A review by claire1757
Badlands by Douglas Preston, Lincoln Child

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

I love the Nora Kelly/Corrie Swanson series so much, they’re two of my favorite characters. I really thoroughly enjoyed this book, and I found myself just wanting ✨more✨ 

Preston and Child have definitely shortened the length of their books over the years, and while I usually think it’s fine that they fall more in the 300-400 pages than 500-600 pages now, this was one of their recent novels that I really wanted to delve deeper into the story. I could’ve happily spent another 100 pages being introduced to additional characters, spending time with Corrie and Nora and Skip,

learning more about the cult and how they managed to convince members to partake in ritual suicide, more time with Nora’s trip to Mexico, hell, more time with Skip and Edison on their trip before it all went south. I would’ve LOVED more of a relationship built between Skip and Edison, it seemed rushed that Skip thought Edison was cool, and the next thing you know, Skip’s Gucci with Edison wanting to wander off into the desert just for funsies.

I have loved seeing Skip’s character develop since Thunderhead, and I really enjoy that he has become a more prominent character. Preston and Child write a very realistic “messy younger sibling/concerned older sibling” relationship. 

I’m slowly growing accustomed to Lucas Tappan and I do wish we saw more of him in the story

but I have not and will never forgive Preston and Child for killing off my baby, my angel, light of the Pendergast series, Bill Smithback.