5 stars out of 5
The story begins with the 1971 disappearance of D.B. Cooper, who, threatening the flight crew with what turned out to be a fake bomb, collected a ransom of $200,000 and parachuted from Flight 305 that started in Portland headed for Seattle (which is, for the record, a true story). Readers may (should) suspect that this has some bearing on the tale that follows, when FBI Special Agent Aloysius Pendergast and his partner, Agent Armstrong Coldmoon, are ordered to Savannah, Georgia. There, a couple of bodies have been found totally drained of blood - either a blessing or a bane, depending on who's looking to get rich or famous - in a city that's known for its ghosts and vampires.
Special interests also are at work here, in the form of a group looking to capture paranormal activity on film and a man looking to do an expose on the paranormal-filming group. While a couple of blood-let bodies may boost or hinder their causes one way or another, the same can be said of how their activities impact Pendergast's investigation. Throw in a couple more bloodless bodies, a sinister cemetery and some futuristic technology, and Pendergast and company definitely have their hands and thinking caps full.
As usual, Pendergast gets a lot of assistance from his ward with the mysterious background, Constance Greene; this time, her help not only is crucial to solving the case, but ultimately brings into question the direction future books in this series will take. For sure I'm one who will be waiting on pins and needles for the next one. As for this, well, nothing left to say but bravo (and please, please, don't waste any time getting the next installment ready).
Bloodless by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child (Grand Central Publishing, August 2021); 400 pp.
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