''Reliquary'' is the 1997 ''New York Times'' best-selling sequel to '' Relic'', by American authors Douglas Preston and

Lincoln Child Lincoln Child (13 October 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 other ...

. The legacy of the blood-maddened Mbwun lives on in ''Reliquary'', but the focus is shifted from the original museum setting to the tunnels beneath the streets of

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. The book is the second in the Special Agent Pendergast series."Reliquary (Pendergast #2)"
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Plot summary

The story picks up where the epilogue of ''Relic'' left off. Two headless skeletons are found in the Humboldt Kill. When further decapitated bodies follow, there is suspicion of a second Mbwun monster. Major characters from the original book team up with new ones to solve the puzzle. The mystery soon leads underground to the

Mole people Mole people (also called tunnel people or tunnel dwellers) are homeless people living under large cities in abandoned subway, railroad, flood, sewage tunnels, and heating shafts. The term may also refer to the speculative fiction trope of an en ...

, and even deeper towards enigmatic beings called the Wrinklers. In the end, it is revealed that the Wrinklers are led by Frock, who has refined a modified version of the Mbwun plant, created by Kawakita to regain the use of his legs. Kawakita also gave the drug to the people who were to become the Wrinklers, later made into his tribe by Frock. After going underground, the group kills them with an explosion, vitamin D infused water and a flood.

Characters

Many major characters from ''Relic'' return: *

Police Captain A police captain is a police rank in some countries, such as the United States and France and in the Philippines. By country France France uses the rank of ''capitaine'' for management duties in both uniformed and plain-clothed policing. Th ...

Vincent D'Agosta - New York Police Department, initially in charge of the investigation. * Dr. Margo Green - now assistant curator of the

New York Museum of Natural History The American Museum of Natural History (abbreviated as AMNH) is a natural history museum on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. In Theodore Roosevelt Park, across the street from Central Park, the museum complex comprises 26 inter ...

* A. X. L. Pendergast - Special Agent for the

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, t ...

* Bill Smithback - journalist, now crime reporter working for the ''

New York Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates NYPost.com, the celebrity gossip site PageSix.com, and the entertainment site Decider.com. It was established ...

'' * Dr. Whitney C. Frock - Margo Green's former PhD mentor, evolutionary biologist, retired from the museum. New Characters: * Sergeant Laura Hayward - New York police officer who worked on a unit to roust the homeless; a published author working on her

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

Sociology Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of empirical investigation an ...

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, th ...

and an expert on the underground societies of New York. The second and third sections of the novel are preceded by excerpts from a paper she wrote that is awaiting publication. Later appears in the Preston & Child novels ''Brimstone'', ''Dance of Death'', ''The Book of the Dead'' and ''Fever Dream''. In the years between ''Reliquary'' and ''Brimstone'' Hayward is promoted to captain. * Captain Jack Waxie - D'Agosta's superior; takes over the investigation * Anette Wisher - mother of murdered socialite Pamela Wisher, who then leads a crusade to save the city from crime. * Redmond Horlocker - Chief of the New York Police Department * Mephisto - the leader of an underground community beneath

Central Park Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban park in the United States, with an estimated ...

* Dr. Simon Brambell - Chief Medical Examiner (his brother appears in other novels by Preston & Child) * Bryce Harriman - crime reporter for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

''; Smithback's rival

References

External links

Official Douglas Preston/Lincoln Child website
Techno-thriller novels 1997 American novels Sequel novels American thriller novels Novels by Douglas Preston Novels by Lincoln Child Collaborative novels Novels set in New York City Tor Books books {{1990s-thriller-novel-stub