The Cabinet of Curiosities



The Cabinet of Curiosities is a novel by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, first published in 2002, and is the third novel in their informal "Agent Pendergast" series.

When a construction crew unearths an old coal tunnel, thirty-six bodies of young men and women killed over a century ago are uncovered. While the developers and police dismiss it as irrelevant and ancient history, Agent Pendergast takes an interest, enlisting the help of Dr. Nora Kelly to discover the origin of these horribly mutilated corpses. Their investigations take them into the amazing world of Cabinets of Curiosities, the origins of The New York Museum of Natural History, and the story of what is possibly New York's first serial killer. But all the while something is lurking in the shadows, and someone is killing people with the same horrible, surgical precision of 130 years ago.


 * Alone with the Psycho:
 * Apocalyptic Log: Shottum's letter detailing his last days and his horrible discoveries.
 * Bavarian Fire Drill: Smithback does this to get in to the museum's personnel archives. He tries it on Fairhaven, but that man knows how to deal with Smithback.
 * Big Screwed-Up Family: We get our first glimpses into the scandal that is the Pendergast family history. Including
 * Chekhov's Gun: The baby mammoth sideshow trick.
 * Couldn't Find a Pen: Mary Greene's last words.
 * Cold-Blooded Torture:
 * Description Porn: An entire two page chapter is devoted to describing the antique surgeon's kit in excruciating, loving detail.
 * Exact Words: I'm on the Triceratops in the back.
 * Freudian Excuse:
 * Hot Scientist: The cops questioning Nora perk up and try to be suave with her when they are shocked to see a rather attractive young woman after the stream of "geek" types they've been interviewing.
 * Humans Are Bastards:
 * Immortality Immorality: Pendergast is given the reasoning that the immortality formula can only lead to disaster. If it is held by the few privileged, the masses would eventually revolt in demanding it's wide availability. If it is widely available, it would lead directly to overpopulation. In either scenario, the potential for horrible people to gain extra decades and even centuries to ply their evil is unacceptable.
 * Jack the Ripoff: The modern murders are pegged as copycat killings of the original 1880s murders.
 * Mad Scientist: Enoch Leng.
 * Missing Episode: An epilogue was written, but not included in the published release. The authors debated over whether to include it, but ended up leaving it out. They have released it on their website in an unofficial form. It can be read here.
 * Never Found the Body: McFaddin.
 * Not That Kind of Doctor / Open-Heart Dentistry - At the climax, The Surgeon surgically exposes Smithback's spine, then leaves him to bleed to death while he goes off to fight Pendergast. Nora, a Dr. of archaeology, has to stitch Smithback back up (no small task; remember, exposed spine) then administer IV fluid to prevent him from flat-lining from blood loss. Lampshaded by her internal monologue remarking how insane the situation is; also, after being stabilized by Nora, Smithback still needs to be operated on by an actual doctor to treat his injury and save his life.
 * Obstructive Bureaucrat: Roger C. Brisbane III
 * Officer O'Hara: NYPD officer Patrick "Paddy" O'Shaughnessey, who is described as having "probably the most Irish name in New York." The book then goes on to subvert the trope at every turn, making him a boon to the investigation, a guy with a standard New York accent, and a lover of opera.
 * Perfect Poison:
 * Playing with Syringes: The Surgeon keeps his victims complacent with shots of paralytic drugs.
 * Police Are Useless: Custer is a prime example.
 * Poisoned Weapons:
 * Put on a Bus: It's casually mentioned that Margo and D'Agosta (two of the major players form the previous novels) are in Boston working for a university and upstate writing crime novels, respectively.
 * Room Full of Crazy: Or, more accurately, house full of crazy in
 * Serial Killer: The Surgeon and Dr. Enoch Leng.
 * So You Want to Live Forever: Leng's goal,
 * Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Nora's physical description, character traits and role are almost identical to Margo Green.
 * Turn in Your Badge: O'Shaughnessey is placed on administrative leave pending an investigation into his conduct. He figures this is just a fancy way to fire him.
 * What You Are in the Dark: Pendergast agonizes over what to do with the immortality elixir when he finds it. Keep it to himself? Destroy it? Share it with humanity? In the end.