- Paperback: 304 pages
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster (Aug 5 2008)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1439124698
- ISBN-13: 978-1439124697
- Product Dimensions: 22.9 x 15.2 x 1.7 cm
- Shipping Weight: 481 g
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #809,108 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Booklist
A woman is murdered. The authorities hire a down-and-out investigator, a boozer who is still hung up on his ex-wife, to solve the case. Except that they don't expect him to solve it; in fact, they want him to fail. But our hero is a lot smarter than his employers suspect, and he uncovers a conspiracy that reaches to the highest levels of government. Sound like a fairly typical private-eye yarn? Well, it isn't. Because the dead woman is a priestess; the authorities are the feuding mayors of Thebes; the down-and-out investigator is Semerket, former clerk of Investigations and Secrets; and the whole sordid story takes place in Egypt, circa 1153 B.C.E. Some mysteries set in ancient Egypt are pedantic, fact-intensive tomes. This one, a first novel, avoids that trap. It's a solid, fast-paced mystery that's never overwhelmed by the author's research. Geagley is a multifaceted fellow--video-game designer, virtual-reality theme-park consultant, Jeopardy champ, film historian (he's an authority on the 1963 film Cleopatra)--and now, novelist. Let's hope he sticks with it for a while. David Pitt
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
"Brad Geagley's mean streets are the stone paths of ancient Egypt, his hard-boiled detective a troubled investigator working for the Pharaoh's court. Geagley makes it all come alive in Year of the Hyenas, as compelling a novel as I've read all year."
-- Steve Hamilton, author of Ice Run and Blood Is the Sky
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First Sentence
HETEPHRAS LIMPED FROM HER PALLET TO THE door of her house like an old arthritic monkey. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt
HETEPHRAS LIMPED FROM HER PALLET TO THE door of her house like an old arthritic monkey. Read the first page
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4.2 out of 5 stars (22 customer reviews)
26 of 29 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Worth it as a mystery as well as for the history...., May 23 2005
By L. Kjonnerod - Published on Amazon.com
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Year of the Hyenas: A Novel of Murder in Ancient Egypt (Hardcover)
I stumbled on this book, and now can hardly wait till a sequel comes out. The protaganist isn't very likable at first, then you realize that he really is an honest man...and not perfect.The descriptions of the time and place in Egypt were woven into the story, occasionally an author throws more historical information at you and you find yourself distracted from the plot. Geagley weaves a tale and the context without doing the "look at me, look at how much research I've done" interferance.
I particularly liked how he ends the tail, I saw parts of it coming, but not the whole surprise.
Really worth your time if you like mysteries--and historical settings.
13 of 15 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
Murder and mayhem in Ancient Egypt, Mar 30 2006
By Rich Gubitosi - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Year of the Hyenas: A Novel of Murder in Ancient Egypt (Hardcover)
Year of the Hyenas is a breezy, flavorful murder mystery that is sure to become an ongoing series. It reminds me of Lindsey Davis's Falco series, about a detective in ancient Rome. Falco's counterpart in ancient Egypt is Semerket, a boozer with a history of telling the truth despite the consequences. His bingeing and misery stem from a divorce; his wife left him because he could not father a child--a big deal in ancient Egypt, and therefore a smart move by the author who uses the setting as a foundation for characterization. The setting is the novel's strength, as Thebes is unveiled in all its glory and grime. The weakness is the slow pace: The first half of the novel hardly advances the storyline. It is also predictable. The reader knows before Semerket what is really transpiring. As a mystery/detective story, The Year of the Hyenas is average; however, as historical fiction, it is exemplary, providing a vivid description of ancient Egypt and the people who populated it.
12 of 14 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
An excellent historical fiction read!, July 11 2005
By Billy J. Hobbs "Bill Hobbs" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Year of the Hyenas: A Novel of Murder in Ancient Egypt (Hardcover)
Historical mysteries generally find a soft spot in my reading-they are great diversions. The Egyptian historical mystery genre already has at least three excellent authors with their own excellent series and now Brad Geagley had debuted with what promises to be another exciting series of the Old World.In "Year of the Hyenas" Geagley presents Semerket, an anti-hero before his time,which happens to be 1153 BC! He's an investigator all right, but an unlikely one. A boozer, Semeket has some good credentials in the investigating business, but drink and women have taken their toll and "down and out" probably best describes him.
Still, he's a character that we have no trouble respecting, once the story gets going. It's a murder investigation. A priestess has been found dead and with all the political, religious, social, and economic issues involved, actually the authorities really aren't interested in having the facts uncovered, much less an actual conviction. But "conviction" is what Semerket is about and, naturally, as the story unfolds, we find the usual stumbling blocks and obstacles, all of which Semerket is eventually able to negotiate.
Geagley avoids being "too factual" and presents a fast moving-and actually delightful-read.
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