CITIES OF THE DEAD
By: Michael Paine
Charter Books, New York
1988 (pb)
Last month’s review was of Tom Holland’s The Sleeper in the
Sands, in which Howard Carter, the real life discover of Tut-ank-Amen’s
tomb, is the protagonist in a supernatural thriller that seeks to explain
the genesis of the "mummy’s curse." This month’s review is
of Michael Paine’s Cities of the Dead, in which Howard Carter is
the protagonist in a supernatural thriller that seeks to explain many of
ancient Egypt’s other mysteries, including the "real" reason
for mummification, as well as the secret of Christ’s ability to raise
the dead! Paine comes very close to pulling it off in a brief (246 pages)
novel that is both entertaining and evocative of early 20th
Century Egypt.
It is obvious that Howard Carter is a wonderful model for the low-key,
bookish yet savvy hero of fictional archaeology. His trials and
tribulations as an archaeological functionary in the shadowy world of
Egyptian antiquities and his eventual triumph as the discoverer of Tut’s
tomb, provide ample grist for the mill of archaeological potboilers—his,
in a sense, Indiana Jones without the bullwhip.
Cities of the Dead takes place at about the same time as Holland’s
Sleeper in the Sands. Carter has been cashiered from the
Antiquities Service, A British bureaucracy presided over by the imperious
Gaston Maspero, for antagonizing some boorish tourists from the Continent.
To make ends meet, he agrees to guide a young idealistic American—Henry
Larrimer of the "Pittsburgh Larrimers"—who ostensibly wishes
to conduct a photographic survey of the ruins of ancient Egypt. Along the
way, Carter finds himself teetering on the edge of madness as he contends
with tomb raiders, German proto-Nazis, nuns who seem quite un-beatific in
their behavior, and caches of mummified children, who have apparently
suffered horrible deaths—and not very long ago!
This is an entertaining supernatural thriller—not as dense in the
myth and history of ancient Egypt as Tom Holland’s Howard Carter
adventure—but well worth a read if you can find a copy in a used book
store or off the "new and used" link at Amazon.com.
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