Amara aka To Wake the Dead is a story by Richard Laymon. It initially went unpublished until Laymon's death, at which point it was released in 2003. It was partnered with The Lake in volume 17 of the Richard Laymon Collection.
Summary[]
AMARA, Princess of Egypt, the once-beautiful wife of Mentuhotep the First, lies in her coffin in the Charles Ward museum. Dead these 4000 years, now she's just an inanimate bundle of withered skin and desiccated bone. Or is she?
When Barney the nightwatchman, discovers that the mummy's coffin has been broken open, it seems grave-robbers are at work, out to steal valuable artefacts, just as their kind have done for centuries. It's a pity Barney and the guards can't tell the authorities how the mummy came to be missing. But the dead can't testify to anything. Now Amara is free again, driven by an ancient need that can only be assuaged at the cost of human life.
No one can oppose her, no bullet can stop her and nothing can kill her - for she is dead already.
Plot[]
Trivia[]
The sister-plot involving Ed Lake is reminiscent to Donna and Sandy's experiences in the Beast House Trilogy. His cell-mate Marco even uses the terminology to describe their predicament.