Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child: Pendergast - The Beginning (USA 2026)

From the Publisher:
From the #1 New York Times bestselling duo Preston and Child comes the Agent Pendergast origin story -- a golden opportunity for longtime fans and new readers to learn about Agent Pendergast's strange and shocking first case.

It only took six months for the life of Special Agent Dwight Chambers to crumble around him. First, he lost his partner, and then, tragically, his wife. Returning to work at the New Orleans Field Office, Chambers is dismayed to find himself saddled with mentoring a brand new FBI agent -- a certain A. X. L. Pendergast. As Chambers tries to pull himself together, his enigmatic and exasperating junior partner pulls an outrageous stunt that gets both of them suspended.

Pendergast welcomes the banishment, because it gives him the opportunity to investigate a peculiar murder in Mississippi that has captured his fancy. Chambers grudgingly goes along. What starts off as a whimsical quest swiftly turns into a terrifying pursuit, as Chambers and Pendergast uncover a string of grisly, ritualistic killings that defy any known serial killer profile.

Thanks in large part to Pendergast's brilliance and unorthodox methods, they solve the case and find the killer... and that is when the true horror begins.

Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child: Pendergast - The Beginning. Grand Central Publishing, ISBN: 9781538765760 (Sepember, 2026), 384 p., $19.99.

Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child: Pendergast - The Beginning (UK 2026)

From the Publisher:
ARE YOU READY TO ENTER THE DARKNESS?
FBI Special Agent Dwight Chambers has lost everything. His partner, his wife, and his footing at the Bureau. Now, he's been assigned to mentor a new recruit who just might be the final nail in his coffin.

A.X.L. Pendergast is an enigmatic young agent with a complicated past. His recklessness soon drags Chambers into chaos and gets them both suspended.

For Pendergast, this is a chance to investigate a peculiar murder in Mississippi. With Chambers grudgingly in tow, the two agents discover a string of grisly, ritualistic killings that defy any known pattern.

Thanks to Pendergast's unorthodox brilliance, they manage to find the killer.
Then the true horror begins.

This is the chilling origin story of Agent PENDERGAST, the iconic character in the multi-million-copy-bestselling series.

Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child: Pendergast - The Beginning. Head of Zeus, ISBN: 9781035915651 (Sepember, 2026), 369 p., £20.00.

Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child: Pendergast - The Beginning (USA 2026)

From the Publisher:
From the #1 New York Times bestselling duo Preston and Child comes the Agent Pendergast origin story -- a golden opportunity for longtime fans and new readers to learn about Agent Pendergast's strange and shocking first case.

It only took six months for the life of Special Agent Dwight Chambers to crumble around him. First, he lost his partner, and then, tragically, his wife. Returning to work at the New Orleans Field Office, Chambers is dismayed to find himself saddled with mentoring a brand new FBI agent -- a certain A. X. L. Pendergast. As Chambers tries to pull himself together, his enigmatic and exasperating junior partner pulls an outrageous stunt that gets both of them suspended.

Pendergast welcomes the banishment, because it gives him the opportunity to investigate a peculiar murder in Mississippi that has captured his fancy. Chambers grudgingly goes along. What starts off as a whimsical quest swiftly turns into a terrifying pursuit, as Chambers and Pendergast uncover a string of grisly, ritualistic killings that defy any known serial killer profile.

Thanks in large part to Pendergast's brilliance and unorthodox methods, they solve the case and find the killer... and that is when the true horror begins.

Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child: Pendergast - The Beginning. Grand Central Publishing, ISBN: 9781538765746 (January, 2026), 369 p., $30.00, eBook $14.99.