Bruce Dow

The Serpent and the Eagle Bruce Dow

'The Serpent And The Eagle' is an adventure surrounding the search to uncover the lost treasure of Moctezoma. The protagonists include a brilliant anthropologist, albeit an irreverent, iconoclastic, sardonic gadfly; a vicious, psychopathic billionaire; a corrupt Roman Catholic Cardinal who would seize the treasure for the Church and use it to turn Mexico into a rigid Catholic Theocracy. A woman scientist offers a steely challenge to our brainy anthropologist. Their relationship gradually evolves and becomes integral to our narrative. Juxtaposed with these characters is an ancient Azteca priesthood, still extant, who will go to any length to safeguard the treasure. These hold to the ways of the ancient Azteca, central to which is "the flowery death". Sacrificial victims' hearts are ripped out of their living flesh and are offered as a propitiation to Huitzilopochtli, the fearful God of War.
Interspersed with the text is a corroborative element of rich, well researched historical detail. The pace never slackens. None will ever say that 'The Serpent And The Eagle' is boring.