The Murder of King Tut
By: James Patterson
Little Brown 2009
In 1922 after many years in The Valley of the Kings, archaeologist Howard Carter stumbled upon one of the greatest discoveries of the twentieth century, the tomb of King Tutankhamen. King Tut’s tomb was by far the best preserved royal tomb ever discovered and further fascination comes from the fact that Tutankhamen was very young when he died and his death was and still remains shrouded in mystery.
Here begins Patterson’s take on the story and possible murder of the boy King Tutankhamen.
Told in three parts, alternating between the stories of Howard Carter’s discovery, the life of King Tut and in modern day following James himself as he sets out to write this story.
King Tut is one of, if not the most well known of the Egyptian Pharaoh’s. Partially because his tomb was the most intact and best preserved of any found. When Howard Carter broke down the doors he discovered a tomb that had remained hidden for over 3000 years.
Little is actually known about the life of Tutankhamen, and there are many theories about how he died, from an infected leg, to malaria to murder. I figure Patterson felt there was sufficient evidence to explore the murder theory and he does a pretty good job in filling in the early life of Tut and exploring the circumstances surrounding his death.
I’ve always felt there needs to be more movies or books about Ancient Egypt as it is a time period that I am very interested in.
It was a little strange for Patterson to include himself in the story, but the parts are very brief it never interrupts the story.
I really enjoyed this book and often times I didn’t really feel as if I was reading a James Patterson novel, as in I did with his other historical book The Jester, because it has a slightly different feel than his other novels
Story ***
Characters ***
Readability *****
Overall Rating ****
For further reading about King Tut I recommend the following links:
