The Cabinet of Dr. Leng
by Douglas Preston; Lincoln Child
Pub Date: January 17, 2023
Grand Central
Thanks to the author, publisher, and Net Galley for the ARC of this book. This series is very popular at our library so I jumped at the chance to read it early.
Enoch Leng has returned. This is the third in the quartet of the Pendergast series (#21) and the authors promise they will have the fourth and the conclusion written as quickly as possible. It is best to read them in order.
Read this book as soon as you can get a copy! The story for me started slow and there was a side story with Coldmoon that I personally found a little boring to read and possibly unnecessary. The story got better towards the end and was very good! I recommend.
4 stars

A spiritual successor to The Cabinet of Curiosities, Preston and Child’s third entry in the Pendergast series, The Cabinet of Dr. Leng makes up the third installment of what will undoubtedly become a quartet within the larger series much like the Diogenes and Helen trilogies. As such, it is not the book to start your foray into Special Agent Pendergast, but for those of us who have been reading from the beginning, it takes the series to a whole new level.
After the events of Bloodless, which ended on an unexpected cliffhanger (not related to the main story arc which was wrapped up), it is gratifying to continue the journey with Pendergast, Constance, and Coldmoon.
Overall, the story moves along at a clip, and I found myself turning the (digital) pages with eager anticipation. I won’t mention any story elements here to avoid spoilers for those who have not read the previous book, but The Cabinet of Dr. Leng will keep you up at night, I promise. Preston and Child masterfully draw the reader in and keep them wanting more as a fascinating and often harrowing story unfolds that adds depth to the series as a whole, while filling out the backstory of at least one major character.
Now all I have to do is wait until the next book comes out for the conclusion of this story arc, which I am sure will be all the more gratifying for its anticipation. Five stars.

Thank you to Grand Central Publishing, the authors, and NetGalley for providing this eARC in exchange for an honest review. This book will be released on January 17, 2023.

At the end of Bloodless, we saw Constance disappear into late 1800s New York City, hellbent on preventing the deaths of her siblings and stopping Enoch Leng—Pendergast’s serial killer ancestor, introduced in Cabinet of Curiosities—once and for all. Now she is beginning to execute her plan. Meanwhile, Pendergast is seeking a way into this alternate past NYC himself, and Armstrong Coldmoon investigates the theft of several indigenous artifacts swapped for fakes, which leads him to a very familiar museum, and a very familiar NYPD officer…

Hot.

Damn.

That’s me, fresh off the ending, which is a hell of a cliffhanger. Seriously. I don’t know how Doug and Linc are going to explain this one, but I thoroughly look forward to seeing them try (and, knowing them, succeed). And that part, shockingly, I can wait for. What I CAN'T wait for is the wrap up of Coldmoon and D’Agosta’s case, which we unfortunately don’t get the conclusion of and which I enjoyed just as much—maybe sometimes more—than the 1800s segments of the story. These authors don’t just include subplots without tying them all together in the end, and so I am really eager to see how the murders of a curator and a Lakota artist are related to Leng. And, perhaps, someone else…? This is all pure speculation, of course. And maybe the case isn’t related to the 1800s timeline! But I would be very surprised to learn they’re entirely separate.

Enough about the ending. One of the things I was most interested in about this book was the prospect that the adult Constance would succeed in rescuing her sister, Mary, and that we would get a glimpse at her as a person. Every mention of Mary in the past has been almost… deified or romanticized, in a way, since Constance was so young when her sister died, and as readers we’ve only ever seen her idealized childhood recollections and not Mary herself. I won’t give anything away, obviously, but we do get a bit of a glimpse at Mary; it wasn’t quite as much as I’d hoped for, and not enough to fully explore her character, which was unfortunate, but I still liked what we got.

As for the modern track—I think I’m in the minority here in finding it more interesting than the historical bits, but then my mother is always shocked that Cabinet is not my favorite installment in the series—my absolute favorite thing happened when D’Agosta realized who Coldmoon’s former partner was. The dawning realization was just too good. And again, I’m so invested in the contemporary crime. All my notes regarding the investigation are full of theorizing and all-caps reactions as one avenue after another is closed off. (My favorite reads: “WHO IS RESPONSIBLE”.)

Between Bloodless and The Cabinet of Dr. Leng, I feel like the weird ingenuity and bizarre cases that made me fall in love with the series are back in full force. I’m completely ready to volunteer in whatever capacity Doug and Linc need that will enable them to write as fast as the wind to complete the next book. Thanks for the apology regarding the cliffhanger, guys. We love and forgive you.

The Cabinet of Dr. Leng did not disappoint. It left the reader hanging with the hope the authors will write the next book in the series quickly. This book answered a lot of questions about some characters that have appeared in previous books. I would definitely recommend this book

The Pendergast series has been my favorite for some time. The "Cabinet of Dr. Leng" is one of the best in the series. Thoroughly enjoyed. The ending was somewhat abrupt and left me wanting more. Can't wait for the next one in order to learn how it plays out.

Thank you NetGalley, the publisher, and the authors for the opportunity to read and give an honest review of this book.

For a long time I have been a big fan of the Pendergast books. I wait in anticipation of the release of each new book. I would call this book a “betweener” in the series. It doesn’t really stand on its own. It merely is a filler and it ends without a conclusion.

The murder mystery regarding the museum curator actually takes a back seat to the other story line. I am not a fan of time travel stories and this revolves around a time machine that has been re-built and put into use.

I am interested in the fourth book of the series and I will read it in order to see how it all ends.

Required legal disclosure: I received a free ARC of this book from the publisher, through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

By now, in the 21st installment of the Pendergast series, Preston and Child have run the gamut from simple mysteries, to supernatural horror, spies, monsters-both ancient and modern, magic, historical fiction filled with actual persons from the past, pastiche. Most recently we have added cross dimensional travel and with The Cabinet of Dr. Leng we cross the bridge into time travel (with a twist).

I love plots involving time travel. The king of all time travel stories, Jack Finney hooked me with this story--reprinted here

http://richters-time.blogspot.com/2007/09/love-letter-by-jack-finney.html

I then read his Time and Again (one of my all time favorite books) and couldn't help but feel nostalgia for that great book in The Cabinet of Dr. Leng. New York is an ideal city in which to set a time travel story. Quite frankly, if I dropped back one hundred years where I am writing this review from my study in Texas I would be sitting in the middle of a field probably looking around for fire ant hills to avoid. New York, with its history, is perfect for such a story since the characters are roaming around in earlier versions of their current day surrounding--eg the Dakota, Five Points, the docks and many other landmarks and neighborhoods. Same locations but so strangely and dangerously different. You are much like an alien from another planet when you drop into the past and must be careful not to display your strangeness.

The characters and storylines in the Pendergast series lend themselves to a time travel story as several of them have managed to slip time's hold to some extent. Time travel stories open up possibilities to reunite characters and resurrect old foes and monsters. And who could resist romping through time to correct what went wrong or reunite with loved ones? But splitting the bounds of this dimension has wild and unforeseen dangers. If one travels through time does one open the door to monsterous people best left in the past.

The Cabinet of Dr. Leng begins what will be a very interesting next few books. To some extent it is like the plot of several books in this series are a deck of cards and Preston and Child are throwing the deck into the air to see where the cards fall, creating new combinations and dangerous situations.

Looking forward to the old events and characters that will be new again.

These authors never fail to entertain and what a book this is. For much of the book it feels like reading two different stories. Both entertaining and heart pounding stories. But why tell these very different stories in the same book. But keep reading. If will eventually make sense. There are so many places where you want to tell the character to just stop and rethink. That is what makes my heart just pound and stay up way to late to see what happened next. Can't wait to read the next book. Hope it is out soon!

Who is the mysterious Dr. Leng? Why is he taking girls to his sanatorium and why is the location secret? All these questions can be answered in The Cabinet of Dr. Length by Preston and Child. The story is set in the 1800’s, feels like a cozy Victorian gothic mystery with a time travel twist through parallel universes. Constance is searching for her sister and brother while trying to change events of the past to ensure a better and brighter future for them all. Her story is intertwined with the mystery of a dead Lakota man and an anthropologist who was found in a museum freezer. Fans of Preston and Child have another great book on their hands and if you haven’t read any of their books yet, this would be a good one to start!

The review will be posted on TikTok after the book is released to the public.

A fantastically creative entry in a series that's been consistently strong for decades now. This one is definitely on the weirder/more far-out side of the Pendergast novel spectrum, but it's not as quirky as "Bloodless" or "Diablo Mesa." My only objection is that it ends with an absolutely brutal cliffhanger that makes me sad I have to wait for the grand finale!

I enjoyed the true commitment-to-genre ending of Bloodless, the previous Agent Pendergast novel. I was expecting a feint to a mundane explanation for the events of that story, so was pleasantly surprised when Preston & Child went for it, so to speak. Naturally, I was looking forward to The Cabinet of Dr. Leng, as a continuation of that cliffhanger, and was delighted when I got the chance to read an eGalley ahead of the pub date, courtesy of Net Galley. As many readers of the Pendergast novels might guess, The Cabinet of Dr. Leng is the middle book in a trilogy of sorts. (The authors are calling it a quartet, as it expands upon the Dr. Leng story told in my favorite entry in 21-book (so far) series, The Cabinet of Curiosities.)

The novel sets in motion four main plot threads. A distraught Pendergast needs to find a way to follow Constance into the parallel world experiencing a 1918 timeline now that the machine that transported her there has been destroyed. Agent Armstrong Coldmoon, after finally getting his new assignment, investigates a murder on a Lakota reservation. Vincent D’Agosta, similarly, is investigating a murder in the New York Museum of Natural History. Finally, Constance Greene—intent on rescuing her young siblings and the alternate young version of herself from the ravages of society and the deadly depredations of Dr. Leng himself—reinvents herself as a countess navigating high society in the Gilded Age to put herself within Leng’s social orbit.

Pendergast worries that Constance is no match for the brilliant and merciless Dr. Leng, and that her plan for revenge will result in her own death. Sure enough, Leng soon becomes suspicious of the “Countess” and begins to question her identity and motives in a cat and mouse game that soon becomes deadly. As the individual plots begin to overlap and connect to varying degrees, it becomes clear that the book would end without a resolution, basically “to be continued.”

I usually don’t spend a lot of time going over the plot of a book in my reviews since the synopsis (and back cover text) covers it well enough, and I worry about unintentional spoilers. The Pendergast books, are more of an ongoing story, with multiple trilogies within the almost two dozen volumes. The characters and situations evolve and change without a reset-to-square-one of other long-running book series. Event the first and second books in the trilogies provide a satisfying reading experience despite the fact that all the plot threads aren’t resolved until the third book, to varying degrees. If you are a long-time fan of the Pendergast books, you know what to expect.

Barring a final book stumble, the Dr. Leng trilogy (quartet) is a set up to be my favorite of the Pendergast trilogies. The Cabinet of Dr. Leng is an engrossing and satisfying read despite its status as a middle book. Nevertheless, the wait for the ultimate resolution will be excruciating. If I had to make a prediction, I expect Enoch Leng will find his way from his world into ours, and may live on as a formidable foe going forward—a psychopath out of time—for Constance and Pendergast.

I love every book in the Pendergast series and this one was spectacular! I loved the dual storyline that brought in all the Pendergast crew working together. This story is a bit different then most in the series but as always, I was hooked from the first page and lost a whole day and half a night finishing it. Now I cannot wait for the next book in the series which I hope is really soon. Thank you NetGalley for the advanced readers copy for review.

I love this series. I will read every single Pendergast novel until the very last one...and any spin off series...and really, just anything these guys write. I'm hooked.

The Cabinet of Dr Leng is the 21st Pendergast novel. And sometimes a dark, creepy-cool series can start to get a bit dusty and repetitive after so many books. But Preston & Child keep finding ways to interject excitement, new directions and different plot twists into this series that it just keeps getting better and better! I make a point to never read blurbs, early reviews, or commentary on new books in this series. I start reading with no preconceived notions. Some of the action in this book caught me totally by surprise! I was glued to the page from start to finish.

Loved it! I'm definitely on board for the next book in this series, as always!

**I voluntarily read a review copy of this book from Grand Central Publishing. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.**

I received a physical copy of this book so I went back and forth between my kindle and the physical copy. I really enjoyed reading this book. It was very interesting and very good. I have no complaints about this series. The story was well told. There were a few mistakes. It’s an arc they aren’t meant to be perfect.

I’ve enjoyed all the novels in the Pendergast series by Preston & Child, some more than others. Their latest in the series, book 21, The Cabinet of Dr. Leng has to be one of my favorites! The merging of both timelines and multiple storylines was perfect and it was great to have most of the characters back together- Pendergast, Constance, D’Agosta, Coldmoon and others. Yes, there’s a cliffhanger, but if you must that was the most unexpected one! Can’t wait to read the next one.

At the close of "Bloodless", Constance has found a way back to the place of her origins, New York City in the late 1800s, leaping at the chance, although it means leaving the present forever. Seeking to prevent the deaths of her sister and brother, Constance must engage in a battle with Manhattan’s most infamous serial killer, Dr. Enoch Leng. Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child have delivered another ingenious, gripping, nail-biting race to the cliffhanging ending that will keep fans turning pages until early morning hours. I tried to take my time with this book, forcing myself to stop for essential daily activities but couldn't stop thinking about it. A very compelling tale full of surprises and thrills, this novel stands among the best of the series so far!

All our players have grown up and are solving their own cases…..not! Pendergast never disappoints in his momentum to protect his family. This parallel universe travel is most interesting and well researched by our authors. Read the next book in the series starting with Bloodless to Cabinet of Dr Leng.

Once again, the Pendergast series did not disappoint. And bringing back old characters after a long absence is always refreshing, especially seeing them interact with the newly introduced ones. My only qualm in this one is that since I generously received a galley, I now have to wait for the next to come out. Highly recommend this series - readers are in for a treat, but also a long ride as this is the 21st installment!

Well, I cannot wait for the sequel. Preston & Child do not disappoint if you like a little bit of every genre represented. Well written with dynamic characters and engaging story. If you have not read any novels by these authors, I highly suggest doing so. Suggestion, begin early in the series to gain a better understanding of the dynamics.

The latest installment of the Agent Pendergast series begins directly after the events of BLOODLESS, where Constance has traveled to an alternate universe to save her siblings and exact vengeance on Enoch Leng, the man who killed her sister and experimented on Constance. Agent Coldmoon is back, investigating a murder on a reservation, while Vincent looks into a homicide at the natural history museum where the series started. Pendergast is focused on finding a way to protect Constance from Leng.

THE CABINET OF DR. LENG involves several story threads, which at times intersect. For most of the book, Pendergast’s storyline takes a backseat to the adventures of Constance, Coldmoon, Vincent, and several secondary characters. THE CABINET OF DR. LENG culminates in an action-packed cliffhanger that sets up the next book in the series. Having not yet read BLOODLESS in no way impeded my enjoyment of THE CABINET OF DR. LENG, but after finishing this book, I am even more eager to read BLOODLESS.

The pacing, which starts out a bit slow, accelerates when Constance’s plan begins to unravel. My favorite thing about the book is how various characters intersect at different points in the story. My least favorite thing about the book was how many times negative stereotypes were used to characterize overweight people. The authors do a great job of rendering the 1880 alternate world and describing the weird and wonderful machine that made Constance’s travel possible.

While ending on a cliffhanger is a bit of a disappointment, the cliffhanger itself is delicious. I would have liked more time in the book devoted to Pendergast, however, watching Coldmoon and Vincent work their cases felt like hanging out with old friends. I am thrilled that Coldmoon continues to be a series character.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thanks to Grand Central Publishing, a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc., for providing an Advance Reader Copy via NetGalley.