Brimstone by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

Pendergast mystery series

Jeremy Grove, a notorious art critic, has been found dead. Burned from the inside out, with a demonic hoof print burned into the floor, and his crucifix melted. The work of the devil? Or a sign of the Second coming?

Enter in former NYPD cop Vincent D'Agosta and then FBI Special Agent Aloysius Pendergast, a wealthy, refined and ruthless. The relationship reminds me of Holmes and Watson. Obviously Pendergast is Holmes but D'Agosta while rough and tumble is no slouch in the brains department. When another burned corpse is discovered in NYC, New York Police Captain Laura Hayward, is introduced to the case and has connections to Pendergast & D'Agosta. D'Agosta who used to work for NYPD but after retiring from the police force to write novels he's back in New York state but now working for a suberb where the first murder is discovered.

But their investigation soon takes them from the luxury estates of Long Island and penthouses of New York City to the crumbling, legend-shrouded castles of the Italian countryside, where thirty years ago four men conjured up something unspeakable. There are several storylines as a homeless man from New Mexico reads about the burned coprse and decides he needs to go to NYC to spread the word of the 2nd coming.

This was quite the "sit on the edge of your seat" reading but I found the actual resolution a bit contrived. A lot of superficial characters are briefly in the story and then never really seen again. Maybe it's because I haven't read any of the previous books so need to go and try the first one that introduces the characters. But it was definitely a fun read so will look for the earlier books in the future.