James Patterson calls The Murder of King Tut: The Plot to Kill the Child King – A Nonfiction Thriller. Why did he decide to go the nonfiction route? Patterson claims to have always been curious about the short life of the young Pharaoh Tutankhamen. He wanted to try to solve the mystery surrounding Tut’s death with actual facts. But did he?
Patterson presents his thesis stating King Tutankhamen was murdered by his half-sister and wife Ankhesenpaaten, his vizier Ay and his general Horemheb. Patterson believes Tut was murdered because of the power grab desired by these three individuals. Tut and Ankhesenpaaten had two still-born children with no male heir to the throne leaving Ankesenpaaten, Ay and Horemheb to reign after Tut.
Patterson wrote the novel in three distinctive parts all interwoven with one another. These short, easy-to-read chapters breeze between Tut’s life and death, the discovery of Tut’s tomb by Howard Carter and present day.
By far, my favorite chapters were the actual story of Tut’s life. These chapters pre-date Tut’s life and the follow-up after his untimely death. If you want a simple, very visual version of the history on Tutankhamen, you will enjoy these chapters.
I knew very little about Howard Carter until I read this book. The Carter chapters offer a very short and interesting read about the man consumed by finding the missing tomb of the unknown Pharaoh Tut.
The chapters concerning present day Palm Beach seemed unnecessary. I think the chapters were used to fill space and wasteful.
I enjoy Patterson’s writing style. His chapters are short, intriguing and very easy to read.
I love history and have always wanted to visit Egypt. I’m not sure how much of this fictionalized, but it is an enjoyable fast-paced novel.
The Murder of King Tut: The Plot to Kill the Child King – A Nonfiction Thriller is a great semi-fictionalized story on the boy king. It is a great gift for the amateur Egyptologist in your life.