Reliquary by Lincoln Child & Douglas Preston

A year ago, I read the prequel to this book, Relic. I shouldn't have waited so long to read The Reliquary but I could remember enough of the basic facts from the first book so I wasn't lost. To my disappointment, Agent Pendergast wasn't introduced until almost half way through the book. I like the other characters but I didn't think they were strong enough to carry that first half. The "yellow" journalist Bill Smithback was just flat out obnoxious as was most of the upper echelon of the police department. That had a stereotypical or cliche-ish feel to it that I didn't like. You have to suspend belief in reality in several places throughout the book. Sometimes that was annoying; sometimes it was amusing. When I looked back at what I wrote about the first book it seems that I enjoyed it much more than this one. I really like the Pendergast character so I'm looking forward to the next two books--I think he's supposed to be the "star" in those...I hope so!

There is one thing that I appreciated in this book: the authors focused a lot on the issues of the homeless living underground in New York City. Many are veterans of our wars or are mentally ill; I liked the fact that the authors humanized them and brought attention to their needs.