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The Murder of King Tut

James Patterson & Martin Dugard
Little, Brown & Company (2009)
ISBN 9780316034043
Reviewed by Enid Grabiner for RebeccasReads.com (10/09)

So much controversy surrounds the mystery of King Tut.  His discovery and excavation by Howard Carter brings to light much information of the existence of the Egyptian king. Years of consequent archeological research based on body x-rays, drawings in the tomb, and treasures buried within give rise to a mystery yet unsolved.  Who was Tut?  How did this young boy become King?  How did he die?  Had he simply passed of natural causes or was he murdered?  If the latter, then by whom?  So many people surrounding him with aspirations of ascension appear to be blameworthy, but who could be the true culprit?

In alternating chapters the authors focus on the Tut’s rise to power, his marriage to his half sister, and the threat of takeover by those who surround him, with that of the story of Carter,  an archeologist plagued by problems of his own as he embarks on his greatest find.

As a young man, Carter is invited to join an Egyptian exploration group as an artist who copies drawings on expeditions for later study.  He later becomes Inspector General of Monuments, supervising archeological finds in the Nile Valley.  Ultimately funded by his benefactor, Lord Carnarvon, he makes the discovery of a lifetime, the well hidden tomb of Tut.

The development of both these stories simultaneously brings to life the history of each time period.  Historically well researched, Patterson and Dugard use this information to present their fictional interpretation of the facts as a possible construal of true crime. I generally love to read Patterson books because they are easy compelling stories with good characterization and plots. He always writes in short chapters, challenging the reader to read just one more!  This book also is written in the same style.   Because it appears as a simplistic imagined account of the discovery and legend of King Tut, it doesn’t exact the same kind of respect and intellectual indulgence a scholarly analysis might demand of the reader. 


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