The Map Thief: A Novel

by Heather Terrell

Book Overview

Beijing, China, 1421: It is a momentous time for the Ming Dynasty. Honoring the completion of the Forbidden City, a fleet of unprecedented size sets sail under Admiral Zheng He. Zheng's mission is to... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0345494695
• Release Date: April 2009
• Publisher: Ballantine Books
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 0.44 lbs.
• Dimensions: 6.8" x 0.8" x 4.2"

Customer Reviews

This is a must read and one that will keep you thoroughly entertained

This is an extremely well written novel by Heather Terrell, a practicing attorney, which is suspenseful, mysterious, and historically accurate. Heather uses a ploy which is artfully arranged into sequences, the chapters, so that they traverse the centuries from 1420, 1498, and 2008. Constantly moving forward in the quest to find a stolen Chinese map Mara Coyne, the heroine, travels the globe as you sit beside her while she unravels the mystery of the world chart. While Mara does this, others many years in the past, journey a route designing the diagram she pursues. She has been hired to retrieve this ancient priceless artifact recently discovered and then stolen. Her sponsor is a financier who she knew from her past. Mara Coyne owns a company which retrieves ancient documents and returns them to their rightful owners. With a demonstrated ability to be successful in this endeavor, she has staff members among who is an ex-FBI agent. He provides vital information by cell phone which enables her to be one step ahead of her adversaries. Accurate in the smallest detail, the names of historical figures and their positions in history are woven into this astonishing account of Muslim and Christian history as they were in the Ming Dynasty and beyond. Terrell's research into The Knights Templar and The Order of Christ was extensive. Even the descriptions of the buildings in Tomar, Portugal where these orders were housed and where Mara Coyne explored, were so real, you felt as though you were traipsing up and down the stairways with her. As history unfolds from the ancient past, the tale weaves itself to the present. Each time you go back to the two separate periods of time of 1420 and 1498, the transition to the present is clearly woven into the fabric of today so the perils facing Mara and her companion Ben are understood. One of the main things that I liked about this book was the clever use of descriptive language. Where Terrell could have said 'they drove onto a new highway' she chose to say, "They shifted onto a new highway ..." conveying a shift vehicle was being driven by Mara. Other nuances abound throughout the book and are very entertaining. Deception, intrigue, and treachery at every turn keep the main characters high stepping throughout this adventure. Even the historical references are fraught with these same elements tying together past and present. A surprise ending which catches everyone off guard, including our heroine, is the culmination in this fine book. This is a must read and one that will keep you thoroughly entertained, as you watch the Olympics and want to learn more about China. Clark Isaacs Reviewer

Interesting Scenario!

The hook of Heather Terrell's second novel, The Map Thief is quite absorbing as it revolves around the query, what if the Chinese created an accurate map of the world in the early 1400s-some seventy-odd years before the Europeans? In order to widen this theme, Terrell offers up a multilayered tale that involves three interlaced stories, all dealing with this world map and all having an interesting bearing on the tale. The novel is jump started when we are introduced to an American, Mara Coyne who was a former attorney and now a principal in a firm that specializes in recovering stolen works of art. Basically, her firm's "main function was to dispense swift, fair and private dispute resolution for clients engaged in some of the thorniest battles over plundered art and artifacts." A rich and influential art and antique collector, Richard Tobias, who funds certain archaeological digs and historical research, engages Mara to find a map stolen from the site of a dig Tobias is funding. However, this is not just an ordinary map. It appears that the chief archaeologist on a dig in China unearthed a map memorializing the voyage of a fifteenth-century Ming dynasty Admiral Zheng He. This map was supposedly drawn up in the 1420s and pictures the world then known to the Chinese that included Asia, parts of the Arabic world, Africa and even America. If this map proves to be precise, then this would be invaluable and one of the earliest even partial world maps in history. Our second narrative focuses on a gifted Chinese cartographer and navigator Ma Zhi. In the early 1400s Zhi partakes, along with the crew of an enormous fleet of technologically advanced ships under the leadership of the renowned Ming dynasty's Admiral Zheng, in their mission to chart the globe. It seems that it was the work of Ma Zhi that led to the first true map of the world and the eventual discovery of the world. Unfortunately, however, when the crew returned to their homeland, all documentation of their discoveries were destroyed as a result of an imperial edict. But what about Ma Zhi's map, was it also destroyed and if it wasn't, where did it end up? The third character of the saga is a Portuguese navigator, Antonio Coehlo who was one of the crew of the illustrious explorer Vasco da Gama's expedition to discover a sea route to India. On board the voyage is a map that shows the way and is depicted as Portugal's most secret treasure. Where did this map come from? While The Map Thief may be an imperfect novel it is far from dull or rigid and does give us a very unique "what if" scenario satisfying readers' curiosity. In addition, due to Terrell's wide-ranging research, readers will acquire some fascinating history about the Chinese and Portuguese during the age of discovery. Where it is weak, however, is that the characters, with the exception of Ma Zhi, are not fully developed and this could have probably been resolved if about fifty pages were added to the novel's two hundr

Mara Coyne returns with more riveting suspense

I highly recommend "The Map Thief" by Heather Terrell. Western history tells us that the Portuguese were the first to map the world. In her second novel, Terrell surmises the events that may have transpired if in fact, Western history has gotten it wrong and the Chinese were the first to chart the world including the Americas. Part thriller, part historical fiction The Map Thief effortlessly moves through three provocatively related stories with rich characters, vivid imagery and compelling suspense. An extraordinarily plausible hypothesis, thorough research, and expert storytelling will have you page-turning this incredible adventure where, akin to the Da Vinci code, the lines between fiction and fact are intriguingly blurred, where seemingly trivial deceptions foreshadow substantial conspiracy. In the end, The Map Thief will have you anxiously awaiting Terrell's third novel and filling time exploring the veracity of our cartographic annals. The Map Thief is a must read if you enjoyed Dan Brown's "The DaVinci Code", Caleb Carr's "The Alienist", or Terrell's own debut novel, "The Chrysalis".

Readers of THE MAP THIEF will be left clamoring for more of Terrell and her memorable protagonist.

THE CHRYSALIS was one of 2007's great surprises, a debut novel by an author whose tone and setting was pitch perfect. Heather Terrell's sophomore effort, THE MAP THIEF, continues its predecessor's level of quality while heralding the welcome return of Mara Coyne. Coyne is a unique figure in thriller fiction, an attorney-cum-antiquities hunter who retrieves stolen artifacts with research, intellect and negotiation rather than with a bullwhip. As she did in THE CHRYSALIS, Coyne figures prominently in THE MAP THIEF. Her firm is retained by Richard Tobias, an influential political powerbroker who is sponsoring an archaeological dig in China. A centuries-old map uncovered during the dig has been stolen, and Tobias wants Coyne to retrieve it. She is intrigued by the challenge but is unable to shake the feeling that Tobias has not told her everything about what is going on. Coyne soon discovers that the map is much more valuable than she imagined, and not only in monetary terms. If publicized, it may well change recorded history, and Tobias is planning to use it for his own ends. Coyne's pursuit takes her from New York to the dusty and desolate dig site in China to Lisbon, Portugal, and back to New York again, where she not only resolves the mystery of the missing map but also indirectly solves a historical mystery surrounding the discovery of the Americas, the answer to which had previously been lost in the sands of time. What I have detailed only covers about half of THE MAP THIEF. There are two other stories, one that peeks behind the creation of the map that Coyne is pursuing and the other that describes a very similar map used by the Portuguese. The former takes place in China in 1421, at the height of the Ming Dynasty, wherein Admiral Zheng He is undertaking a mission unprecedented up to that time: charting the globe. The narrative focuses on Ma Zhi, a uniquely talented cartographer and navigator. Zhi's story is bittersweet; he is one of the Dynasty's eunuchs, a position considered honorable, yet is treated with repulsion. The descriptions of Zhi's experiences constitute some of Terrell's best work in THE MAP THIEF, covering his apprenticeship, promotion, triumph and, ultimately, tragedy, which will have repercussions for centuries. Even his victories are bittersweet, given what he gave up --- physically and emotionally --- to attain his position, only to have time and circumstance sweep everything away. The third story is set in Portugal in the late 15th century during what we now call the Age of Discovery. The narrative primarily concerns a navigator named Antonio Coehlo, who joins legendary explorer Vasco da Gama on his voyage to discover a sea route to India. Coehlo's skill and loyalty earns da Gama's trust, resulting in Coehlo being given the task of guarding a precious map in da Gama's possession --- one that, unbelievably, already shows the route. While Coehlo seems to be a bit player in the story, his contribution demonstrates that ev

fascinating thriller

Famous conservative kingmaker" Richard Tobias hires art recovery investigator Mara Coyne to find a valuable Chinese map stolen from an archeological dig. This is the type of artifact that Coyne searches for as it is the oldest known map to clearly show the entire globe; dating to the early fifteenth century and the expedition of Admiral Zheng to sail around the world. The priceless artifact was smuggled out of China when an Emperor purged any reference to the expedition. It reappeared when Vasco Da Gama used it as a guide in his search for the western sea passage to India. In the present many groups willing to use force want the map mostly to suppress the evidence that the Chinese came to the Americas decades before Columbus. Mara and archeologist Ben Coleman struggle to find the map and stay alive; neither task easy to accomplish. Fictionalizing the historical theories of Gavin Menzies (see 1421 THE YEAR CHINA DISCOVERED THE WORLD and 1434: THE YEAR A MAGNIFICENT CHINESE FLEET SAILED TO ITALY AND IGNITED THE RENAISSANCE), Heather Terrell provides a fascinating thriller. The story line is at its best when the focus is on the fifteenth century among Zheng and Da Gama journeys. The modern day cast fails to hold up next to the real historical cast, making most of the contemporaries feel as unnecessary intruders except for Coyne who is the readers guide to the expeditions of Zheng and Da Gama. Harriet Klausner