Grand Central Publishing, ISBN 9780446404709, March 2010
Once again, I listened to the audiobook, but because of Amazon's peculiarities, the link is to a paperback edition. The narrator is excellent.
Daniel Knox is an archaeologist who, due to some unfortunate events a few years previously, is currently earning his living as a dive instructor, currently employed by an Egyptian gangster, Hassan. When he gallantly, if foolishly, rescues a young woman the gangster is raping, he finds himself on the run and in hiding, and is quickly abandoned by the young woman he "rescued," since she has figured out that she's slightly safer if Hassan doesn't think she wanted the "rescue."
Knox discovers that his new nemesis has a very long reach, and he isn't fast enough getting to the border. He's barely fast enough getting away from the border, and retreats to Alexandria, where he seeks the help of an old friend, French archaeologist Augustine, creating a false identity and getting employed on a local dig Augustine is involved in.
Also involved in this dig is Gaille Bonnard, an ancient languages expert who blames Daniel for the death of her father, who was Daniel's friend and mentor, and, because this site turns out to have connections to Alexander the Great, and Egyptian archaeology is badly underfunded, Nicolas Dragoumis, a Macedonian nationalist and wealthy industrialist whose father Phillip is, Daniel believes, responsible for the deaths of his parents and sister.
Really, I'm making this sound too simple and straight-forward. It's really much more complicated than that.
However, Adams keeps all the balls in the air, and drops in the necessary historical and background information smoothly and without slowing down this face-paced story.
If you enjoy a good thriller, this is well worth a read, with the promise of more in the series if you find at the end that you haven't had enough of Knox and...well, but that would be telling.
I borrowed this book from the local library.
Once again, I listened to the audiobook, but because of Amazon's peculiarities, the link is to a paperback edition. The narrator is excellent.
Daniel Knox is an archaeologist who, due to some unfortunate events a few years previously, is currently earning his living as a dive instructor, currently employed by an Egyptian gangster, Hassan. When he gallantly, if foolishly, rescues a young woman the gangster is raping, he finds himself on the run and in hiding, and is quickly abandoned by the young woman he "rescued," since she has figured out that she's slightly safer if Hassan doesn't think she wanted the "rescue."
Knox discovers that his new nemesis has a very long reach, and he isn't fast enough getting to the border. He's barely fast enough getting away from the border, and retreats to Alexandria, where he seeks the help of an old friend, French archaeologist Augustine, creating a false identity and getting employed on a local dig Augustine is involved in.
Also involved in this dig is Gaille Bonnard, an ancient languages expert who blames Daniel for the death of her father, who was Daniel's friend and mentor, and, because this site turns out to have connections to Alexander the Great, and Egyptian archaeology is badly underfunded, Nicolas Dragoumis, a Macedonian nationalist and wealthy industrialist whose father Phillip is, Daniel believes, responsible for the deaths of his parents and sister.
Really, I'm making this sound too simple and straight-forward. It's really much more complicated than that.
However, Adams keeps all the balls in the air, and drops in the necessary historical and background information smoothly and without slowing down this face-paced story.
If you enjoy a good thriller, this is well worth a read, with the promise of more in the series if you find at the end that you haven't had enough of Knox and...well, but that would be telling.
I borrowed this book from the local library.
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