Bullet Review: Children of the Storm by Elizabeth Peters

Elizabeth Peters's Children of the Storm is the seventeenth (chronologically, not in order of publication) novel in the Amelia Peabody books. If you're thinking that this late into the series Peters would have nothing new to offer or that the Peabody-Emerson family would become boring, you'd be wrong.

For several reasons, Children of the Storm is one of my all-time favorite entries in the series. Peters's humor is sharp, the characters are growing and maturing, we get to revisit with some long-absent family members, and new friends and foes keep the story lines fresh. There was a lot of action in this novel, some great scenes with Emerson and his car, and a good mystery as well.

If you haven't yet started listening to (or reading) these books, you are missing out.

• What's happening in Children of the Storm? This book takes place in 1919-1920, after the end of the war. As the Emersons and their colleague Cyrus Vandergelt catalog their finds from the previous season's archaeological digs, several valuable items go missing, along with one of Cyrus's employees. This is the initial setup of the book's mystery, but as it turns out, there are more mysteries to come.
• New characters: The Emersons, especially Nefret, are being dogged by a mentally confused young man, Justin, who is attended by his grandmother, manservant, and governess. The family is on guard for two reasons: Justin seems abnormally attached to them and the governess is the daughter of the Emersons' old enemy (but now tentative ally), Sethos.
• Action: There are several attacks on the Emersons' Arab friends and staff, three kidnappings, the theft of the artifacts, and dealings with the Egyptian archaeological authorities.
• What I loved: It was wonderful to see all the Emersons back in one place again, including Emerson's brother and sister-in-law, Walter and Evelyn; the second generation of Nefret, Ramses, David, and Lia; and the third generation of four rambunctious children. There is quite a bit of action in this book, and one secret that has been haunting Amelia for decades is finally revealed. The last page made me laugh out loud.
• Audiobook: I really have nothing new say about Barbara Rosenblat's awesome performance.

HarperCollins / William Morrow, 2003
ISBN-13: 9780066214764
Source: Borrowed (see review policy)
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