THE OBSIDIAN CHAMBER defies everything loyal readers of Preston & Child’s Pendergast series have come to expect. It bears hardly any science fiction or supernatural elements, is told in a disjointed fashion with several different narratives and narrators coming in and out, and at times seems like a strict cat-and-mouse mystery story. Needless to say, I enjoyed it just as I have every installment of this stellar series.

The book’s title refers to a physical room that Constance Greene, Special Agent A.X.L. Pendergast's loyal young assistant, is placed in at some point in the novel. I do not want to give out too much detail here --- a point of fact that makes this review quite difficult to do because of all the “reveals” --- but Constance does spend time in this chamber, which is set up like a room within a room, a perfect cube shape that holds within another far more nefarious purpose than merely being a place to keep her held in.

"THE OBSIDIAN CHAMBER really needs the readers to possess knowledge of previous installments to heighten the pleasure and raise the level of respect for Preston & Child in taking a risk with a completely different type of novel and succeeding on nearly every level."

There is much going on during this story in addition to the aforementioned chamber, or “cabinet of curiosities” --- a reference die-hard fans of Preston & Child will get. To start with, we must return to the prior novel in the series, CRIMSON SHORE. Pendergast and Constance head out to Exmouth, Massachusetts, to deal with a theft that quickly snowballed into the supernatural history of this eerie place on the outskirts of the infamous Salem Witch trials. The book ended on a literal cliffhanger where the survival of Pendergast is uncertain.

THE OBSIDIAN CHAMBER opens with Proctor, Pendergast's long-time bodyguard, making a personal decision to leave their Riverside Drive, Manhattan, location and look for Pendergast himself. The case of his disappearance was technically still open, but Proctor knew that the efforts to find his employer were dwindling quickly. Prior to this personal mission, Proctor had been watching carefully over Constance for fear that the forces that took Pendergast might come after her as well.

Proctor heads out on a globe-trotting trek following clue after clue, and we then find this storyline left alone only to have him reappear near the very end of the book. Meanwhile, Constance is allegedly abducted from the mansion by a mysterious figure. We learn later during another narrative featuring Lt. D'Agosta that he was knocked out while visiting the Riverside Drive residence and witnessing the abduction.

What transpires throughout the novel is a complex puzzle-box of a story that will not find any clues revealed by this reviewer. We are dealing with the past and present, the living and the dead, and certain characters will return from the feared deceased list in most surprising fashion. The readers will become those who are trapped in a literary Obsidian Chamber, and it will take a lot of guesswork to figure out what is actually happening here.

Throughout this series, Preston & Child have suggested that the novels be read in order, if possible, but that reading out of sequence will not take away from the reader's enjoyment. I feel this is true only because of the writing talents of these two authors. THE OBSIDIAN CHAMBER really needs the readers to possess knowledge of previous installments to heighten the pleasure and raise the level of respect for Preston & Child in taking a risk with a completely different type of novel and succeeding on nearly every level.