... long years of experience with Ramses, and to some extent, Emerson, had taught me how to turn a conversation into a monologue. [p. 674]
I didn't really get into the rhythm of this, the thirteenth in the Amelia Peabody series: this might simply be because I read it in short bursts at a busy time of year. Or it might be because the focus switches so much -- from Amelia, to her son Ramses, to Ramses' wife.
The novel is set in 1915 and early 1916: the First World War is impeding shipping, but not the Emerson family, who set off for their annual Egyptological excavations. Cairo is much-changed, though, with enemy agents and military forces in evidence: the War Office are keen to employ Ramses on another secret mission, but his mother is (understandably) not keen on the idea. Nor is Nefret, who feels she has quite enough to contend with even before the latest wave of corpses, sudden deaths, brazen robbery and corruption crashes over her.
There is some very unarchaeological behaviour involving burying evidence at an archaeological site: this threw me a bit, and seemed out of character.
Many friends and foes from previous books -- Miss Minton, the Vandergelts, et cetera -- make appearances in this volume, and there is perhaps more emphasis on interpersonal relationships than on international affairs (or archaeology). The Emerson family spend a lot of time insisting that they won't keep secrets from one another, though of course one person's 'secret' is another person's 'distraction'.
Not one of the best in the series, for me, but it was a pleasant read with some wholly unexpected surprises. And Ramses does make an intriguing narrator: I'll definitely read the next volume at some stage.
No comments:
Post a Comment