Napoleon's Pyramids

Here's a new throw of the thriller dice that's fairly entertaining despite its flaws. Others have praised it, so let me focus on the problems if you like books that are well-written as well as well-constructed. There's too much anachronistic writing all the way through, like mentioning that Ben Franklin liked to "party" with the ladies or having characters from late 18th century France say, "Don't even think about it!" The author hasn't made much effort to give you a sense of another time through the dialogue, though he works hard at the other period details. It's also filled with repetitious phrasing within sentences or from one to the next; a basic lack of vocabulary awareness so that there's no sense that "shinny" and "shimmy" are not the same word; and full of obvious errors. For instance, the French flag is not red, white, and blue. Then there are the too-obvious references to Indiana Jones and even The Lord of the Rings, and some action sequences that you have to re-read because the description isn't unclear. Likewise, his hero's attraction to the hotty heroine seems awkward, cooked up and a plot device. What real man says, "I'm fond of women" or "I have a weakness for women?" Maybe a type of woman, perhaps. The narrator seems to be trying to convince us that the hero is attracted to Astiza, and doesn't seem to know how to go about it, doesn't make it authentic. He should try reading some really good thrillers, like the early Ken Folletts (Lie Down with Lions, would be a good start). Overall, the writing is undistinguished and too often full of series of similarly-patterned sentences: subject, verb, direct object. And then there are the preachy long-winded stretches of expository dialogue. The book cries out for a writing workshop at these basic levels, or at least good editor and copyeditor. However, the author does do well in cooking up a highly improbable plot and making you curious to follow what happens. His battle scenes are terrific, and he can keep the ball rolling. I did not find this propulsive reading and wished it had been a bit shorter, but I suspect most thriller readers will gloss over the flaws and just follow the treasure trail where it leads since the book clearly points to a sequel. I'll skip that one.