I picked this up because I never read this kind of book. I can't say it's 100% a 4-star book, but it's a great adventure romp, and for the change of pace I bumped it up.Something mysterious is in the NYC museum, it's hunting people, there's lots of blood and magic and murder and I really had fun with the plot. Very B-movie fun. I LOVED the details about the Museum of Natural History, it feels very well researched and made me want to go snoop around the basement of that building next time I'm in NYC!The characters are not that 3-D but I just found out they continue in later books, so I'll definitely be checking it out.

**re-read** (third time) CD special S/L edition. My first Preson/Child novel--the one that started it all. Still a favorite after all these years!

Sometimes I really want a hot dog.I dont care that its filled with crunchy bits of pig hoofs or that its encased in a horses transverse colon or even that it will provide enough sodium to last me for the next 75 years. I just want to bite into that thick, juicy tube o meat and let the uniquely succulent flavor of indulgence course through my veins even as it drips greasy trails of superfluous yumminess down my chin. Thats kind of how I feel about thrillers. I dont read them all the time, but every once in a while, the mood strikes, and I just wantnay, NEEDone. It doesnt matter that it may be full of clunky expository dialogue or stock characters or logic-defying plot twists; as long as its taut and tense and keeps the pages turning, I want it in my literary gullet. And, boy, did I treat Messrs. Preston and Child like a hearty Oscar Mayer Selects Smoked Uncured Angus Beef Frank vis-à-vis insertion into said gullet. I charred them to perfection, slathered them with ketchup, and just about swallowed them whole.Relic was exactly what I was in the mood for: a dark and mysterious page-turning thriller, one set IN A MUSEUM, no less (Im hard pressed to think of a more perfect setting)one that incorporated history and myth in equal measure, and one, due to the date of its publication, that didnt rely TOO much on new-fangled technology to play deus ex machina (with one notable exception that I shant spoil). This is the kind of thriller I especially likethere are nods to character development (even if they dont necessarily go anywhere), and the central investigative figureFBI Agent Pendergastis both entertaining and compelling, a fastidious Holmes archetype with a southern drawl and just the tiniest bit of menace. It was creepy, it was engrossing, it was set IN A MUSEUM (did I mention that? Because that really was a stroke of geniusrooms full of dusty old relics, access to a warren of tunnels underneath New York City, a gathering place for super smart academic types well suited to chasing down clues of both a historical and scientific naturebrilliant)it was, in short, a worthy read, and I will undoubtedly check out Mr. Pendergast and companys next adventure. Now, if youll excuse me, I need to go wash the fetid goat stink out of my clothes, because theres a lot of that going on in this story. And its kind of gross. But, an effective descriptive device.