Burn Case - Smell of the Devil
Burn Case - Smell of the Devil (English original title: Brimstone ) is a thriller novel by the American authors Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child . The original edition was published in 2004 by Warner Books, New York. The German translation was published by Droemer Knaur a year later . The novel forms the first part of a trilogy that continued over the next few years with Dark Secret - Murderous Hunt and Maniac - Curse of the Past .
action
The housekeeper discovers the body of art critic Jeremy Grove in his house on Long Island . The circumstances of death suggest spontaneous human self-ignition . The investigation into the case is led by Sergeant Vincent D'Agosta and his old friend Special Agent Aloysius Pendergast.
Shortly before his death, Grove called his friend, Priest Cappi, for help. Since everything points to an occult influence, Pendergast's ward Constance Green, who was once a victim of satanic experiments , searches the library for information.
Meanwhile, Pendergast and d'Agosta get to know the guests of Grove's Last Supper at the memorial service: Lady Milbanke, Jonathan Frederick and Count Fosco. The latter suggests that Grove died a day early. The deceased studied satanic literature and revised many views before his death. Shortly before his death, he had made phone calls to Locke Bullard and Nigel Cutforth, looking for a Ranier Beckmann. Cutforth and Bullard are investigated and refuse to testify. The latter, however, has d'Agosta pursued by two contract killers . Pendergast learns from Fosco that he is a hobbyist and that Grove wanted to make amends. After Constance connects with Faust , there is another victim and a doom and gloom emerges in New York City .
Cutforth dies the same way Grove does. Captain Laura Hayward reunites at the scene. After this second death, religious fanatics fear the end of the world. Sensational journalist Bryce Harriman, known as Bill Smithback's rival, interviews mystic Dr. from Menck. According to his theory, New York must burn because of its sins and the golden ratio indicates the current year 2004.
In the meantime, Pendergast, together with d'Agosta, who falls in love with Hayward, dragged the industrialist Bullard from his yacht Stormcloud for interrogation, which causes Bullard to set the killer Vasquez on Pendergast. Fosco points to a connection between Grove, Cutforth, Bullard and Beckmann, and Pendergast learns from a CIA employee that Bullard's people in Italy are working on behalf of China on specially coated missiles that can overcome the US defense shield. After tapping the phone, Pendergast and d'Agosta drive to a meeting between Bullard's henchmen and the Chinese that ends in a gun battle.
Self-proclaimed Reverend Wayne Buck preaches to hundreds of fanatics in Central Park after reading Harriman's article . After the body of the deceased Beckmann was exhumed and Vasquez's assassination attempt failed, Pendergast found a group photo in Beckmann's estate showing the deceased together with Bullard, Grove and Cutforth in Florence in 1974 . Before Pendergast flies to Florence with d'Agosta, he talks about his mad brother Diogenes.
The two investigators are caught during a break-in on Bullard's company premises in Florence, but are able to flee. Shortly afterwards they find the corpse of the industrialist, who also died under devilish influence, and a horse hair. The violin expert Luigi Spezi tells you something about the famous Stradivarius Stormcloud . Father Zenobi, to whom Beckmann confessed in 1974, is murdered in a monastery outside the city. After Pendergast and d'Agosta have examined the corpse of Carlo Vanni, which, according to research by Colonnello Esposito, could have served the murderer as a test subject, they travel to the island of Capraia . Lady Viola Maskelene lives there, whose great-grandfather last played the Stormcloud. She has an invitation for Pendergast from Count Fosco, whose family owns the violin.
In his castle, the count tells how he staged a pact with the devil for his three friends in 1974 . Bullard wanted to use the surface structure of the Stormcloud for his missiles. Fosco first murdered Grove and Cutforth to intimidate Bullard and then drove Bullard to his death. While Hayward fetches the Reverend Buck, who thinks he is Jesus, from Central Park with alleged Roman soldiers, Fosco demonstrates his weapon that works with microwaves. Pendergast blackmailed him with the knowledge that Fosco was breaking the rules of the secret society Comitatus Decimus, but Fosco steals the treacherous letter.
Pendergast and d'Agosta are able to escape from the castle at first, but are stopped outside by dogs, which Pendergast faces. When d'Agosta returns to the castle with Esposito, Pendergast is walled in in the cellar and all traces have disappeared. Fosco already feels safe, but d'Agosta eventually sees to it that he dies along with his victims. In the epilogue, Pendergast is freed from his walling up by his brother Diogenes and returns in the next volume, Dark Secret .
background
The phenomenon of spontaneous human self-ignition , including the case of Mary Reeser mentioned in the novel , is still controversial today and is considered a modern legend due to a lack of evidence . Equally fictional is the apocalyptic scenario in which some historical catastrophes are combined with the help of the golden ratio in such a way that New York is supposed to go under in exactly 2004, when the book was published. As in Attic - danger from the depths - Central Park becomes the focal point of a crowd driven by panic . Laura Hayward first appeared in this earlier novel. Bryce Harriman played a role as a rival to Bill Smithback in the first two Pendergast novels. For the figure of Count Fosco, however, the authors used, as they themselves admit, in another novel: The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins . They consider it a tribute to a classic.