1989; 198 pages. Book 5 (out of 18) in the “Gideon Oliver Mysteries” series. New Author? : No. Genres : International Crime-Mystery; Mesoamerica; Forensic Anthropology. Overall
Rating : 9*/10.
The excavation was started in 1980 at an ancient Mayan ceremonial center in
Yucatan, called Tlaloc. It was both the
high and the low of Gideon Oliver’s archaeological career.
The highlight was finding an
ancient Mayan codex in almost pristine condition. It was only the fourth Mayan codex ever found. It made all that digging worthwhile.
The lowlight was the
excavation’s director stealing the codex and fleeing with it while the others slept. The Mexican government was furious. They shut the project down immediately. That was in 1982.
Almost a decade has passed since, and only now has the
government of Mexico allowed the excavation to start back up. Dig deeper. Into an earlier time. Maybe find another codex! And now Gideon has been invited to rejoin the effort. You know he’ll jump at the opportunity.
Who cares about some sort of Mayan curse protecting their sacred site.
What’s To Like...
Curses! is the
fourth book I’ve read in this series, and I’ve loved the settings chosen for
each one: Egypt, France, England, and now the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico.
Since I’m a history buff, I enjoyed the
story being set in an ancient Mayan ceremonial center called Tlaloc. ANAICT, the site is fictional, but the name
is that of the Nahuatl god of rain, and M. Todd Gallowglas’ worldbuilding for such a place was convincing. Lots of real
Mesoamerican places and gods are injected into the story, including Quetzalcoatl, Popol Vuh,
Teotihuacan, Palenque, and my favorite: Chichen Itza.
The book’s title refers to an
ancient curse allegedly imposed on anyone who disturbs the site. It was dismissed as primitive superstition by
all but one in the excavation team.
Attitudes changed somewhat when each of the five steps in the curse
starts to come to pass. Was the
superstition true, or is some mortal deliberately setting up incidents to fulfill the prophecies? Hmm.
The mystery aspect was well
done. A set of bones is unearthed, and
Gideon, aka “the Skeleton Detective of America”, is called upon to
determine the Who, When, and
hopefully Why the corpse came to be
buried in the temple. A murder occurs,
and the reader gets to tag alongside Gideon and try to determine the
perpetrator before he does.
I failed miserably.
The ending logical, twisty,
and did not go down as I expected.
Gideon comes within an eyelash of dying, due mostly to his not examining the details of the final prophecy seriously enough.
Ratings…
Amazon: 4.4*/5, based on 1,281 ratings
and 61 reviews.
Goodreads: 4.05*/5,
based on 1,990
ratings and 101 reviews.
Kewlest New Word…
Cenote (n.) : a natural deep sinkhole or pit.
Others: Pelves (n.) : the plural of pelvis.
Excerpts...
“Just what is a codex? A manuscript?
A book?”
“That’s right. From the Latin caudex, meaning a split
block of wood, kind of like a shingle, which the Romans coated with wax and
then inscribed.”
She looked at him quizzically. “You know the damnedest things.”
“I,” he said with dignity, “am a full
professor. My mind is replete with
scholarly arcana, some of which, I can safely say, are even more useless than
that.”
“I know.
It’s ruining our social life.
Nobody wants to play Trivial Pursuit with us.” (pg. 35)
Many years before, when he had nervously
turned in the first draft of his dissertation to his doctoral committee
members, Abe had penciled in some comments across the title page: “Very
inventive. Considering the lack of data,
the inconclusive results, and the ambiguous statistical analysis, you did a
wonderful job. Not everyone can make two
hundred pages from nothing. I predict
you’ll go far.” (pg.
94)
Kindle Details…
Curses!
sells for $8.99 right now at Amazon.
The rest of the books in the series cost anywhere from $5.49
to $9.99,
with the prices generally higher for the books in the latter half of the
series. Aaron Elkins has several other Mystery series for your sleuthing pleasure, with the e-books generally in the $3.99-$7.99 price range.
“You have to live
your own life. You can’t let the creeps
and cruds of the world run it for you.” (pg.
120)
The profanity level is light. I counted ten instances in the
first 25% of the e-book, all of which were of the milder, four-lettered
variety. Later on, several Spanish cuss of a more powerful ilk are used.
We’ll let you google them for their translations.
I don’t really have any nits
to pick about Curses! The pacing is
good, there are no slow spots, and in this historical mystery, M. Todd
Gallowglas gives just as much attention to creating a spellbinding whodunit and he
does to the worldbuilding and character development. The wannabee-archaeologist part of me loved it just as much as the wannabee-detective part of me did.
9 Stars. One last tidbit. In addition to the “Kewlest New Words” listed above, I also learned the proper word for the inhabitants of the Yucatan peninsula. They’re called “Yucatecans”. Who'd've thunk it?
