The Lost Army Of Cambyses

This is another excellent candidate for the Wasted Potential category. A good premise and an interesting setting are overshadowed at every turn by a thoroughly unlikable protagonist who's a major pain in the backside when she's not dreamy and ga-ga after sex ... with a guy who proves that she is a terrible judge of character who never learns from past mistakes. You know that it's bad when you're barely halfway through a book and you're hoping that the "hero" ends up as carrion in some deep and desolate corner of the Sahara Desert. Beyond that, there are just too many logistical problems and plot holes to mention--beyond saying that there are tons of them. And the ending? Imagine the writer turning over the responsibility for the climax show more and resolution to an incompetent Hollywood scriptwriter who thinks that James Bond films are the epitome of realism. And then imagine it being even sillier. A good ending might have saved this one; the ending that was offered merely served as another nail in the coffin. show less

I had expected a novel with a more historical angle but instead the lost army of Cambyses featured more as a continuing thread in the background. Instead the book is a sort of boys-own adventure with thriller elements and not even a very good one at that. Except for Inspector Yusuf Khalifa the characters remain flat and two-dimensional, never coming to life. Some of the characters (the German villain and torturer dying a horrible death in the quicksand, the by-the-book police chief Hassani obstructing Khalifa's investigation, even the terrorist Sayf al-Tha'r waging war against the infidels and brainwashing young boys he has taken under his wing) come across as cardboard figures and cliches, the dialogue is often wooden and peppered with show more expletives and the sandstorm towards the end of the book is just too convenient to actually conjure up any tension. Where the novel does pick up, though, are the passages where we learn something more of ancient Egypt's history and the excitement that new discoveries inevitably evoke. I read the chapters where Khalifa visits his old teacher and mentor at Cairo's Museum of Egyptian Antiquities and Tara and Daniel finding the hidden tomb in the hills with great interest; it is in places like this where the reader can feel the genuine passion the author has for his subject. Unfortunately it is not enough to sustain interest or credibility throughout the novel but it is an entertaining enough and undemanding read, filling the time waiting in an airport lounge or sunbathing on a beach somewhere. show less

I lost interest in this book gradually until I reached about half of it, the second half how ever things picked up gradually and by the end it really got me hooked up. Unlike steve berry's or Dan Brown's however, this didn't turn out to be much of a historical fiction novel, but a bit of history, adventure, suspense and politics.
My rating 4/5

don't worry -- this isn't a spoiler, it's a synopsis.

Now here's a book that would make a really good movie. I don't often say that, because I don't often read books I think would hold up well as a movie, but this one definitely would do so. I liked it -- it was fun to read, the mystery was really good and it held my interest this afternoon for a few hours while I was laying low trying not to do anything that required thinking. I would recommend it to all mystery readers (except maybe those mystery readers who only like the cozies); it is a solid mystery story and fun.

Here's a peek:
Tara Mullray is a zoologist in London, and as the story opens, she's ready to take a trip to see her father in Egypt. The two have been somewhat estranged show more here and there over the years; he is an Egyptologist/Archaeologist working in Saqqara; his life is his career despite the fact that he had a family. So Tara is banking a lot on this trip. Sadly, when she gets to Egypt, he is not there at the airport; she can't believe he would have forgotten her again so she goes off to investigate. When she gets to his working area, and the structure there known as the Dig House, she discovers that he has died of a heart attack. But before he died, he had bought her a fragment containing Egyptian hieroglyphics. But once she finds the fragment, she realizes that there are people after her, and it seems that they want the fragment too.

In the meantime, an Egyptian policeman, Khalifa, is on the trail of someone who seems to be murdering antiquities dealers, and in some not very nice ways. As he starts putting the pieces of the investigation together, he realizes that the man he is after is a wanted terrorist. After further investigation, both story lines come together and involve a heretofore unknown tomb, a legend of a lost army of 50,000 which had been documented by Herodotus, and a terrorist plot to corner the antiquities market internationally.

As I said, it's really a fun read; the author's either got another book out or is putting another one out that I'm looking forward to reading as soon as possible. The dialogue is a bit overdramatic, but otherwise block out some time for yourself if you're planning to read this book. show less

An ancient Egyptian tomb holds the key to a grisly string of modern-day murders, in an engaging first outing by archaeologist Sussman

One of the best mystery/suspense books I've ever read!

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