Book review - "Manhunt" by Christian Jacq

This is one of those books I picked up thinking that it might lead to another interesting series of mysteries with an ancient Egypt setting.  Other authors have done so and successfully, too.  I had hoped Manhunt by Christian Jacq would be as good as they are.

I was wrong.

It has been quite some time since I have read a book so poorly written.  It has been translated from French into English so perhaps a lot got lost in the translation, but it was so messed up I finally stopped reading after I had read just over half it.

Jacq commits the cardinal sins of writing by constant head-hopping so much you don't know who's point of view the scene is in.  It makes reading very confusing.  He also uses huge data dumps and the ever intrusive narrator. In one scene, a woman speaks to the main character Kel and after only two greetings, she tells him her entire backstory.  

Huh?

Okay, Jacq.  You’re an expert on ancient Egypt.  We get it.

Characters are cardboard, not developed at all and dialogue is so choppy, it doesn’t flow like a conversation should.  One paragraph made absolutely no sense and I read it several times to figure it out. 

Maybe his non-fiction work is better written, but if you want a good ancient Egyptian mystery read Agatha Christie’s Death Comes as the End, or P. C. Doherty’s Amerokte series or Lauren Haney’s Lieutenant Bak series

Sodom and Gomorrah Destroyed 3123 BC

According to a Cuneiform clay tablet known as the "Planisphere", an asteroid struck Kofels, Austria June 29, 3123 BC.  The tablet was discovered approximately 150 years ago and finally, researchers have managed to decode its information.  It is a copy of a Sumerian astronomer's night diary and contains drawings of known constellations.

The amount of destruction and the timing of the catastrophe may account for the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.  It came in a very low angle, approximately 6° and clipped the mountain Gamskogel, which caused it to explode.  Therefore, there is no impact crater but it did cause an enormous landslide.

The "back plume" would have bent over the Mediterranean Sea, re-entering the atmosphere over Sinai and Northern Egypt. This would have cuased any flammable material, including human hair and clothing to ignite.

Of course, nothing has been proven but the Biblical passage of raining sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah fits nicely with the asteroid theory.




http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/03/31/kofels_asteroid/

Slayer of Gods by Lynda S. Robinson

I’m disappointed that there are no more Lord Meren novels after Slayer of Gods, the sixth and last and the series. I’m more disappointed in my self for waiting so long to finish reading Lynda S. Robinson’s books which are all extremely well-written and very enjoyable.

For six novels, Lord Meren, the Eyes and Ears of the Pharaoh King Tutankhamun, has been keeping the boy safe and secure on his throne. However, the boy king demands to know who killed his beloved step-mother, Queen Nefertiti, who was poisoned some ten years prior. The search for the murderer has put Lord Meren in mortal peril many times and has even endangered his children.

Accompanying him in this final installment is Anath, the Eyes of Babylon. She’s clever, resourceful and beautiful enough to turn even Lord Meren’s head. She joins him as he travels up the Nile to the remote city of Syene, to question a former bodyguard of Nefertiti’s, and back to Memphis. Meren has the advantage of her wit and cleverness but also the comfort of her body.

While Meren is chasing suspects all over Memphis, Robinson brings ancient Egypt alive in its glory and its ugliness for us beginners. She describes the sights, sounds and smells in vivid details, immersing the reader in the environs as if he/she was traversing the hot dusty streets.

She also brings the characters to life in amazing realism. Lord Meren seems to leap off the page as he anguishes over his children, during his daughter’s kidnapping and an attempt on Kysen’s life. He’s torn between protecting his family and protecting King Tutankhamun. Many times, he seems to be the only one trying to keep the throne safe from would-be assassins and usurpers.

Lord Meren is one of my favorite literary characters. He’s smart, loyal and not afraid to be humble. But he’s not perfect. Although humble before the king, he doesn’t forget his importance of being the Eyes and Ears of the Pharaoh. Sometimes that self-importance clouds his better judgment when among the riff-raff in the streets and not at court where his countenance is well-known.

Kysen, Meren’s adopted son is also a strong character and another one of my favorites. He plays a smaller role in this novel as opposed to others but still comes through for his father.

I hope that Robinson decides to continue with her Lord Meren series. Her spellbinding novels surpass other Egyptian series and are as good as any historical and non-historical mysteries.

Curse of the Pharaohs by Elizabeth Peters

After reading the first two Amelia Peabody novels almost back-to-back, I noticed some similarities between them. Since those parallels involve the solutions to the mysteries, I won’t divulge their secrets. However what imagination Ms. Peters may lack in motives, she certainly has no deficiency in describing late nineteenth century Egypt.

The Curse of the Pharaohs takes place several years after the events of Crocodile on the Sandbank. Amelia is happily married to her gruff but adoring husband Radcliffe Emerson and they are proud parents of precocious five year-old Walter, nicknamed Ramses.

The novel opens in dreary old England with Amelia and Emerson longing for the hot dry climes of Egypt. Although Amelia considers herself the utmost of proper Victorian Englishwomen, her hilariously disastrous attempt at hosting a tea party proves otherwise.

She and Emerson have been devouring the latest news of an archaeologist who died after the discovery of a tomb in Egypt, supposedly due to a pharaoh’s curse. His assistant disappears shortly afterwards.

Naturally, Amelia and Radcliffe are thrilled when the archaeologist’s widow implores them to continue her husband’s work. Soon they are back in Luxor and confronting more obstacles and roadblocks than the tons of rubble blocking the entrance to the tomb.

Another aspect the second novels shares with the first is the Scooby-Doo type presence of a spooky specter. In Crocodile, a mummy prowled the excavation site. In Curse, it’s a mysterious lady in white. However, Amelia, armed with her ever-ready, lethal parasol and her woman’s intuition, uncover the real source of the strange deaths which have nothing to do with a curse. She also can’t resist playing match-maker a second time, mentoring another emotionally fragile young woman deal with multiple suitors.

Despite the numerous repeats, I thought Curse of the Pharaohs was a great follow-up to the first. Amelia’s marriage to Emerson is as strong and stable as ever, even with two of the strongest personalities in England. The story brings ancient Egypt to life although set in the nineteenth century.

I hope the third novel breaks away from the cookie-cutter recipe of the first and second.

Crocodile on the Sandbank by Elizabeth Peters

It’s impossible to not like Amelia Peabody, the main character in Elizabeth Peters’ series. She is the quintessential prim, proper, Victorian-era Englishwoman, always taking charge, making sure the world behaves. That isn’t easy when the world is infested by men, who are boorish, rude and say the most inappropriate things at the most inopportune times.

Despite the omnipresent oppression of the English gentlewoman by the male population, Miss Peabody is well-established at thirty-two, thanks to a large inheritance from her late father, but she has no husband, no suitors and doesn’t want either.

Resigning herself to spinsterhood, Amelia decides to spend the winter in Egypt instead of England’s dreary climate. With barely a foot on the African continent, she rescues a young woman with a sad story. Amelia takes the girl under her wing and up the Nile. This is how Crocodile on the Sandbank, the first in the series begins.

Before leaving Cairo, Amelia and Evelyn meet a pair of archaeological brothers. The youngest, Walter Emerson, is well-mannered, well-spoken and instantly besotted by Evelyn. His older brother, Radcliffe, has an entirely opposite demeanor. He is abrasive, arrogant and condescending to everyone.

Amelia is all too pleased to leave their presence and Cairo with her new ward, but several days into their journey, they encounter the brothers again. Despite the irascible Radcliffe, Amelia is fascinated by the discoveries he’s made at his excavation. But it also seems they have angered the spirit of the long-dead king whose tomb has been uncovered. A mummy begins haunting their camp at night, terrorizing the workers and nearby villagers who fear the old king’s wrath. Amelia and Radcliffe are quite certain there is nothing supernatural going on so what is the purpose of trying to scare them? Who is masquerading as the mummy that is quite athletic and able to elude all attempts to capture him?

As far as cozy mysteries go, this one is as cozy as they get. No gory killings or other extreme acts of violence. The ending, somewhat expected, kept this from being a glorified Scooby-Doo mystery. The jokes are a lot better in Peters’ writing.

Elizabeth Peters pens a great narrative telling her story in first person from Amelia’s point of view. Her writing is witty, charming and a pleasure to read. Crocodile on the Sandbank whets the readers’ appetite for the start of a wonderful journey.

Nefertiti: The Book of the Dead by Nick Drake

There are some great mysteries out there set in ancient Egypt such as Lynda S. Robinson’s excellent Lord Meren series, P. C. Doherty’s Amerotke and Lauren Haney’s Lieutenant Bak. All are amazing authors and I remain a loyal and devoted follower of them, but I was blown away by Nick Drake’s Nefertiti: The Book of the Dead, his debut mystery novel featuring detective Rahotep from Thebes.

Rahotep is summoned to the new capitol city being built by King Akhenaten and his wife-queen Nefertiti, whose beauty is still revered today even after many centuries. Nefertiti has disappeared and Rahotep’s unorthodox methods of investigation have earned him the assignment, chosen by the King himself to find her before the festival inauguration of the city mere days away.

He wonders why he was called from distant Thebes from his wife and three daughters, and over more senior Medjay officers. The Medjay are similar to today’s police forces. Even before he reaches the capitol city, an attempt is made on his life. Things deteriorate once he arrives. The chief of the Medjay, Mahu, takes an immediate dislike to him. Rahotep encounters obstacles at every turn and his life is threatened on a daily basis.

That was one of the least-liked parts of the book. For half of the novel, the guy didn’t seem to get a break. In a city where everyone wants to hear news of the queen, it seems nobody wants Rahotep to find her and they will keep him from his goal, no matter the cost.

However, the imagery Drake pours into the story is very vivid and gives a magnificent and unflattering view of life in ancient Egypt, where the poor are invisible and yet treated worse. Life under the desert sun is miserable except for those privileged enough to have gardens with trees for shade. Drake brings the culture, environment and the daily rigors of scraping out an existence to life for the reader.

Drake also writes candidly of the multitude of power struggles and corruption of greedy official whose only goal was to see how much money they could hoard, regardless of who was killed or how many. It shatters the images of glitz and glamour that are sometimes used to illustrate and romanticize the lives of kings, queens and their subjects. Ancient Egypt was a dangerous place to live, even for nobility.

Rahotep is almost cliché as the lowly detective being chosen for an impossible mystery on such a grand scale that is most certainly out of his league. But he quickly becomes a hero that the reader can understand, sympathize with and cheer for. Rahotep’s faithful and loyal assistant Khety is also a wonderful character for the reader to enjoy. Together, they make an interesting duo that persevere in their search for the truth against insurmountable odds.

Simply put, Drake’s Egyptian mystery Nefertiti: The Book of the Dead is an awesome read.