From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Fast, fun and full of surprises, Dietrich's rollicking third Ethan Gage escapade (after The Rosetta Key) takes the expatriate American diplomat and soldier-of-fortune home to investigate the Louisiana territory, preceding Lewis and Clark, for Napoleon, who claims it was secretly sold back to France. Accompanying Ethan is Magnus Bloodhammer, a Norwegian berserker who hopes to find Thor's Hammer, a magic talisman of his people supposedly brought to America by Knights Templar hundreds of years before Columbus sailed. With the blessing of President Thomas Jefferson (who asks him to keep an eye out for woolly mammoths), Ethan and Magnus light out for the northwest, where their steps are dogged by vindictive British loyalists, hostile Indians and unlikely disciples of an Egyptian snake cult. The tale twists and turns like a spitted serpent, but Dietrich shows his sure hand as a storyteller, leavening a tale rich in intrigue and impressive historic detail with abundant wit and humor. (Apr.)
Copyright Β© Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From
Ethan Gage, the expatriate American who starred in The Rosetta Key (2007) and Napoleonβs Pyramids (2008), returns for another adventure. The story, which takes place in 1800, finds Ethan joining forces with a Norwegian, the splendidly named Magnus Bloodhammer, to find Thorβs Hammer, the possibly mythical artifact that, so the legend goes, enables its possessor to control the weather. The quest takes Ethan back home, to America, where he once again follows a twisting path to an uncertain conclusion. If there werenβt already an Indiana Jones, Dietrichβs Ethan Gage could certainly fit the bill: heβs a likable risk-taker who, in his quests for priceless antiquities, has a knack for narrowly escaping near-certain death. Dietrich does an excellent job of creating the historical settings of the novels, and the real-life characters Ethan meets along the way (in this novel, itβs Thomas Jefferson) feel just rightβnot historically accurate but labored creations but real people. A spirited installment of what promises to be a long-running series. --David Pitt