A recluse sculptor engages Agent Pendergast to investigate the theft of his rare wine collection, leading to the discovery of a more sinister crime in a coastal town intertwined with historical events in Salem and the occult. Pendergast, along with Constance Greene, delves into local politics and age-old family grievances, unraveling a mystery that involves a shipwreck, a skeleton found walled up since 1884, and connections to the Salem Witches. The book is described as having nice pacing, with a whirlwind ending that some readers found a bit rushed, leaving them hanging for the next installment in the series.
The investigation in the book takes Pendergast and Constance to Exmouth, Massachusetts, where a seemingly trivial theft of prized wines escalates into a murder mystery with ties to ancient clandestine organizations and the Salem witch trials. As they dig deeper, they uncover dark secrets and a suspenseful climax that hints at the resurgence of one of Pendergast's most formidable enemies, setting the stage for a possible confrontation in future installments of the series.
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Sensitive Topics/Content Warnings
Crimson Shore includes themes of murder, violence, and supernatural elements, which may be distressing for some readers.
Has Romance?
There are hints of romance, particularly regarding the dynamic between Pendergast and Constance.
From The Publisher:
When a straightforward murder case spirals out of control, Pendergast and his ward investigate an ancient witches' colony in a sleepy New England town where a terrible evil awaits . . .
A secret chamber.
A mysterious shipwreck.
A murder in the desolate salt marshes.
A seemingly straightforward private case turns out to be much more complicated-and sinister-than Special Agent A.X.L. Pendergast ever could have anticipated.
Pendergast, together with his ward Constance Greene, travels to the quaint seaside village of Exmouth, Massachusetts, to investigate the theft of a priceless wine collection. But inside the wine cellar, they find something considerably more disturbing: a bricked-up niche that once held a crumbling skeleton.
Pendergast and Constance soon learn that Exmouth is a town with a very dark and troubled history, and this skeleton may be only the first hint of an ancient transgression, kept secret all these years. But they will discover that the sins of the past are still very much alive. Local legend holds that during the 1692 witch trials in Salem, the real witches escaped, fleeing north to Exmouth and settling deep in the surrounding salt marshes, where they continued to practice their wicked arts. Then, a murdered corpse turns up in the marshes. The only clue is a series of mysterious carvings. Could these demonic symbols bear some relation to the ancient witches' colony, long believed to be abandoned?
A terrible evil lurks beneath the surface of this sleepy seaside town-one with deep roots in Exmouth's grim history. And it may be that Constance, with her own troubled past, is the only one who truly comprehends the awful danger that she, Pendergast, and the residents of Exmouth must face . . .
Ratings (3)
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Liked It (1) | |
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Reader Stats (5):
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Want To Read (1) | |
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1 comment(s)
This book had a lot of potential, but I don't think it has been fully used.
I've read my last book in this series a long time ago and I don't even remember what it was about. But luckily, that wasn't a problem. The beginning of this story was really fascinating and I got into the story very quickly.
Unfortunately, somewhere in the middle, this story lost its momentum, at least for me. It wasn't that I had completely lost interest and stopped reading. On the contrary, I read this book very quickly in just a few days without too much trouble. But in the end, I didn't feel the excitement and satisfaction I felt at the beginning.
As with many other books in this series, we are at all times unsure whether what is happening is just an "ordinary" serial killer or if some supernatural force is involved. This dilemma is particularly present in the last dozen or so chapters. I'm not sure, but I think this may be one of the things that didn't work for me in the second half of the book. Even though I don't usually like small town crimes, in this case the whole setup worked very well for me. However, I admit that sometimes I had trouble remembering all these characters and figuring out who's who.
The book ends with a cliffhanger, which I personally don't like very much. Especially since in this case it is quite a big and serious cliffhanger.
As time passes after reading this book, my enthusiasm for this story diminishes. Probably one day I'll read another book in this series, but despite the cliffhanger, or maybe because of it, I don't feel like doing it right now.
What can you read after
Crimson Shore?
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