Gideon's Corpse
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''Gideon's Corpse'' is a thriller novel by
Douglas Preston Douglas Jerome Preston (born May 31, 1956) is an American journalist and author. Although he is best known for his thrillers in collaboration with Lincoln Child (including the '' Agent Pendergast'' series and ''Gideon Crew'' series), he has als ...
and
Lincoln Child Lincoln Child (born October 13, 1957) is an American author of techno-thriller and horror novels. Though he is most well known for his collaborations with Douglas Preston (including the Agent Pendergast series and the Gideon Crew series, among ...
. The book was released on January 10, 2012, by
Grand Central Publishing Grand Central Publishing is a book publishing imprint of Hachette Book Group, originally established in 1970 as Warner Books when Kinney National Company acquired the New York City-based Paperback Library. When Time Warner sold their book publis ...
. The book centers around Gideon Crew and is a sequel to '' Gideon's Sword''. The plot focuses on a nuclear scare, the federal reaction, and Gideon's attempts to unravel the mystery.


Synopsis

The book begins immediately after the conclusion of '' Gideon's Sword''. Eli Glinn does not seem displeased by Gideon's previous actions, and recruits Gideon to help calm down a colleague of Gideon's at
Los Alamos National Laboratory Los Alamos National Laboratory (often shortened as Los Alamos and LANL) is one of the sixteen research and development Laboratory, laboratories of the United States Department of Energy National Laboratories, United States Department of Energy ...
, Reed Chalker, who has gone insane and has taken a family hostage. Chalker is spouting ravings that he has been
irradiated Irradiation is the process by which an object is exposed to radiation. An irradiator is a device used to expose an object to radiation, most often gamma radiation, for a variety of purposes. Irradiators may be used for sterilizing medical and p ...
by some conspiracy. In an event similar to the death of Gideon's father, Chalker is gunned down. During a search of his apartment, it is discovered that he is highly radioactive. It is determined that the cause of this was a botched attempt at assembling a
dirty bomb A dirty bomb or radiological dispersal device is a radiological weapon that combines radioactive material with conventional explosives. The purpose of the weapon is to contaminate the area around the dispersal agent/conventional explosion with ...
. Chalker's hideout seems to have most of the tools necessary to create a nuclear bomb. It also has a map of DC, and a calendar indicating the bomb will detonate in ten day's time. Glinn assigns Gideon to help track down the bomb, and Gideon works with an
FBI Agent The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...
named Stone Fordyce. The pair of them go out west to Los Alamos, and try to check into Chalker's past. They interview Reed's ex-wife, now a member of a radical
cult Cults are social groups which have unusual, and often extreme, religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals. Extreme devotion to a particular person, object, or goal is another characteristic often ascribed to cults. The term ...
, his favorite novelist, Simon Blaine, and the members of Chalker's mosque. On their way to Chalker's writers workshop in California, the plane Fordyce is flying suffers a malfunction in both engines, forcing them to crashland. Fordyce comments how unlikely this is to happen by accident, and concludes it was the result of sabotage. Gideon is framed for being a terrorist- incriminating emails are placed on his work computer, and he is forced into hiding. His reluctant accomplice in this is Alida Blaine, Simon's daughter. Gideon eventually comes to the conclusion that Simon is in on the conspiracy. Fordyce, convinced that Bill Novak—the Los Alamos Security Director—is corrupt, assists Gideon in breaking into Simon's computer as the two of them drive to DC. They discover that Blaine's true plan is to steal a vial of smallpox, with most of the security busy searching for an imaginary bomb. Gideon manages to save the vial, but Fordyce dies in the process, and Alida is horribly distraught. Gideon then confirms that he has only a year to live, as Glinn mentioned in the first book.


Reception

Reception for ''Gideon's Corpse'' was mixed to positive. ''
Kirkus Reviews ''Kirkus Reviews'' is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus. The magazine's publisher, Kirkus Media, is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fiction, no ...
'' wrote that the book was initially slow starting, but that the book eventually "zigzags like an out-of-control rocket toward a double-deceptive conclusion". ''
Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...
'' panned ''Gideon's Corpse'', saying that it fell "well short of the authors’ usual high standard".


References


External links


Official website
* {{Preston/Child 2012 American novels American thriller novels Novels by Douglas Preston Novels by Lincoln Child Grand Central Publishing books