The last time I read a Killian McRae book (and the only other one I have read, to date) was back in Spring of 2015. Well, I just finished my 2nd McRae. And let me say that my #2 is way different than Pure and Sinful. May 15, 2015, is when I reviewed P&S.
This one, on the other hand, is called 12.21.12, The Vessel. And NOT coincidentally, this is the date that the Mayans said would be the end of the world. Kind of a Y2K sort of thing. It's a combo of a lot of different genres. Here is the back cover blurb:
The only way to save the future is to decode the past. The only way to decode the past is to save the future.
Archaeologist Sheppard Smyth has staked his career and the honorable memory of his wife and partner on proving his widely panned theory: Cleopatra VII, last sovereign pharaoh of Egypt, was not a victim of suicide as history suggests, but of a well-concealed murder. When a statue of the doomed queen is unearthed in a pre-Columbian excavation site in Mexico, Shep rushes to investigate and, hopefully, find the proof that's evaded him for so long. Working to unlock the mysteries he finds, Shep is about to learn much more than he ever bargained for. Suddenly thrust into the heated rivalry between sexy and enigmatic antiquities thief Victoria Kent and the infamous Russian mafioso Dmitri Kronastia, Shep finds himself a common pawn played by forces working to seek out a quest older than the pyramids and cloaked in the Mayan doomsday prophecy of 12.21.12.
I can't tell you any more because it will give away the twists and turns of the story. But suffice it to say that there are elements of paranormal, fantasy, scifi, and Roman mythology. And if that's not enough variety for you, how about a little romance thrown in.
I enjoy Killian's cultural references along with her humor and a certain amount of snark. Cases in point:
1. "...an archaeological version of 'one of these things is not like the other.'" To me that sounds like it came from Sesame Street!
2. "Though he had near-native fluency in English, whenever Hector got overly excited or nervous, he began to babble like a third-grader trying to explain Tolstoy." You can see that, right?
3. "'Potatoes, potahtoes', he murmured." For those of you who don't know (which, I'm sure, is most of you), this is in reference to a song written by George Gershwin in 1937 by the name of "Let's Call The Whole Thing Off." Nowadays, it's used to indicate that there's no real difference between 2 choices. Another very cool cultural reference from Killian.
Cool cover, yes?
Over Saturday and Sunday, I had a chance to stop in at Barnes & Noble on Stevens Creek and visit with 8 authors. I enjoyed getting reacquainted with 5 of them - Kate Allure, Elisabeth Barrett, Marina Adair, Linda Gunther, and Hannah Jayne - and meeting 3 new ones - Allyson Charles, Gayle Parness, Victoria De La O. I always enjoy these events, especially when I can see some of my favorite authors!
From left to right: Kate Allure, Allyson Charles, Elisabeth Barrett, Marina Adair, Linda Gunther
And, again: Hananah Jayne, Gayle Parness, Victoria De La O
No comments:
Post a Comment