THE PANTHER AND THE PYRAMID

Author: Bonnie Vanak ISBN: 0843957557 8/2006 HISTORICAL Publisher: DORCHESTER
Time Period: Victorian, Egypt and England

Graham Tristan had been tormented too long. For years he had lived in fear. He was physically strong: during his childhood exile, he had ridden with the Khamsin — Egyptian Warriors of the Wind. He had learned their code, been called The Panther. But still he feared. And there was a new face that haunted his dreams. It was the face of a woman. Red hair, the color of blood. Green eyes, the color of emeralds. And that face, that body — the memory threatened to consume him. True, he was a dangerous man, accepted back to the ton despite his upbringing. But there were those who dared oppose him, and in certain ways he remained untried. In his dreams, this woman threatened all he sought to protect, all he thought to hide. She was more perilous even than the ancient treasure that would draw him back to Egypt, back to the shifting sands where he’d been raised: This woman would uncover his heart.

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

Oh, man. Is this a hard review to write! I am so disappointed in THE PANTHER & THE PYRAMID. NOT that it's bad. It's just that after reading the last one, THE COBRA AND THE CONCUBINE, PYRAMID falls short of my expectations. I cannot stress how much it pains me to say that.

Bonnie Vanak is one great storyteller. That is why I am so surprised at how PYRAMID does not inspire me to gush about it. Vanak's settings, descriptions, and characters, up to this point, are one-in-a-million. But the main characters here are gray and dull. The storyline that should be so difficult to fathom, does not tear me up inside the way it should. What is usually so vivid and compelling, fails to illicit the emotion I should feel when reading this story. Seriously, it's almost like someone else wrote this book.

Well, I hope Bonnie will forgive me for not writing the review I so wanted to. But, I have to be honest, so, read THE PANTHER & THE PYRAMID because all the books before it are superb, not because this book is.

Shannon Johnson