The Dakota Cipher

Starred review from January 12, 2009
Fast, fun and full of surprises, Dietrich's rollicking third Ethan Gage escapade (after The Rosetta Key
) takes the expatriate American diplomat and soldier-of-fortune home to investigate the Louisiana territory, preceding Lewis and Clark, for Napoleon, who claims it was secretly sold back to France. Accompanying Ethan is Magnus Bloodhammer, a Norwegian berserker who hopes to find Thor's Hammer, a magic talisman of his people supposedly brought to America by Knights Templar hundreds of years before Columbus sailed. With the blessing of President Thomas Jefferson (who asks him to keep an eye out for woolly mammoths), Ethan and Magnus light out for the northwest, where their steps are dogged by vindictive British loyalists, hostile Indians and unlikely disciples of an Egyptian snake cult. The tale twists and turns like a spitted serpent, but Dietrich shows his sure hand as a storyteller, leavening a tale rich in intrigue and impressive historic detail with abundant wit and humor.

When an author doesn't take himself entirely seriously, the narrator shouldn't try to add false gravity. William Dufris doesn't. He gives his reading a bit of a lilt, almost as if he and main character Ethan Gage are in on a joke. At the same time, though, he doesn't slip into caricature. And no matter how improbable this adventure yarn might be, Dufris carries the reading along in an appropriate tone. The plot overlays historical events and people with the exploits of a fictional American expatriate. In this installment, he heads to the Dakotas on a survey mission for Napoleon while also searching for an ancient Norse relic. The only weakness to Dufris's reading is some of his foreign accents. But that's a small price to pay for a rollicking good time. R.C.G. (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine