, who thinks he's really playing with toys instead of horrifically murdering people.]] The resolution involves his mother wondering where it all went wrong, and Pendergast points out that he didn't know because he never experienced morality for himself.
* CulturedBadass - Pendergast.
** [[BattleCouple His wife was one, too.]]
* DarkestAfrica - One of the settings of ''Fever Dream''.
* DemotedToExtra - Margo Green was the original main character of ''Relic'' and ''Reliquary'', but after that the focus of the series switch from her to Agent Pendergast, and she pretty quickly faded into the background, being promptly replacd by ''Thunderhead'''s heroine Nora Kelly as the series' main female supporting character.
* EccentricMillionaire - Pendergast borders on this.
* EscapistCharacter - Pendergast shows traits of this.
* FaceHeelTurn - [[spoiler: Dr. Frock in ''Reliquary''.]]
* FakingTheDead - Pendergast manages to pull this off in ''Dance of Death'' to make Diogenes think he has successfully killed [[spoiler: Margo]].
* {{Goth}} - Corrie Swanson, the gloomy variety.
** More annoyed than gloomy, and switches to PerkyGoth at the end.
* GrumpyBear - D'Agosta, often.
* GuileHero - Pendergast.
* HappilyMarried - Bill Smithback and Nora Kelly. [[spoiler: Sadly, they don't have much time to enjoy it ...]]
* HeroicAlbino - Played with Pendergast. He looks like an albino, but he's just ''incredibly'' pale.
* HollywoodVoodoo - In ''Cemetary Dance''. [[spoiler: It turns out to be a sham, of course.]]
* HotScientist - Quite a few.
* HoYay - Pendergast and D'Agosta have made more than one reader wonder.
* ImmortalityImmorality - Central to the plot of ''The Cabinet of Curiosities'', which involves a formula for extending human life that seems to require extracting living human spines for one of the ingredients.
* IntrepidReporter - Bill Smithback.
* KilledOffForReal - [[spoiler: Smithback]] in ''Cemetery Dance''.
* TheManBehindTheMan - In ''Relic'', the authors' first novel, the character of Dr. Kawakita is always at the edge of events, never participating directly, and his presence in the story only seems to be to show him as brilliant, cunning, and amoral, with a SequelHook ending that seems to be setting him up as the BigBad of any following novel, being the only character to deduce Mbwun's true nature and planning to exploit it for his own personal gain. In the sequel, ''Reliquary'', [[spoiler: Kawakita is already dead before the story even begins, a fact which is revealed very early on. Instead it turns out that TheObiWan Dr. Frock is the main villain, having been transformed into a megalomaniacal sociopath by a modified version of Kawakita's Mbwun serum.]]
** In ''Fever Dream'', the identity of TheManBehindTheMan is revealed remarkably early in the novel instead of saved for the end, especially as it's something of a twist. However, the characters themselves never discover this.
* NeverFoundTheBody - [[spoiler: Diogenes]] but come on, NoOneCouldSurviveThat.
* NonIdleRich - Pendergast certainly doesn't work for the money.
* NotThatKindOfDoctor / OpenHeartDentistry - At the climax of ''The Cabinet of Curiosities'', the serial killer known as The Surgeon surgically exposes Smithback's spine, then leaves him to bleed to death while he goes off to fight Pendergast. Nora Kelly, a Dr. of ''archeology'', has to stitch Smithback back up (no small task; remember, ''exposed spine'') then administer IV fluid to prevent him from flatlining from blood loss. Lampshaded by Kelly's internal monologue remarking how insane the situation is; also, after being stabilized by Nora, Smithback still needs to be operated on by an actual doctor to treat his injury and save his life.
* ObstructiveBureaucrat - All over the place, with an especially thick concentration around the New York Museum of Natural History.
* OddCouple - Pendergast and D'Agosta.
* OurHeroIsDead - [[spoiler:The end of ''Brimstone''.]]
* ParentalSubstitute - Pendergast, to Corrie.
* PlayfulHacker - Mime.
* PlayingDrunk - Pendergast does this a lot, mostly amongst the homeless.
* PoliceAreUseless - Averted with dedicated, competent characters like Vincent D'Agosta and Laura Hayward. Just as often played straight with their superiors.
** Appears to be the case with the Kentucky Police in ''Still Life with Crows''... [[spoiler:Until the [[ObstructiveBureaucrat Obstructive Cop]] was really just wanting a chance to solve something for himself, and helps Pendergast take down the killer.]]
** The Italian police in ''Brimstone'' actually are quite helpful and forthcoming, at least until the end when [[spoiler: D'Agosta fingers one of the country's most influential and prominent figures as the BigBad, right up to convincing the police to storm the guy's fortress... then fails to produce any supporting evidence. Mortified and humiliated, the formerly helpful Italian police captain quickly turns on him.]]
* PsychopathicManchild - [[spoiler:The real killer in ''Still Life with Crows''.]]
* [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld Really One Hundred Twenty Years Old]] - Constance Greene.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure - Hayward in the later books.
* SacrificialLamb - [[spoiler: Moriarty]] in ''Relic''.
* ScoobyDooHoax - While several of the novels do contain genuine supernatural or fantasy elements, the main threat always turns out to be a human villain masquerading as a more supernatural monster. The first two novels, ''Relic'' and ''Reliquary'', are a notable exception in that there really ''is'' a horrific otherworldly monster running around.
** ''Brimstone'' and ''Cemetery Dance'' are the most notable, as the villains' schemes follow the formula of a Scooby Doo episode right down to the letter (other than multiple murders being involved, of course).
* SelfDeprecation - Pendergast occasionally voices his disdain for modern popular fiction, particularly of the sort that Preston & Child write.
* StoryArc - ''Brimstone, Dance of Death,'' and ''Book of the Dead''.
** ''Relic'' and ''Reliquary''.
** The end of ''Fever Dream'' seems to be setting up a new one.
* TorchesAndPitchforks - A mob burned down the Pendergast Manor in New Orleans.
* TragicMonster - Mbwun, once its full origin is revealed.
** Job, [[spoiler:The killer in ''Still Life with Crows''.]]
* {{Tsundere}} - Margo, somewhat, in the film and in ''Reliquary'' (in the latter, it's due to her experience with Mbwun). Susana Cabeza de Vaca in ''Mount Dragon''.
* UltimateJobSecurity - How Pendergast is even allowed in the country - let alone how he retains his FBI job - boggles the mind.
** He's damn good, ''and'' has been nearly fired many, ''many'' times.
*** I suppose that might put him in the category of BunnyEarsLawyer, then.
* TheUnfrozenCavemanLawyer - Constance adapts to the twenty-first century remarkably well.
* TheWatson - Anyone who works with Pendergast, but especially D'Agosta.
* WhiteHairedPrettyBoy - Subverted. Pendergast's hair is described as looking white and he sure is pretty, but he's still undoubtedly TheHero.
* ZombieApocalypse - [[spoiler:The end goal in ''Reliquary'', which would cause the human race to kill themselves, and allow rat/reptile things to rule the earth.]]
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<<|{{Literature}}|>>
Note that the series has no official title. This entry is named for Agent Pendergast because he appears in it more than any other character.
The novels so far (in publication order) are:
'''Agent Pendergast Novels'''
* [[Literature/TheRelic Relic]] - 1995
* Reliquary - 1997
* The Cabinet of Curiosities - 2002
* Still Life with Crows - 2003
* Brimstone - 2004
* Dance of Death - 2005
* Book of the Dead - 2006
* The Wheel of Darkness - 2007
* Cemetery Dance - 2009
* Fever Dream - 2010
* Cold Vengeance - 2011
'''Other Novels'''
* Mount Dragon - 1996
* Riptide - 1998
* Thunderhead - 1999
* The Ice Limit - 2000
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!!This series provides examples of:
* AnimatedAdaptation - InUniverse example: The end of ''Relic'' mentions a Saturday morning cartoon based on the events of the novel. Given how horrific those events were, it's not surprising that the show is mentioned as having been canceled.
* AntiVillain - The "BigBad" in ''Mount Dragon''. [[spoiler:Despite using his entire staff as guinea pigs and selling bioweaponry to more unscrupulous members of the US Military, he believes what he's doing is crucial to the human race.]]
* AppeaseTheVolcanoGod - Diogenes would have most likely thrown Constance into the volcano.
* ArbitrarySkepticism - You'd think that after a mutant dinosaur attacks the Museum of Natural History in New York, and after an army of human-dino hybrids attack the New York subway system, the citizens of New York and especially the bureaucratic decision-makers would be more open-minded concerning some of the wilder, seemingly paranormal events occurring in the later books.
* ArtifactOfDoom - The {{MacGuffin}}s in ''The Wheel of Darkness'' and ''Riptide''; the former (the Agozyen) being a [[spoiler: Tibetan painting that turns anyone who looks at it into a monsterous sociopath]], and the latter (the Sword of St. Michael) being [[spoiler: a sword forged from a meteor that's so radioactive it can kill everyone within a few square miles if taken out of its lead casket]].
* {{Awesome McCoolname}} - Aloysius X[[spoiler:ingú]] [[MysteriousMiddleInitial L.]] Pendergast.
* AwesomenessByAnalysis - Pendergast. D'Agosta also gets better at this.
* AxCrazy - [[spoiler: Diogenes.]]
* BadassInANiceSuit / SharpDressedMan - Pendergast.
* BattleButler - Proctor.
* BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy - John J. Audubon's artistic genius was the result of [[spoiler: a rare form of avian flu that altered his brain chemistry.]]
* TheBigEasy - Where Pendergast comes from.
* BigScrewedUpFamily - The Pendergasts (who were French BlueBlood originally). The more we learn about them, the more horrifying they become.
* BreakTheCutie - Never works out well for those who try it.
* BreakoutCharacter - The main character in ''Relic'' and ''Reliquary'' was anthropology post-grad Margo Green, with FBI Agent Pendergast being a supporting character alongside Lt. D'Agosta. Indeed, in the movie version of ''Relic'' the Pendergast character was removed completely to focus on Green and D'Agosta instead. However, Pendergast proved so popular that the authors made him the focus of the following books in the series, so much so that the series of novels has become informally named after him.
* BrownNote - The {{MacGuffin}} in ''The Wheel of Darkness'' [[spoiler: either drives everyone who sees it insane, or turns them into monsterous sociopaths.]]
** As does [[spoiler: Diogenes' light and sound show intended to be his "ultimate crime"]] in ''Book of the Dead''.
* CainAndAbel - Pendergast and his brother Diogenes. An inversion of the usual setup, since Diogenes is the ''younger'' of the pair.
* CrazyPrepared - Agent Pendergast takes this to Batman-like levels.
* CreateYourOwnVillain - While Diogenes' evil was always presented as InTheBlood, in ''Book of The Dead'' it's revealed that he's the way he is because [[spoiler: when they were children, Pendergast shoved Diogenes into a family antique which turned out to be a device designed to drive the occupant insane. Pendergast is quite distraught when he realizes he created Diogenes all along (he'd suppressed the memory up until that point).]]
* CompleteMonster - Subverted in the case of ''actual'' monsters. [[invoked]]
** The creature in question - Mbwun in ''Relic'' - is still responsible for horrific acts of violence, but it can't really help itself.
*** Neither can [[spoiler:Job, who thinks he's really playing with toys instead of horrifically murdering people.]] The resolution involves his mother wondering where it all went wrong, and Pendergast points out that he didn't know because he never experienced morality for himself.
* CulturedBadass - Pendergast.
** [[BattleCouple His wife was one, too.]]
* DarkestAfrica - One of the settings of ''Fever Dream''.
* DemotedToExtra - Margo Green was the original main character of ''Relic'' and ''Reliquary'', but after that the focus of the series switch from her to Agent Pendergast, and she pretty quickly faded into the background, being promptly replacd by ''Thunderhead'''s heroine Nora Kelly as the series' main female supporting character.
* EccentricMillionaire - Pendergast borders on this.
* EscapistCharacter - Pendergast shows traits of this.
* FaceHeelTurn - [[spoiler: Dr. Frock in ''Reliquary''.]]
* FakingTheDead - Pendergast manages to pull this off in ''Dance of Death'' to make Diogenes think he has successfully killed [[spoiler: Margo]].
* {{Goth}} - Corrie Swanson, the gloomy variety.
** More annoyed than gloomy, and switches to PerkyGoth at the end.
* GrumpyBear - D'Agosta, often.
* GuileHero - Pendergast.
* HappilyMarried - Bill Smithback and Nora Kelly. [[spoiler: Sadly, they don't have much time to enjoy it ...]]
* HeroicAlbino - Played with Pendergast. He looks like an albino, but he's just ''incredibly'' pale.
* HollywoodVoodoo - In ''Cemetary Dance''. [[spoiler: It turns out to be a sham, of course.]]
* HotScientist - Quite a few.
* HoYay - Pendergast and D'Agosta have made more than one reader wonder.
* ImmortalityImmorality - Central to the plot of ''The Cabinet of Curiosities'', which involves a formula for extending human life that seems to require extracting living human spines for one of the ingredients.
* IntrepidReporter - Bill Smithback.
* KilledOffForReal - [[spoiler: Smithback]] in ''Cemetery Dance''.
* TheManBehindTheMan - In ''Relic'', the authors' first novel, the character of Dr. Kawakita is always at the edge of events, never participating directly, and his presence in the story only seems to be to show him as brilliant, cunning, and amoral, with a SequelHook ending that seems to be setting him up as the BigBad of any following novel, being the only character to deduce Mbwun's true nature and planning to exploit it for his own personal gain. In the sequel, ''Reliquary'', [[spoiler: Kawakita is already dead before the story even begins, a fact which is revealed very early on. Instead it turns out that TheObiWan Dr. Frock is the main villain, having been transformed into a megalomaniacal sociopath by a modified version of Kawakita's Mbwun serum.]]
** In ''Fever Dream'', the identity of TheManBehindTheMan is revealed remarkably early in the novel instead of saved for the end, especially as it's something of a twist. However, the characters themselves never discover this.
* NeverFoundTheBody - [[spoiler: Diogenes]] but come on, NoOneCouldSurviveThat.
* NonIdleRich - Pendergast certainly doesn't work for the money.
* NotThatKindOfDoctor / OpenHeartDentistry - At the climax of ''The Cabinet of Curiosities'', the serial killer known as The Surgeon surgically exposes Smithback's spine, then leaves him to bleed to death while he goes off to fight Pendergast. Nora Kelly, a Dr. of ''archeology'', has to stitch Smithback back up (no small task; remember, ''exposed spine'') then administer IV fluid to prevent him from flatlining from blood loss. Lampshaded by Kelly's internal monologue remarking how insane the situation is; also, after being stabilized by Nora, Smithback still needs to be operated on by an actual doctor to treat his injury and save his life.
* ObstructiveBureaucrat - All over the place, with an especially thick concentration around the New York Museum of Natural History.
* OddCouple - Pendergast and D'Agosta.
* OurHeroIsDead - [[spoiler:The end of ''Brimstone''.]]
* ParentalSubstitute - Pendergast, to Corrie.
* PlayfulHacker - Mime.
* PlayingDrunk - Pendergast does this a lot, mostly amongst the homeless.
* PoliceAreUseless - Averted with dedicated, competent characters like Vincent D'Agosta and Laura Hayward. Just as often played straight with their superiors.
** Appears to be the case with the Kentucky Police in ''Still Life with Crows''... [[spoiler:Until the [[ObstructiveBureaucrat Obstructive Cop]] was really just wanting a chance to solve something for himself, and helps Pendergast take down the killer.]]
** The Italian police in ''Brimstone'' actually are quite helpful and forthcoming, at least until the end when [[spoiler: D'Agosta fingers one of the country's most influential and prominent figures as the BigBad, right up to convincing the police to storm the guy's fortress... then fails to produce any supporting evidence. Mortified and humiliated, the formerly helpful Italian police captain quickly turns on him.]]
* PsychopathicManchild - [[spoiler:The real killer in ''Still Life with Crows''.]]
* [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld Really One Hundred Twenty Years Old]] - Constance Greene.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure - Hayward in the later books.
* SacrificialLamb - [[spoiler: Moriarty]] in ''Relic''.
* ScoobyDooHoax - While several of the novels do contain genuine supernatural or fantasy elements, the main threat always turns out to be a human villain masquerading as a more supernatural monster. The first two novels, ''Relic'' and ''Reliquary'', are a notable exception in that there really ''is'' a horrific otherworldly monster running around.
** ''Brimstone'' and ''Cemetery Dance'' are the most notable, as the villains' schemes follow the formula of a Scooby Doo episode right down to the letter (other than multiple murders being involved, of course).
* SelfDeprecation - Pendergast occasionally voices his disdain for modern popular fiction, particularly of the sort that Preston & Child write.
* StoryArc - ''Brimstone, Dance of Death,'' and ''Book of the Dead''.
** ''Relic'' and ''Reliquary''.
** The end of ''Fever Dream'' seems to be setting up a new one.
* TorchesAndPitchforks - A mob burned down the Pendergast Manor in New Orleans.
* TragicMonster - Mbwun, once its full origin is revealed.
** Job, [[spoiler:The killer in ''Still Life with Crows''.]]
* {{Tsundere}} - Margo, somewhat, in the film and in ''Reliquary'' (in the latter, it's due to her experience with Mbwun). Susana Cabeza de Vaca in ''Mount Dragon''.
* UltimateJobSecurity - How Pendergast is even allowed in the country - let alone how he retains his FBI job - boggles the mind.
** He's damn good, ''and'' has been nearly fired many, ''many'' times.
*** I suppose that might put him in the category of BunnyEarsLawyer, then.
* TheUnfrozenCavemanLawyer - Constance adapts to the twenty-first century remarkably well.
* TheWatson - Anyone who works with Pendergast, but especially D'Agosta.
* WhiteHairedPrettyBoy - Subverted. Pendergast's hair is described as looking white and he sure is pretty, but he's still undoubtedly TheHero.
* ZombieApocalypse - [[spoiler:The end goal in ''Reliquary'', which would cause the human race to kill themselves, and allow rat/reptile things to rule the earth.]]
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<<|{{Literature}}|>>
