Crooked River: A Pendergast Novel

When more than a hundred shoes containing severed human feet wash ashore on Florida’s Sanibel Island in Preston and Child’s exciting 19th Pendergast novel (after 2018’s Verses for the Dead), eccentric FBI agent Aloysius Pendergast, who’s vacationing in nearby Fort Myers with his ward, Constance Greene, joins the investigation. The arrogant Coast Guard commander in charge is sure the shoes belong to convicts executed at a Cuban prison, but Pendergast thinks otherwise and enlists the aid of oceanographer Pamela Gladstone to analyze currents in the Gulf of Mexico to determine their source. The stakes rise as it becomes clear that a mole within the investigation is tipping off those responsible for the crime. Pendergast and Gladstone wind up captured by some nasty villains, and a handful of Pendergast’s friends, including the resourceful Constance, must rush to the rescue in an extended, nail-biting climax. After a string of so-so entries in this bestselling series, Preston and Child have returned to the quality storytelling they’re known for. Agent: Eric Simonoff, WME. (Feb.)

Correction: An earlier version of this review misstated Lincoln Child's first name.