The Mummy Who Wouldn't Die

Choose Your Own Nightmare #9

by E.A.M. Jakab

After hanging out in the Egyptian wing of the museum all afternoon, you, Josh, and Kate are ready to go. You saw the new mummy and checked out some exhibits. It was cool. Especially the mummy's amulet. The Egyptians believed it had magical powers. Like protecting the mummy from evil.

But after you leave, Josh finds the amulet in his pocket. He swears he doesn't know how it got there. The three of you have to return it. The museum is closing soon. And the mummy is waiting....

Genres: Gamebooks

86 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

Reviews

[Josiah]

It would be surprising if there were no mummy book among the eighteen in the original Choose Your Own Nightmare series, and The Mummy Who Wouldn't Die takes care of that. Schoolwork on Saturday isn't fun, but at least you're studying an interesting subject as you and your friends Kate and Josh Danvers explore the Metropolitan Museum of Art. A featured exhibit on Ancient Egypt offers unique artifacts to write about for your project. The museum even has an excavated Egyptian mastaba on display, which contained the remains of Pharaoh Thutmosis I. Josh is excited to see actual artifacts that were used for mummification, but his over-enthusiasm irritates a few adults around him. Right after you, Kate, and Josh exit the building, Josh reaches in his pocket and pulls out the gold heart scarab that is a central piece of the Ancient Egyptian showcase. How did it get there? Josh fervently denies taking it, but convincing the museum curator seems unlikely. Should you go tell him the truth anyway, or sneak back in before the museum closes and return the amulet to where it belongs?

The amulet's disappearance has not gone unnoticed, but there's more happening here than you know. Uniformed guards are waiting at the mastaba where you intend to return the amulet, but are they real museum employees, or disguised thieves? Trusting the wrong people will get you locked inside the mastaba, where Josh discovers the amulet emits an ethereal glow. Multiple passageways out of the mastaba open up, but should you risk taking them and running into the robbers? One misstep could transport you to Ancient Egypt, condemned to a life of slavery if you can't find a conduit to return home through time. Even if you make all the right choices, the mastaba's strange relationship to space-time will mess with your mind, but once the police arrive you'll have opportunity to affirm Josh's innocence in the amulet's theft. The authorities expected a burglary at the museum tonight, and you may be able to help apprehend the bad guys.

If you ask to speak with the curator immediately after Josh finds the amulet in his pocket, the man agrees to see you in his office even though the museum is closing. Unfortunately, he turns out to be the cranky person who berated Josh earlier for his wildness near the exhibit. Mr. Ramsey doesn't seem like an understanding fellow, and you fear he'll assume Josh is guilty of stealing the amulet. You want to be upfront with the curator, but something doesn't feel right about the situation, and your instincts are soon validated: a ring of thieves is operating in the museum at this moment, with the goal of obtaining the amulet. They believe it possesses the power of everlasting life. The police are running a sting to catch the thieves in the act, but until they're captured, you and your friends are in mortal peril. Staying close to any undercover police you meet is the surest way to survive, but they're not always easy to recognize. And is there someone else wandering the museum, an entity from Egypt's ancient past? The Mummy Who Wouldn't Die wouldn't live up to its name without an appearance from the title monster...

I like E.A.M. Jakab's other entry in the Choose Your Own Nightmare series, The Halloween Party, but The Mummy Who Wouldn't Die has a radically inconsistent plot. Also, most branches of the story have nothing to do with a mummy come to life, and all the running from thieves begins to feel the same after a while. There are a few minor zigs and zags to the narrative, but these don't raise it to even average status. I might rate The Mummy Who Wouldn't Die one and a half stars, but I recommend most other Choose Your Own Nightmare books ahead of it. Kids fascinated with Ancient Egypt may enjoy the read, but there isn't much to objectively commend it.

[Nick Jones]

Given the title and how easy it would be to write a book about a killer mummy, this book is surprisingly not about a mummy who wouldn't die. It should've been called The Egyptian Exhibit Heist, as "you" and "your" friends dodging a gang trying to rob a museum is almost the entire thrust of the action outside of some nonsensical time travel shenanigans that pop up for no reason. There is a supernatural mummy that comes to life, but its appearance comes out of nowhere and is restricted to the final pages of just two endings, both of which have it nabbing the crooks.

You never fight a mummy in this book. What kind of nightmare is that? This series is somehow even more white bread than the main CYOA books were and that's been a huge disappointment.

[Nick]

It was okay. Killed some time, but I remember loving these as a kid. It may be that the ones I had were written by R.L. Stein and featured Indiana Jones. This was okay, but nothing so spectacular you had to keep reading to find all the solutions.

[Robdontlie152]

it wasnt that good but some of these parts i like.