The Map Thief

April 28, 2008
Attorney Terrell follows The Chrysalis
with an uneven sequel that reprises art-sleuth heroine Mara Coyne and spans six centuries and five continents. Coyne, who specializes in recovering art “with a controversial past,” is hired by “legendary conservative kingmaker” Richard Tobias to find a rare Chinese map that has been stolen from an archeological dig. Dating from an expedition of Admiral Zheng He to circumnavigate the earth, it is the “first map in history to accurately show the entire world” and was smuggled into Europe after an isolationist emperor ordered all accounts of the expedition destroyed. The map found its way to Portugal, where explorer Vasco da Gama used it to “discover” a sea route to India. There are lots of people hoping to suppress the existence of such a map, and Mara and archeologist Ben Coleman play a potentially deadly game of cat-and-mouse against powerful and sinister forces as they try to locate it. The imaginative narrative shifts among Zheng's expedition, da Gama's historic voyage and Coyne's investigation, but unfortunately, Terrell slows the action with superfluous characters, awkward dialogue and languid prose.

June 1, 2008
Art sleuth Mara Coyne goes in search of a rare Chinese map in Terrells follow-up to The Chrysalis (2006). At the behest of right-wing power broker Richard Tobias, Coyne travels to Europe and the Far East in pursuit of the map, which dates from a fifteenth-century expedition led by Admiral Zheng He. The document, which was stolen from an archaeological dig, is precious, indeed; it is reportedly the first map in history to represent the entire world. Mysterious circumstances seem to have landed the map in Portugal, where Vasco da Gama used it to find a sea route to India. Lots of bad guys want to prevent Mara and her cohort, archaeologist Ben Coleman, from recovering the map. The unlikely pair (chic, well-dressed Mara and scruffy academic Ben) always seem a step ahead of the villains, but its only a matter of time before their luck runs out. Terrell, a Pittsburgh-based attorney, presents a clever premise, but her novel is short on momentum and suspense, shifting awkwardly between Coynes investigation and the historic journeys of da Gama and Zheng He.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)