Pendergast #13 takes place entirely in a poorly disguised version of Vail/Aspen, a ski resort for the mega rich. Foremost in the story is Corrie Swanson, who is determined to finish her thesis project against all odds. She faces being jailed, shot at and threatened by the town folk, and also warned off the case by Pendergast, who fails to dissuade her.
(This was the part of the story I found annoying; Corrie, who is indebted to Pendergast in many different ways, continually butts heads with him when he tries to help her. Her attitude in flouting his advice and then appearing penitent grew old mighty quick)

Another sub plot in the story is that of Arthur Conan Doyle, Oscar Wilde, and a missing Sherlock Holmes story.

Pendergast is his usual wonderful self, but I could've used more pages with his presence and less of Corrie. There are a few twists at the end, and the final scenes take place in a freezing and spooky mine, with lots of action.

Unfortunately, I seemed to have picked out the potential villain early on in the story (no spoilers here, read it yourself)and it wasn't a surprise when that was finally revealed later on.

In any case, White Fire was a good few hours' read and I am looking forward to the next one by P&C.

This book was provided to me at no charge from the publisher for an honest review. ( )

Great story!
Plenty of history, action, and surprises. ( )

This book was really good, the story was very interesting and I love the connection to Arthur Conan Doyle. This is one of the best books in the series and I recommend it warmly!

As I never really enjoyed the Helen trilogy was I absolutely thrilled to finally read a Preston and Child book that had a really interesting and entertaining story. I was also glad that Corrie Swanson was back. She's a favorite character and I loved that she had a big part in this book! ( )

FBI Special Agent Pendergast's favorite new pet, Corrie Swanson, is attending John Jay College when she gets approval to look into a number of century-old miner deaths, supposedly eaten by a bear. The bones are disinterred a part of a plan to build a new clubhouse for an uber-rich ski area. Corrie breaks all of the rules, and gets arrested, but is rescued by Pendergast. Then a series of horrific fires starts killing off the mega-wealthy residents. A third story line, helping solve the mystery, revolves around Oscar Wilde's visit to the mining area and subsequent revelation of a story he heard to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and a "lost" unpublished Sherlock Holmes story. Fast-paced and fun. ( )

I am just so happy. Like, this is going to be a very sub-par review, because I'm sick, so it's hard to explain the intricacies of my feelings about reading White Fire, but I am just, so happy. I took a break between reading Two Graves and reading this one, because I heard that Corrie makes a lot of mistakes (and I have a thing, with 2nd hand embarrassment), and now I regret doing so. Besides the first ten chapters which I read last night in bed, I read the entirety of White Fire today because I just couldn't goddamned put it down. Yeah, Corrie messes up, but her mistakes are a medium by which we, the audience, are allowed to see more of the human side of Pendergast. Special Agent A.X.L. Pendergast, who doesn't change in character, so much as the allows the depth of his character to become visible. Aloysius Pendergast, who is mysterious and beguiling, and who has throughout the series become more and more available, emotion-wise, to the audience. And I just, I'm so happy? Because as human as it was to see his reactions to Helen and Tristram and Alban in the Helen Trilogy, seeing his reactions to, well, spoilers...concerning Corrie, just, he's just so--you know? He's just very--and I love it. ( )