Customer Reviews

The Jackal's Head

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A truly fantastic book, full of suspense and wit. Tommy is one Peters' toughest heroines yet. She is not the stereotypical wimpering female who sits and waits for impending doom. She is stubborn and clever enough to find her way out of precarious situations (like being trapped in a tomb). The thing about Elizabeth Peters' novels that leaves me hungry for more is her technique of weaving historical fact into her stories. I always close one of her books feeling a satisfying feeling of having gained knowledge.

The Jackal's Head is an extremely entertaining mystery set in Egypt. I read this right after I finished The Ape Who Guards the Balance, the latest in the Amelia Peabody series; The Jackal's Head has some of the same settings, and it's interesting to see what these places looked like 60 years later. (This book was published in 1968; the newest Amelia takes place in 1907.)

In "The Jackal's Head", the heroine, Althea "Tommy" Tomlinson, returns to Egypt after ten years to learn the secret behind her father's death. The mystery is tied to what may be one of the greatest archaeological discoveries ever. But I don't want to give too much away!

Readers who enjoyed this book might want to go on and read Elizabeth Peters' Amelia Peabody series. I completely disagree with the reviewer who said this series was formulaic and boring. As much as I enjoyed The Jackal's Head, I love the Amelia series even more.

Another great piece of work from Elizabeth Peters. She is a truly a master of storytelling. She will suck you in at the beginning and you will not be able to put this down unitl you are done!!

Many of Peter's one off mysteries involve a heroine who has some dark family mystery that she feels personally responsible for solving by her self. The Jackal's Head follows this mold and comes up with a hokey set of circumstances. It's still a fun read for fans of mysteries that take place in Egypt and fans of Elizabeth Peters / Barbara Michaels.

I didn't realize when I bought this book that it was first published back in 1968. I'm not a Peters expert, but this must be one of her very early works, before she honed her craft. It is short and would be even shorter if it didn't fall back on annoying misunderstandings among the characters to maintain the tension. I didn't find the characters to be appealing, and the book lacks the wit and verve of her later works. Personally, I don't think this measures up to the Peabody books, although I notice several other reviewers differ. What can I say? I'm right and they're wrong, naturally.

This is Peters at her best. She gives us strong and likeable characters and an interesting mystery, set against a background of modern and ancient Egypt. This novel was her first, before she conceived of the formulaic and boring series that's a takeoff on the life of an early egyptologist, Amelia Edwards. Here, in The Jackal's Head, we have Peters writing as she should -- and earning her reputation. Don't miss this one!