By Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child

Special Agent Pendergast arrives at an exclusive Colorado ski resort to rescue his protégée, Corrie Swanson, from serious trouble with the law. His sudden appearance coincides with the first attack of a murderous arsonist who–with brutal precision–begins burning down multimillion-dollar mansions with the families locked inside. After springing Corrie from jail, Pendergast learns she made a discovery while examining the bones of several miners who were killed 150 years earlier by a rogue grizzly bear. Her finding is so astonishing that it, even more than the arsonist, threatens the resort’s very existence.

Drawn deeper into the investigation, Pendergast uncovers a mysterious connection between the dead miners and a fabled, long-lost Sherlock Holmes story–one that might just offer the key to the modern day killings as well.

Now, with the ski resort snowed in and under savage attack–and Corrie’s life suddenly in grave danger–Pendergast must solve the enigma of the past before the town of the present goes up in flames.

After the Helen sub-series, (see my last review of Two Graves) Pendergast gets backs to his roots: a fast and thrilling read from start to finish with all the twists, turns, and daring detective work we’ve grown accustomed to from our favorite, bizarrely weird FBI agent.

I read this on the plane back from Colorado to San Diego, so the Colorado winter was fresh in my mind and my still-cold toes. The novel takes place in a town that bears more than a little resemblance to Aspen, Colorado.

At the center of the mystery is a nefarious real estate agent (also, how apropos) so I was more than a little excited to get lost in this book.

I plowed through the whole thing between the airport and the plane ride, reading as fast as I can go. And I loved every minute of it.

Just when you think maybe Preston & Child are getting lost in the mire of their own amazing creation, they pull off a novel that puts the faith back in you.