Book Log 2011 #2: The Murder of King Tut by James Patterson and Martin Dugard

This is billed as a "non-fiction thriller," though you'd not know if from the content, which is blissfully free of citations, source material, or pretty much anything suggestive of the research Patterson says was put into writing this thing.

The book is told in three story lines: one set in Egypt before, during and after Tut's reign, one that follows Howard Carter as he looks for an undisturbed burial site in the Valley of the Kings, and one that follows Patterson himself as he works on solving the murder of Tut.

I suppose Patterson's story line is truly non-fiction, although it pretty much winds up being him playing golf, thinking in his study, and calling Dugard to work on details. The Tut story is pretty much all fiction, as there is blessed little historical account of his reign, and the Carter story line, verifiable as it may be by contemporary accounts, adds nothing to solving the "mystery."

Patterson also gets overtaken by events a bit, as there's recent evidence from CT imaging that the hole in Tut's skull was created during mummifcation rather than during Tut's life (Patterson imagines an accidental head injury that is the original - but unused - method plotters used to kill Tut). Recent DNA studies also undermine the narrative details around Tut's wife, whose mummy was found in another tomb. Patterson has her body fed to crocodiles.

The vibe I get from reading this is that Patterson noticed that Tut's successors were court figures rather than family, and determined that they killed Tut to seize power. How this speculation leads to a "non-fiction thriller" is beyond me.

I can't say I'm a fan of Patterson's style, as it appears he never met three paragraphs he couldn't make into a chapter. I know there's a convention in thrillers to use short paragraphs to build tension and keep people reading, but the way its used here is almost a parody.

Give this one a miss.