Book # 12 of the Sean Wyatt Archaeological Adventures
I first began reading Ernest Dempsey’s Sean Wyatt Archaeological Adventures series of books with the first book, The Secret of the Stones and have read each sequentially up through this latest book. This series of books is no mere boring academic writing exercise. Along with a lively and quirky writing style, with each book Dempsey has mastered the art of drawing the reader in with his knowledge of whatever subject he’s focused on for each particular volume (which is actually quite diverse!), while also adding adventure and intrigue and just a bit of wonder and ‘what ifs’ along the way. Also included are an excellent cast of characters to accompany ex-spy extraordinaire, Sean Wyatt. And just to break up any possible monotony, Sean and his side-kick, Tommy Schultze, provide just the right amount of comedic relief.
One of the features of Dempsey’s books is the addendum at the end of each story wherein Dempsey explicates how he came up with the idea behind each book. Some of the ideas in the story line are ‘merely’ an author’s prerogative. In other words, it was his imagination. Oh, but what an imagination! At other times, some of the information included is factual, and those often send me off on a (usually tangential if I’m researching some other completely diverse subject! Lol) jaunt through history and archaeology, two of my favorite subjects.
While so far (as of December, 2020) there are 20 books in this series, they are each stand alone books and may be read out of order. I’ve just found it easier to keep track of what I’ve read by reading them in order. This also isn’t the only series Dempsey has written. However, I am unable to expound on those just yet. I’ll let you know when I get there.
If you like archaeology, adventure, thrillers and puzzlers, this series will quite likely satisfy those requirements.