The Murder of King Tut

I would dearly love to get my father's opinion of this book - James Patterson's The Murder of King Tut. My dad is a former junior high history teacher and an amateur Egyptologist.

So, I'd love to know what he thinks of Patterson's theories and ideas about the death of King Tut. I'm not sure what to think.

This is a non-fiction work by Patterson, a best-selling mystery writer. I don't recall reading any of Patterson's fiction, but may have many moons ago when I was single, working nights and reading lots more. (Yes, there was a time when I read more.)

In The Murder of King Tut, Patterson writes a story based on lots of research done mostly by Martin Dugard, who gets credit as his co-author. He weaves three stories into one - his theories about what happened in ancient Egypt, Howard Carter's famous life's search for a missing grave (which ended up being Tut's), and his own experience in researching and writing the book.

Generally, it's easy to follow, except when it comes to the ancient Egypt part. I would have appreciated a short genealogy and/or character list in the front of the book, so I could keep track of the ancient pharaohs whose names look so similar. I am somewhat familiar with Egyptian history, with my dad's intense interest in it and having taught it to my kids twice over in our home school, but I still felt confused as to exactly which pharaoh was which.

Overall, this book is easy to read, fairly easy to follow, and with interesting theories to ponder.