Douglas Preston - The Book of the Dead

Reading the novels in a particular order, however, is rarely necessary. We have worked hard to make almost all of our books into stories that can be enjoyed without reading any of the others, with a few exceptions.

Here, then, is our own breakdown of our books.

Relic was our first novel, and the first to feature Special Agent Pendergast, and as such has no antecedents.

Reliquary is the sequel to Relic.

The Cabinet of Curiosities is our third Pendergast novel, and it stands completely on its own.

Still Life with Crows is next. It is also a self-contained story (although people curious about Constance Greene will find a little information here as well as in The Cabinet of Curiosities).

Brimstone is next, and is the first novel in what we informally call the Pendergast trilogy. Although it is also self-contained, it does pick up some threads begun in The Cabinet of Curiosities.

Dance of Death is the middle novel of the Pendergast trilogy. While it can be read as a stand-alone book, readers may wish to read Brimstone before Dance of Death.

The Book of the Dead is the last, culminating novel in the Pendergast trilogy. For greatest enjoyment, the reader should read at least Dance of Death first.

We have also written a number of self-contained tales of adventure that do not feature Special Agent Pendergast. They are, by date of publication, Mount Dragon, Riptide, Thunderhead, and The Ice Limit.

Thunderhead introduces the archaeologist Nora Kelly, who appears in all the later Pendergast novels. The Ice Limit introduces Eli Glinn, who appears in Dance of Death and The Book of the Dead.

In closing, we want to assure our readers that this note is not intended as some kind of onerous syllabus, but rather as an answer to the question In what order should I read your novels? We feel extraordinarily fortunate that there are people like you who enjoy reading our novels as much as we enjoy writing them.

With our best wishes,

Douglas Preston

Lincoln Child

Page numbers here refer to the print edition.

Original Russian poetry on page 169 is from “Heart’s Memory of Sun” by Anna Akhmatova, 1911. Translation by Stanley Kunitz © 1967-1973.

Original poetry on page 173 is from “She” by Theodore Roethke © 1958.

Original Italian poetry on pages 243, 406, and 414 is from “ La Leggenda di Teodorico” (The Legend of Theodoric) by Giosuè Carducci, 1896. Translations on pages 406 and 414 by Douglas J. Preston © 2006.

Original lyrics on page 266 are from Aida. Opera written by Giuseppe Verdi from Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni; first performed 1871. Translation by Douglas J. Preston © 2006.

Original poetry on page 385 is from “Metamorphoses” by Ovid, 43 BC to circa AD 17. Translation under the direction of Sir Samuel Garth, 1717.

Original poetry on page 386 is from “Metamorphoses” by Ovid, 43 BC to circa AD 17. Translation by Horace Gregory © 1958.

Original French poetry on page 391 is from “Les Fleurs du Mal” by Charles Baudelaire, 1857.

Original Italian poetry on page 393 is from “Inferno” from The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri, 1308-1320.

Original poetry on page 394 and page 402 is from “The Hollow Men” by T.S. Eliot © 1925.

Original Greek quote on page 400 is from “Agamemnon,” part one of The Oresteia by Aeschylus. First performed 458 BC.

Original quote on page 409 is from Hamlet by William Shakespeare, 1600-1602.

Original poetry on page 417 is from “To His Coy Mistress” by Andrew Marvell, 1649-1660.