When Egyptologist Alex MacLure’s friend and mentor dies he’s stunned to discover she’s left a message—hidden, encoded, and meant only for him.
With a mysterious artifact and a trail of cryptic symbols, Alex is thrust into a deadly race against time. What begins as a quest to finish her research quickly spirals into a chilling conclusion: her death was no accident. She was murdered for what she discovered.
Now he’s the next target.
Hunted by a ruthless adversary, Alex finds himself swept from the academic halls of London to the heart of Egypt’s oldest sites.
As he races to decode a forgotten truth buried beneath centuries of deception, powerful enemies close in—willing to kill to protect a secret—a revelation so explosive, it could rewrite everything we know about ancient Egypt and religion.
My thoughts: A new series from the always excellent Murray Bailey is exciting. This time we’re in Egypt on the trail of ancient secrets in the desert. Alex MacLure is trying to solve the mystery left after his friend is brutally murdered. Her research must lead to something so explosive, it’s worth killing for.
Alex is an accountant turned Egyptologist, hardly a James Bond figure, but now he’s being followed, threatened, held up at gun point and generally having to live on his wits. Rescued by Rebecca, after a harrowing moment by the river, they join forces to unravel the secrets hidden in a stone tablet, translating the writing to find where it leads. But Alex is a bit too trusting sometimes, and not everyone he meets has his best interests at heart.
I was absolutely hooked, I’ve been fascinated by the world of Ancient Egypt since we first learnt about the pyramids at primary school, it’s incredible to think that such an advanced society existed thousands of years ago and all we’re left with are tombs and ruins, but what incredible tombs and ruins. My mum used to take me to the British Museum to see all the (stolen) artifacts housed there, and while now I think they should be returned and the mummies re-buried and allowed to rest in peace, as a child I was transfixed.
This book brings that lost world into the twenty-first century, the secrets of so long ago still matter to some people, and they will go to any lengths to stop them coming out. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and cannot wait for the next installment, Alex is a great protagonist, clever and a bit naive, but somehow managing to stay alive and unravel the clues left behind.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
ramblingmads 