Line #76 Literature/AgentPendergast


1	[[quoteright:349:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/AgentPendergast_9670.png]]
2	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]][[HowUnscientific Although the later stories are moving away from this...]][[/note]]
3
4	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.
5
6	The novels so far (in publication order) are:
7
8	'''Agent Pendergast Novels'''
9	[[index]]
10	* ''[[Literature/TheRelic Relic]]'' - 1995
11	* ''Literature/{{Reliquary}}'' - 1997
12	* ''Literature/TheCabinetOfCuriosities'' - 2002
13	* ''Literature/StillLifeWithCrows'' - 2003
14	* ''Literature/{{Brimstone}}'' - 2004
15	* ''Literature/DanceOfDeath'' - 2005
16	* ''Literature/{{Book of the Dead\|2006}}'' - 2006
17	* ''Literature/TheWheelOfDarkness'' - 2007
18	* ''Literature/CemeteryDance'' - 2009
19	* ''Literature/FeverDream'' - 2010
20	* ''Literature/ColdVengeance'' - 2011
21	* ''Literature/TwoGraves'' - 2012
22	* ''LIterature/WhiteFire'' - 2013
23	* ''Literature/BlueLabyrinth'' - 2014
24	* ''Literature/CrimsonShore'' - 2015
25	* ''The Obsidian Chamber'' - 2016
26	* ''City of Endless Night'' - 2018
27	* ''Verses for the Dead''- 2019
28	* ''Crooked River'' - 2020
29	* ''Literature/{{Bloodless}}'' - 2021
30	* ''Literature/TheCabinetOfDrLeng'' - 2023
31
32	'''[[SharedUniverse Novels in the Same Universe]]'''
33	* ''Literature/MountDragon'' - 1996
34	* ''{{Literature/Thunderhead}}'' - 1999
35	* ''Literature/TheIceLimit'' - 2000
36	* '''The Gideon Crew Series''':
37	** ''Gideon's Sword'' - 2011
38	** ''Gideon's Corpse'' - 2012
39	** ''The Lost Island'' - 2014
40	** ''Beyond the Ice Limit'' - 2016
41	** ''The Pharaoh Key'' - 2017
42	* '''The Nora Kelly and Corrie Swanson Series''':
43	** ''Old Bones'' - 2019
44	** ''The Scorpion's Tail'' - 2021
45	** ''Diablo Mesa'' - 2022
46	** ''Dead Mountain'' - 2023
47	'''Other Novels'''
48	* ''Literature/{{Jennie}}'' - 1994, Preston only
49	* ''{{Literature/Riptide}}'' - 1998
50	* ''Literature/TyrannosaurCanyon'' - 2005, Preston only
51	* ''Literature/FaceOff'' - 2014. anthology of {{Crossover}} stories including "Gaslighted: Slappy the Ventriloquist Dummy vs. Aloysius Pendergast" featuring Slappy the Dummy from ''Franchise/{{Goosebumps}}''.
52	[[/index]]
53
54	Now has a [[Characters.AgentPendergast Character Sheet]].
55
56	----
57	!!Provides Examples of:
58
59	* AllThereInTheManual: The authors like to provide extra information on the Pendergast character through email newsletters.
60	* AloneWithThePsycho: Several times.
61	* AnyoneCanDie
62	* 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.
63	* BewareTheNiceOnes: Pendergast, D'Agosta, Hayward, and even Nora.
64	* TheBigEasy: Where Pendergast comes from.
65	* BigScrewedUpFamily: The Pendergasts (who were French BlueBlood originally). The more we learn about them, the more horrifying they become. They all seem to have been brilliant, focused individuals, who were also some combination of crazy, criminal, and charismatic.
66	* BreakTheCutie: Never works out well for those who try it.
67	* BreakTheHaughty: What seems to be happening to Pendergast from ''Fever Dream'' on.
68	* 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.
69	* CainAndAbel: Pendergast and his brother Diogenes. An inversion of the usual setup, since Diogenes is the ''younger'' of the pair.
70	* ChristmasEpisode: ''White Fire''.
71	* CreateYourOwnVillain: While Diogenes's evil was always presented as [[VillainousLineage heritable]], in ''Book of the Dead'' it's revealed that he's the way he is because when they were children, [[spoiler: 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).
72	* CrossOver: The short story "Gaslighted" pits Pendergast against [[Literature/{{Goosebumps}} Slappy the Dummy]].
73	* CruelAndUnusualDeath: Several in this series. ''Still Life with Crows'' probably takes the cake with all the murders [[spoiler: being done in the fashion of classic children's nursery rhymes.]]
74	* DaChief: Rocker.
75	* HauntedHouse: The Beaux Arts mansion that Pendergast inherited.
76	* InstantMysteryJustDeleteScene: The authors commonly build suspense by switching back and forth between characters' story lines at critical moments.
77	* NeverFoundTheBody: [[spoiler: Diogenes]] but come on, NoOneCouldSurviveThat.
78	* ObstructiveBureaucrat: All over the place, with an especially thick concentration around the New York Museum of Natural History.
79	* OddCouple: Pendergast and D'Agosta.
80	* OfficialCouple: Nora and Smithback, and D'Agosta and Hayward. Pendergast himself hasn't officially committed to anyone since his wife died.
81	* PoliceAreUseless: Averted with dedicated, competent characters like Vincent D'Agosta and Laura Hayward. Just as often played straight with their superiors.
82	** Appears to be the case with the Kansas Police in ''Still Life with Crows'', but the habit gets subverted when the [[ObstructiveBureaucrat Obstructive Cop]] really just wanted a chance to solve something for himself, and helps Pendergast take down the killer.
83	** The Italian police in ''Brimstone'' actually are quite helpful and forthcoming, at least until the end when 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.
84	* PosthumousCharacter: Helen
85	** And additionally [[spoiler: Enoch Leng, aka Antoine Pendergast]].
86	* 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. Even first two novels, ''Relic'' and ''Reliquary'', which do have horrific otherworldly monsters running around, have them just be transformed humans.
87	** ''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).
88	* SelfDeprecation: Pendergast occasionally voices his disdain for modern popular fiction, particularly of the sort that Preston & Child write.
89	* SharedUniverse: All of the duo's non-Pendergast novels take place in the same universe as the main series (with the possible exception of ''Riptide''). The Gideon Crew series takes place in it as well.
90	* StoryArc: ''Relic'' and ''Reliquary''.
91	** ''Brimstone'', ''Dance of Death,'' and ''Book of the Dead''. Arguably, ''The Wheel of Darkness'' acts as a follow up to the arc.
92	** ''Fever Dream'', ''Cold Vengeance'' and ''Two Graves''. Again, there is a follow up in ''Blue Labyrinth''
93	* TorchesAndPitchforks: A mob burned down the Pendergast mansion in New Orleans.
94	* TwoPartTrilogy: Inverted. The main plot of ''Brimstone'' is indeed largely unrelated with the main storyline of ''Dance of Death'' and ''Book of the Dead'', but the Diogenes subplot is clearly presented and the novel ends in a definite cliffhanger that leads into the following books.
95	** ''Fever Dream'' apparently resolves what happened to Pendergast's wife, even though it ends on a {{Cliffhanger}}. ''Cold Vengeance'' shows that the truth is much more complicated, and ''Two Graves'' is an ImmediateSequel.
96	* {{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'', who even gets together with Carson.
97	* TheWatson: Anyone who works with Pendergast, but especially D'Agosta. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in the way Pendergast talks with him. Pendergast even says "Elementary my dear Viola," at the end of ''Book of the Dead''.

Context Literature / AgentPendergast