Site hosted by Angelfire.com: Build your free website today!

The Assassins of Isis

by Paul Doherty

Reviewed by Coral


Sitting before Amerotke, Egypt's chief judge, are some of the most disturbing cases of his career. One of Egypt's retired generals is found dead, on his roof, dozens of poisonous snakes coiling around his body; four apprentice priestesses have gone missing from the temple of Isis, and the guard charged with finding them has been murdered; a noble woman has accused the temple of Isis of murdering her father; and tombs of Egypt's prominent citizens are being desecrated, their treasures stolen and smuggled out of the country by a band of criminals, who've sent assassins to stop Amerotke before he can stop them.

With enemies all around him, Amerotke is running out of time to untangle the web of conspiracy and save his life!

I'm not really sure what it is about Paul Doherty, but his Amerotke novels are really the only ones I like. In all of his other books, the ones set in ancient Rome, or the ones set in the time of Akhenaton, his style of writting really gets annoying. Some of the problems I have with them are still around in this series, the French words that really have no place in a book set in ancient Egypt; the overly familiar characterization of his pharaoh, in this case Hatshepsut. Also, a small little nitpick, but to be taken seriously as a pharaoh Hatshepsut had to go around dressed like a male pharaoh, complete with beard, which she did not do in this book.

But, despite all that, everything just seems to come together in this series. Whatever issues I have with his style of writting take a backseat as I follow Amerotke on his quest to learn the truth. Plus, all of the mysteries were wrapped up nicely and surprisingly too. Of course, as mentioned a bunch of times, I really suck at figuring these things out, so most mystery books are a surprise to me at the end.

Grade: B