The Dakota Cipher: An Ethan Gage Adventure - Softcover

William Dietrich s The Dakota Cipher should be read by anyone who loves adventure at its grandest, or humor both smart and sharp, or romance with a wild heart. For that matter, why even qualify it? The novel should simply be read by everyone! (James Rollins, New York Times bestselling author of The Last Oracle)

William Dietrich is a born stylist, moving characters around on an historical chessboard with the assured hand of a master novelist firing on all cylinders. Ethan Gage is a wiry, battle-scarred hero, with great decency, who rings absolutely true. And The Dakota Cipher is a supple, elegant thriller that carries the reader triumphantly from one exciting climax to the next. (Steve Berry, New York Times bestselling author of The Venetian Betrayal)

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...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. (Publishers Weekly (starred review))

The next rollicking adventure in our Ethan Gage series, THOR S HAMMER follows Ethan deep into colonial America s wilderness in search of a mystical artifact said to control the weather and lightning -- from the man LIBRARY JOURNAL calls a leader among historical novelists. We meet up with our hero Ethan Gage in Napoleon s France, where he maneuvers a romantic liason with the Emperor s nymphomaniac married sister, narrowly escapes a plot on his life amidst a celebratory fireworks display, and encounters a grizzled Norwegian named Magus Bloodhammer. Magus shows Ethan an ancient map he has discovered. The map indicates that a mysterious artifact known as Thor s Hammer was last known to be in a medieval Norse settlement in North America. The hammer is said to control the weather and lightning by unknown principals.

Wishing to escape his would-be assassins, Ethan agrees to join Magnus in his quest. The two journey to America, meeting with the newly elected President Jefferson in a nascent D.C. of bogs and stumps. In a nod to future endeavors (Lewis and Clark), Jefferson funds their travels in exchange for a report on their findings, saying their request coincides with the sighting of blond-haired, blue-eyed Indians up along the Missouri. The two set off for Indian fur trapping country, where Gage will live as an Indian, face a hostile tribesman named Redjacket (so called for his British coat) as well as one Lady Aurora Somerset, a furiously bitter former love interest--all while questing after the magical Thor s Hammer. Incorporating real history with high adventure, Dietrich s newest tale is sure to delight readers of Napoleon s Pyramids and The Rosetta Key.