The Cabinet of Curiosities is a thriller novel by American writers Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, published by Grand Central Publishing on June 3, 2002.This is the third book in the Special Agent Pendergast series.
The Cabinet of Curiosities: Ending Explanation
Dr. Kelly locates the site of Leng’s former laboratory and digs up the basement of the current-day building, discovering more bodies and evidence of medical experiments with the help of Agent Pendergast. O’Shaughnessy follows one of the identified medical compounds to an old apothecary, where he is able to acquire a historical ledger of clients and sales, but is soon snatched by the killer before he can expose it to anybody.
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Meanwhile, Smithback connives his way into the museum files and discovers Leng’s address at the time of the historical killings. He breaks into the old house and discovers that it is still in use, allowing the killer to confine him and prepare to operate on him.
Agent Pendergast and Dr. Kelly locate Leng’s previous address and fear Smithback is in jeopardy. When they enter the residence, they find a recently dead corpse that closely resembles Pendergast. The killer lures them into a trap with O’Shaughnessy’s dying body and confines them in a cell while he works on Smithback.
Pendergast escapes to confront the killer, revealing that the current-day killings were perpetrated by Fairhaven, who discovered Leng’s achievements and tortured him to death in order to get his secrets. Pendergast suggests that he is aware of Leng’s true aims and tricks Fairhaven into a hidden basement beneath the home, receiving a gunshot wound but enables Dr. Kelly to save Smithback.
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Pendergast and Fairhaven discover Leng’s true cabinet of curiosities in the basement, a massive collection of deadly plants and insects, as well as weaponry and relics from all around the world. Pendergast speculates that Leng’s ultimate purpose was to perfect a technique of universal genocide, but that he abandoned his study when the Castle Bravo thermonuclear bomb was successfully test-detonated in 1954, feeling humanity was already doomed. Fairhaven tries to execute Pendergast with the antique weaponry, but poisons himself by handling poisoned things and dies horribly.
When Pendergast, Dr. Kelly, and Smithback report to the police, they conceal the existence of the secret cellar. Pendergast burns the last evidence of Leng’s findings of the formula to prolong human life at the gravesites of the initial 36 victims, much to Smithback’s chagrin and Dr. Kelly’s approval.
Pendergast finally gains ownership of the Leng mansion, where he enlists the assistance of a friend and researcher, Wren, to begin documenting the contents of the secret cabinet of curiosity, hinting at something else buried within it.
Cassey Moore is a features writer for Quest. I’m a British writer of both horror and supernatural series. Cassey is also a digital marketing manager.