Review Rating
With the October 2004 review, we began rating the books on the basis of one to four trowels;
one trowel= don’t bother, to four trowels= run right out to your local book store and buy the hard cover!
Golden Oldies - reviewing previously unreviewed books by previously reviewed “greatest hits” authors!
As we approach nearly twenty-five years of the MVAC reviews of archaeological fiction, I thought it would be fun to re-visit six of the authors whose works have been reviewed in the past. Three of these authors have sadly passed away since I first reviewed them (Margot Arnold, Lynn Hamilton, and Elizabeth Peters); two have “retired” their archaeologist protagonists, Gideon Oliver (Aaron Elkins), and Emma Fielding (Dana Cameron); and one, (Kate Ellis) continues to put DI Wesley Peterson and his friend, archaeologist Neil Watson, in harm’s way as solve contemporary crimes that have their roots in the distant past. While these authors have been reviewed previously, these books have not.
A Wall in the Darkness by Jon Land
Reviewed on: June 1, 2001
Tom Doherty Associates, New York
2000 (pb)
The premise of Jon Land’s political thriller A Walk in the Darkness is one that has been utilized by any number of popular writers: What if archaeology presented artifactual evidence that put in question the resurrection of Christ? Some of the better variations on this theme include Daniel Easterman’s Brotherhood of the Tomb, Paul Maier’s The Skeleton in God’s Closet, and Piers Paul Read’s On the Third Day.
Land’s approach to this plot line is well conceived and while it is not exactly a learned treatise on archaeological excavation techniques in the Holy Land, it is a fast-paced thriller with interesting and likeable characters and plenty of twists and turns. The story begins in 1948 when a group of archaeologists working in Turkey are slaughtered after unearthing an artifact of unknown but obviously very great importance. The action fast-forwards to the present day and another mass murder of archaeologists, this time in the Judean desert. The protagonists, Israeli police detective Danielle Barnea and Palestinian detective Ben Kamal, join forces to solve the tangled web of intrigue that winds backward in time from the present day powderkek that is the Middle East to the founding days of the state of Israel to the day of the crucifixion of a Galilean carpenter’s son. Land introduces terrorist cadres, unscrupulous oilmen, and even Vatican assassins into the mix, but further stirs the cauldron by enmeshing the two police detectives in a love affair, a situation not viewed favorably by even their friends and allies, much less their enemies.
Make no mistake. A Walk in the Darkness is a potboiler, but a well written one that was perfectly made for a good summer afternoon read at the beach.
