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The Third Gate

by Lincoln Child

3.48 of 5 stars 3.48 · rating details · 3,553 ratings · 611 reviews

Hardcover, 306 pages

Published June 12th 2012 by Doubleday

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Jul 05, 2012 Lolly's rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: amazon-vine, action-adventure, contemporary-fiction

3.5 stars

This is not one of those adventures that plops you into a conspiracy or conundrum on the very first page, takes off at warp speed, and doesn't give you a moment's rest until the very last page. This is what is known as a 'slow-burner'. The plot gradually builds up, clues and hints are dropped at random points, and the picture develops chapter by chapter until we reach the final thrilling conclusion.

I've read a few of the Pendergast novels Lincoln Child has written with Douglas Preston a...more 3.5 stars

This is not one of those adventures that plops you into a conspiracy or conundrum on the very first page, takes off at warp speed, and doesn't give you a moment's rest until the very last page. This is what is known as a 'slow-burner'. The plot gradually builds up, clues and hints are dropped at random points, and the picture develops chapter by chapter until we reach the final thrilling conclusion.

I've read a few of the Pendergast novels Lincoln Child has written with Douglas Preston and enjoyed them; however, this is the first of Child's solo novels I've read. As anyone who knows even the slightest bit about me could've guessed, the Egyptian setting of this novel was right up my alley due to the fact that I'm mad about Egypt and especially ancient Egypt. Not only do I love reading books set in ancient Egypt, I love reading about modern or near-modern individuals discovering that ancient country's hidden treasures, buried by time, sand, and memory. The Third Gate introduced me to a new aspect of that area's geography, being set in the Sudd, a vast swamp formed by the White Nile in southern Sudan and one of the largest wetlands in the world. Although the Sudd is quite treacherous, choked as it is with grasses, reeds, papyrus, water hyacinth, and other aquatic plants, forming mats of vegetation which can shift position and block waterways and are in various stages of decomposition, not to mention the ever-changing water levels as well as the dangerous animals, mosquitoes, and parasites, it's an important resource to the rural populations for whom it provides valuable grazing land for their livestock. However, the Sudd as pasture isn't what's presented in The Third Gate. The novel's Sudd is an almost living thing, dark, ominous, fetid, choked with a foul miasma which is nearly solid in its potency and pervasiveness. Add in the discovery of the tomb of Narmer, the first king to have unified Upper and Lower Egypt, a string of inexplicable accidents which some believe to be powered by the powerful curse attached to Narmer's tomb, and the enigmatic leader of the entire expedition, Porter Stone, and you've got a situation ripe for danger, discovery, and death.

Yet, despite all these intriguing ingredients, as a whole the book felt slightly lacking. As I said in the first paragraph, this is a slow-burner of a novel, which is fine; I like stories which build to a climax. Yet this was almost too much of a slow-burner. Though the expedition suffers from traumatic and horrific accidents through the first half of the book, to make the tension build and to lead to the biggest event which makes up the climax of the novel, the persons involved are minor characters, so we're not really invested in either the person or the horrible event happening to them. It's only toward the end that things ramp up and the characters around whom the story is revolving get mixed up in the disasters. There just doesn't seem to be enough thrills or action. I think part of that comes from the narrator, one Jeremy Logan, a professor of medieval history and a self-proclaimed “enigmalogist” (an expert in deciphering enigmas). (Well, he's not really the narrator as the novel is told through the 3rd person P.O.V., but his eyes are the ones through which the reader views the action.) Because he's hired as an observer to Stone's expedition and thus witnesses all these events as an observer, it creates a distance which sets the reader apart and diminishes the drama. However, what really torqued me off about this novel is what always sets me off when authors reference ancient Egypt: the use of Greco-Egyptian terms rather than the true Egyptian words. ***Slight spoiler alert*** One of the characters is supposedly channeling an ancient Egyptian. Yet, when that Egyptian speaks, does s/he speak of being “The Mouthpiece of Heru”? No, s/he says they're “The Mouthpiece of Horus,” Horus being the Greek interpretation of the Egyptian divinity. Argghh! That sort of thing annoys me to no end; it's not only one of my pet peeves, it's my main pet peeve, the one I dress up in little sweaters, take out for walkies, and feed only the best organic pet peeve food.

For all that, though, the history, the supernatural aspects, the Egyptological discoveries (even if they are fake) are quite entertaining; in fact, they're the strengths of the novel and are what make it work when other aspects fail. Not to mention the writing itself, the technical makeup of it, is strong: vivid descriptions, realistic dialogue, well-paced scenes. What does that add up to? A book that, though slowly-paced, compelled me to keep reading to discover how it all turned out.

See more of my reviews at: http://lollyslibrary.blogspot.com/(less)

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Feb 16, 2013 Michael rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Preston-Child readers

Shelves: kindle

I cannot decide. I think I would rather rate this 2.5 stars. I am so disappointed by that ending I really don't know what to think of the entire novel.

I, like many, am a Pendergast fan. That means I am a fan of the Lincoln Child AND Douglas Preston novels. I have enjoyed their individual works just fine (really liked The Codex but I may be alone there) although they're collaborative efforts and truly something else.

The Third Gate felt like a Preston-Child novel at first. A misleading tone.

Fans...more

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May 09, 2012 Randy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Jeremy Logan wasn't exactly sure why they wanted him on this expedition. He'd signed all the nondisclosure paperwork and they still hadn't told him anything.

His day job was a professor of history, but they'd hired him for his other profession: he was an enigmalogist, an investigator of unusual phenomena. He'd uncovered a lot of fakes, but also was rumored to have proven the existence of "Nessie" for the University of Glasgow and gotten a real ghost to vacate an old castle.

Jeremy had been signed...more Jeremy Logan wasn't exactly sure why they wanted him on this expedition. He'd signed all the nondisclosure paperwork and they still hadn't told him anything.

His day job was a professor of history, but they'd hired him for his other profession: he was an enigmalogist, an investigator of unusual phenomena. He'd uncovered a lot of fakes, but also was rumored to have proven the existence of "Nessie" for the University of Glasgow and gotten a real ghost to vacate an old castle.

Jeremy had been signed on by an old friend from his college days, Dr. Ethan Rush, medical officer for the Egyptian expedition run by Porter Stone, a professional treasure hunter that was a little less greedy than most of that type. Rush headed some kind of organization called CTS, Jeremy learning that stood for the Center for Transmortality Studies, founded three years before when he brought his wife back to life after a car accident in an ER fourteen minutes after brain activity had ceased. The wife was part of the expedition also.

The expedition; clues had been buried in old boxes that, maybe, the tomb of King Narmer, the Egyptian purported to have united Upper and Lower Egypt into a single country, the first Pharaoh in other words, some five thousand years before.

Jeremy was along because some "accidents" had happened along the way: equipment breakdowns, missing things, breakage. You see, there was a curse on the tomb. Of course there was and Jeremy was the acknowledged expert on this sort of thing.

They were searching the Sudd, a large swampy area in Southern Sudan formed by the White Nile. A square mile was the closest they could narrow the found directions and it was being searched a grid at a time.

The first serious accident happened shortly after Jeremy arrived, a fire in one of the generators that killed a man who worked in close on jet skis to try to tow a tank of fuel threatened. It exploded. bathing him in burning fuel.

While they were rushing to help, Jeremy was brought up short by an overwhelming sense of evil hovering above it all. He was an empath you see.

More deaths come as they find the tomb and begin to work through the three gates to the burial chamber, the cures promising all sorts of terror that progressively get worse as one enters each gate. And since the first gate promises to rip the transgressor limb from limb...

Once again, Lincoln Child has forged a thriller hard to put down, with a new twist on the old standard mummy story.

Highly recommended.

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Jun 03, 2013 Amanda rated it 2 of 5 stars

Picked this up because it was available from the library and I was casting about for something to read that I didn't have to wait weeks for. I used to think I wanted to be an Egyptologist, but decided in college that anthropology wasn't for me... mostly because they don't make any money. Also, I don't know how I'd actually handle digging in the ground and some of the things you find...

Ok, so the premise was right up my alley but the story I found lacking. Mostly... it just didn't seem like there...more

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May 23, 2013 Michael added it

Zero stars. This is a perfect example of a good idea ruined by formula. An expedition to a present day African Swamp finds a long lost pharaoh's tomb. Cool! So why, why does the tomb have to be cursed and the stupid book devolve into a "closed environment chase/horror scene". "Oh no, we let the monster loose." So, so lame. Same formula every time. Whether it is an exploratory space crew finding an interesting ship floating around with no one in it. (deadly alien on board! Kills them one by one)...more

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Apr 06, 2013 Ware rated it 2 of 5 stars

When I was a kid, I loved watching movies about the Mummy. The popularity of the series prompted a semi-spoof called Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy which probably ended my terror of wrapped corpses. The Third Gate, a book which has movie deal written all over it, is sort of a combination of Ghostbusters and my personal favorite Land of the Pharaohs.

If you like pseudo-science you will love this book. We have an "enigmatologist" which is supposed to be a scholar of the paranormal. The author h...more

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Feb 07, 2013 Al rated it 3 of 5 stars

Under the direction of famed explorer Porter Stone, an archaeological team is secretly attempting to locate the tomb of an ancient pharaoh who was unlike any other in history. Stone believes he has found the burial chamber of King Narmer, the near mythical god- king who united upper and lower Egypt in 3200 B.C., and the archaeologist has reason to believe that the greatest prize of all—Narmer’s crown—might be buried with him. No crown of an Egyptian king has ever been discovered, and Narmer’s i

...more

The dig itself is located in one of the most forbidding places on earth—the Sudd, a nearly impassable swamp in northern Sudan. Amid the nightmarish, disorienting tangle of mud and dead vegetation, a series of harrowing and inexplicable occurrences are causing people on the expedition to fear a centuries- old curse. With a monumental discovery in reach, Professor Jeremy Logan is brought onto the project to investigate. What he finds will raise new questions . . . and alarm.

In the hands of master storyteller Lincoln Child, The Third Gate breaks new ground and introduces a fascinating new protagonist to the thriller world.

Review

“Lincoln Child’s novels are thrilling and tantalizing.”
—Vince Flynn

"Bestseller Child (Terminal Freeze) more than succeeds in making a mummy's curse terrifying in this superb supernatural thriller...Child evokes fear through understatement...Readers will hope to see more of [lead character] Logan in a sequel."
--Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Ample gadgetry, New Age soul-shifting, and pyrotechnics sufficient to employ a stable of stuntmen when brought to film: Child’s newest is the sort of thing to delight all those who got wrapped up in The Mummy. Think, a Dan Brown-ian adventure amongst Pharaohs ready with a pocket full of curses."
--Kirkus

"Its characters are well drawn, and the mystery is nicely handled, keeping readers guessing as to whether something supernatural is going on here. Of the author’s solo novels, this could be the best so far."
--Booklist

About the Author

LINCOLN CHILD is the New York Times best-selling author of Terminal Freeze, Deep Storm, Death Match, and Utopia, as well as coauthor, with Douglas Preston, of numerous New York Times best sellers, most recently Fever Dream. He lives with his wife and daughter in Morristown, New Jersey.

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Jan 21, 2013 Sean McGowan rated it 2 of 5 stars

I have loved most of the offerings from Lincoln Child and his sometimes writing partner Douglas Preston since the days of Relic and Reliquary. Their Detective Pendergast series is a classic of the detective genre and I look forward always for the next book.

The Third Gate is the latest from Mr.Child on his own. It introduces us to a new character Professor Jeremy Logan and involves the mysteries of near death experiences and Egyptian archaeology. While the book is terrific in its depiction of new...more

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Dec 28, 2012 Kevintipple rated it 4 of 5 stars

The idea of the “paranormal” or the “woo-woo” element is strikingly popular these days. If such books bother you, or you find them offensive, The Third Gate by Lincoln Child is not for you. The paranormal as well as the idea of near death experiences play a major role in this novel.

Professor Jeremy Logan bills himself as an “Enigmologist” and is quite successful at it in addition to being a professor of Medieval History at Yale. What really drives him is explaining the unexplainable---whether it...more

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Nov 19, 2012 Diane rated it 5 of 5 stars

Excellent, gripping and intriguing plot is what I would use to describe The Third Gate.

Porter Stone, an archeologist/explorer who had sponsored many mysterious projects contacted Jeremy Stone a professor and specialist in spirits, posessions, etc. Professor Stone was not a media monger or fake, he truly did investigate curses and the unknown. Stone wanted him to investigate the curse of King Narmer which was Stone's latest dig.

The location of the dig was "the Sudd"; a primordial ooze that was...more

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Oct 29, 2012 Isaac rated it 2 of 5 stars

I checked this book out from the library's audiobook collection for one purpose: to keep me awake during some late night driving. It succeeded. Thank you for keeping me alive, Mr. Child.

Not a dull book, to be sure, but not a terribly interesting one. The plot is predictable, the pseudoscience is laughable, and the drama is overdone. The main premise surrounding the archaeological discovery is creative, but hastily detailed and poorly explained.

I leave you with two particularly awful quotes that...more

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Sep 19, 2012 Nancy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Good book. Interesting story. Good reading. Keeps your interest, although plot gets a little unbelievable at times.

Under the direction of famed explorer Porter Stone, an archaeological team is secretly attempting to locate the tomb of an ancient pharaoh who was unlike any other in history. Stone believes he has found the burial chamber of King Narmer, the near mythical god- king who united upper and lower Egypt in 3200 B.C., and the archaeologist has reason to believe that the greatest prize of...more

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Sep 14, 2012 Linda added it Recommends it for: Preston and Child fans, Egyptology/archaeology fiction fans

Shelves: read-2012, thrillers, archaeology-fiction

Familiar Lincoln Child elements:
1. scientific expedition in an 2. exotic location, with 3. danger and 4)an obsessive powerful man in charge, and 5. an outsider who is the voice of reason. Also:6. things keep going wrong.
The expedition is an archaeological dig to recover the tomb of the Pharaoh Narmer who unified upper and lower Egypt. Except it's more of a "suck" than a dig, since they are in the Sudd, a horrendous swamp in Sudan. Bossman is Porter Stone, successful, rich, and very very smart....more

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Aug 20, 2012 Mitchell rated it 4 of 5 stars

I was lent this book with the advisory that it was "entertaining and an easy read" but with the sense that it was not earth-shattering. That seems to be pretty accurate. The style of this book immediately reminded me of Dan Brown; Begins with a death (or in this case a near-death), short, encouraging chapters that make you feel like you're really moving quickly, a scholarly protagonist with knowledge in a vast array of subjects, history blended with fiction, and a possible supernatural element t...more

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Jul 27, 2012 Kristin Lundgren rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: artifact-thriller, egypt, paranormal, thriller

Another great single book from Lincoln Child. Fast-paced, great atmosphere, and a fun background, albeit a little improbable make this one good thriller. I flew through it, as I do all of his (just finished Utopia recently for the 2nd time and it was as good as the first time). This one takes place in the Sudd, a nasty bottleneck swap of flotsam and jetsam that has floated down the Nile, and been caught there, creating a morass of fetid smells and muck. The pharaoh's tomb they are searching for...more

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Jul 03, 2012 Luanne Ollivier rated it 3 of 5 stars

3.5/5

Lincoln Child is one half of the prolific writing duo Preston and Child. (Their recurring protagonist Pendergast is one of my favourites) But each of these authors manges to find time to put out individual books as well.

The Third Gate is Lincoln Child's latest solo offering.

Professor Jeremy Logan refers to himself as an "enigmalogist" - sleuthing out the unexplained that may have real scientific origins or those that are otherworldly. Treasure hunter Porter Stone hires Jeremy to work on his...more

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Jul 02, 2012 Connie rated it 2 of 5 stars

It's not a good sign when you can't recall the protagonist's name from a book you finished two days ago but this is, unhappily, one of those books. It's all about the supposed science-- the Egyptian tomb to end all tombs is found beneath the fetid waters of a ginormous hellishly hot swamp and a group of scientist in the pay of Sir Kenneth--oops, wrong billionaire-- some billionaire dilettante go to find the secret of...well, I'm just not sure. Except that it's protected by a curse and people die...more

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Jun 30, 2012 Alisa rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: thrillers

Quick, fun, brainless read, but I wish Child had adapted his story to the facts, rather than changing the facts to suit his story. Egyptology is fascinating on its own; he doesn't need to have changed the historical rituals, dates, facts, and beliefs of ancient Egypt so *very* much (as he admits he did in the afterword.) Don't read this expecting to actually learn anything true about Egypt or archeological digs.

Also the Sudd? In real life it's not a hell on earth. It's a very important, very won...more

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Jun 29, 2012 Ricky rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: action-adventures, fantasy, freaky-supernatural-adventures, read-this-if-it-kills-you, thrillers, science-fiction, why-isn-t-this-a-bloody-movie-yet

Let me begin with a quote that pretty much sums up the essence of this novel:

"'"Any man who dares enter my tomb...will meet an end certain and swift. Should he pass the first gate, the foundation of his house will be broken, and his seed will fall upon dry land...Should he pass the second gate, darkness will follow him, and he will be chased by the serpent and the jackal...But should any in their temerity pass the third gate, then the black god of the deepest pit will seize him, and his limbs wi...more

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Jun 25, 2012 Fran rated it 5 of 5 stars

Third Gate: Lincoln Child

What appeared right in front of an entire group of doctors and nurses in the ER was just an illusion you might say. One young woman fatally wounded in an accident died on the table. How can she still be walking around? One doctor would not give up. One doctor after everyone said he needed to call her death refused to give up with every ounce of his fiber to prove they were wrong. A puzzle is a problem that needs to be solved. Another word for puzzle is an enigma. Solving...more Third Gate: Lincoln Child

What appeared right in front of an entire group of doctors and nurses in the ER was just an illusion you might say. One young woman fatally wounded in an accident died on the table. How can she still be walking around? One doctor would not give up. One doctor after everyone said he needed to call her death refused to give up with every ounce of his fiber to prove they were wrong. A puzzle is a problem that needs to be solved. Another word for puzzle is an enigma. Solving these puzzles requires intelligence, ingenuity and understanding the basics of what goes into putting the delicate pieces of some fragile puzzles together. Enigmatology is the art of solving or creating the solutions to these puzzles. Puzzles can be contrived for entertainment purposes or they can originate from logical problems. The solutions often require recognizing patterns and creating a specific order to place them. Those with high inductive reasoning aptitudes can solve these puzzles or enigmas more readily than others. Dr. Jeremy Logan is an enigmalogist. He is the doctor who would not give up on the young girl critically injured in the ER. If questioned about his vocation he would answer that his job is to investigate phenomena, which lies outside the realm of the normal bounds of human existence. Dr. Ethan Rush of the Center has hired Jeremy Logan for a specific job for Transmortality Studies. Many people claim to have had NDE-near death experiences and this former anesthesiologist dedicated his career and life to this phenomena after his wife had a NDE. Behind the assignment is someone else that Rush has not revealed to Logan. Someone that is powerful and quite well known. Answering few if any questions Logan decides to be flown to Egypt where he always wanted to work but the final destination would not be there but in Sudd.

Enter Porter Stone, archeologist, treasure hunter and definitely a man with the Midas touch. Reclusive most of the time his presence would make a strong impact on both Logan and Rush as he reveals the reason Logan was asked to join the team and the project. Imagine finding the original tomb of King Narmer the ruler of Upper Egypt killed the King of Lower Egypt uniting both the upper and lower parts 5000 years ago. Events that happened back then relate to the reason for the dig right now. As Rush and Logan fly to Egypt for the short stop where he meets Porter in one of the back rooms of the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities the reader gets a first hand tour of the museum, the exhibits, the treasures and the many different smells, paper and artifacts stored there. Crypts, narratives and much more are revealed to Logan, Rush and the reader as author Lincoln Child’s research and knowledge is shared. One man named Flinders Petrie would set in motion a chain of events without even knowing it. One small object found by this amazing man named Porter would set in motion what is about to happen throughout this novel and to Logan. “An ostracon is a piece of pottery (or stone), usually broken off from a vase or other earthenware vessel. In archaeology, ostraca may contain scratched-in words or other forms of writing, which may give clues as to the time when the piece was in use. The word is derived from Greek ostrakon, meaning a shell or a shard of pottery used as a voting ballot.” This object in this case a coaster has inscribed on the back just where the original tomb of Narmer is. This is considered the key to the biggest archeological secret in history and the author as is related to the reader learns that this ostracon is comparable to our notepad. With four pictures on the back and the history of the crowns revealed we learn that one King wore a Red Crown while the other White. When Narmer became Pharaoh he and those that followed wore both. But, before he departs and leaves both Rush and Logan, Porter emphasis that the seriousness of the situation, the importance of getting what needs to be done quickly and the strange things that have been happening hence the need for Logan. Supplies are missing, equipment malfunctions or does not work out of nowhere and much more. Stone is an enigmologist and deals with the supernatural. Will he find anything like that when he reaches the dig? What other questions will he ask or need to have answered before the end result is revealed? Could this tomb be cursed? What if someone heard voices or ghostly sightings occurred? Do you think the Pharaoh himself does not want anyone to touch or violate his tomb?

Sudd is not exactly the location where anyone wants to be and what he or she finds there will be more than just the unexpected. The search and the dig will incorporate experts in two fields of study. Some would be from the NDE such as Rush and his wife Jennifer who many say is able to channel and use her keen abilities from her NDE to hone in on spirits that linger after death. Can she communicate or speak with these spirits that have been gone for 5000 years?

Treasures buried within his tomb. Four hieroglyphs to help determine what they might find within the tomb when they find it and enter. The first the symbol is of the red crown from Upper Egypt and the second white for the lower crown. The third depicted the tomb or the vault and the final one the SEREKH: Narmer’s name leading them to believe the crowns are buried with him. But, that has never happened before and with research and study Logan learns that these crowns never passed over to the other side and non-were ever found. Witnessing Jennifer’s skills and seeing her in a trance is frightening. Learning more about her NDE will hopefully help rid herself of the spirits that seem to be speaking to her. Just whom these spirits are you won’t believe as she reveals more about them to Logan. One man is electrocuted and hurt, a generator is on fire, skeletons found, bones uncovered and lives at stake. But, when the author allows the reader to enter the tomb with Logan, Porter and the rest of the team we are taken on a tour and shown artifacts, Necropolis Guard, limestone statue, dozens and dozens of papyri as another link is found that there might be a spy or saboteur. The history and research about the time period, Narmer, the curse and the actual words he used to describe the wrath that would befall anyone who violated his tomb, author Lincoln Child takes us back in time to where it all began but is it a spirit, paranormal phenomenon or something else that is causing all of the strange and unexplained things that are happening?
What Jennifer relates next to Logan you won’t expect as she explains what she saw, the Being and much more. When one man decides to touch a specific object what happens to him you won’t believe. Is it murder or King Narmer?

The ending is explosive and who is really in that tomb you won’t believe, as so many lives are in danger some will live and others will fall prey to the curse that was placed within that tomb. Who tries to pilfer the tomb? Can a King create an experience that rehearses death? Did Narmer have a NDE or was it something else that caused him to go crazy? Who was Jennifer communicating with? There are many unanswered questions that we hope we will learn if the author brings Logan back before it’s too late to reenter that Third Gate. Fast paced, action packed and filled with research this is one novel that is a definite must read.

Fran Lewis: reviewer
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Jun 24, 2012 P.D. Bekendam rated it 3 of 5 stars

Barely 3 stars. I am a HUGE fan of Preston and Child. I read anything either one of these guys puts out (with the exception of the hideous Gideon series)

This one held my attention and entertained me. I only wish Child would enlist a decent medical previewer to make these aspects of his writing more believable. I almost didn't make it through the first scene due to some pretty unforgivable errors. It was almost as bad as a line in one of the Pendergast novels when a character's eye was dangling f...more

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Jun 14, 2012 Mary rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: supernatural-fiction

This the unlikely tale of a high-tech yet strangely half-assed archeological expedition into the infernal Egyptian swamp called the Sudd to uncover the lost tomb of the great pharaoh Narfer, uniter of Upper and Lower Egypt. I liked to read his name as "Marfar" because I am a fan of "South Park" and also because this book made about as much sense as the Marfar from the Marfar when they Marfar. Inexplicably, an empathic enigmalogist (you've never heard of that because Lincoln Child made it up) is...more This the unlikely tale of a high-tech yet strangely half-assed archeological expedition into the infernal Egyptian swamp called the Sudd to uncover the lost tomb of the great pharaoh Narfer, uniter of Upper and Lower Egypt. I liked to read his name as "Marfar" because I am a fan of "South Park" and also because this book made about as much sense as the Marfar from the Marfar when they Marfar. Inexplicably, an empathic enigmalogist (you've never heard of that because Lincoln Child made it up) is invited along, as is the possibly insane wife of the expedtion's doctor--she is included because a near-death experience has rendered her "retro-psychic" and she is able to channel the spirits of the dead, though in this scenario they tell her absolutely nothing of value or interest except to reiterate the dreaded Mummy's Curse which everyone knew about anyway. The expedition leader is the uber-archeologist H. Porter Stone, who is in such a lather that he ignores the Mummy's Curse even though he included a couple of quasi-spiritualists on his team to presumably do...something about it, breaks every known rule of archeology (as imagined by moi), can't be bothered to read any of the multiple papyri laying around in the tomb before he jumps to conclusions, and essentially throws a hissy fit when things don't turn out as he expected, which he would have been prepared for if he had used some of the long stretches of down time peppering the novel, during which several auxiliary characters are killed or maimed, like anyone cares, to do some studying of said papyri. All kinds of nonsensical mayhem occurs, culminating in a big explosion! (That's not a spoiler, you can see everything coming a mile away.) I enjoyed lounging on the sofa with my amusing cats and wasting my day off reading this fluffy adventure story, because I am familiar with Child's work, and was expecting Mild Entertainment, not Great Literature. Kind of wish I weren't so addicted to the immediate gratification aspect of my Kindle and had waited til the price came down but oh, well. (less)

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Jun 13, 2012 T. Edmund rated it 3 of 5 stars

The Third Gate introduces Professor Jeremy Logan, an empathic medieval history professor who moonlights as a supernatural investigator (where does he find the time.)

He is invited by Ethan Rush, a brilliant doctor a self-confessed expert in near-death experiences to look into an ancient tomb disovered in 'The Sudd' a horrible uninhabited swamp that forms part of The Nile that hides a deadly secret.

Not too surprisingly the tomb is cursed, and its a particularly nasty scary curse.

Child combines el...more

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Jun 12, 2012 Richard Gazala rated it 4 of 5 stars

With a stunning series of monumental discoveries already on his glittering resume', internationally renown archaeologist Porter Stone aims his ambitions at unearthing the lost tomb of ancient Egypt's legendary god-king Narmer -- the pharaoh who in 3100 B.C. was the first ruler to unite upper and lower Egypt. Combining his characteristic meticulous attention to sparse historical detail with deployment of cutting-edge technologies and an army of well-paid specialists, Stone believes he has located...more With a stunning series of monumental discoveries already on his glittering resume', internationally renown archaeologist Porter Stone aims his ambitions at unearthing the lost tomb of ancient Egypt's legendary god-king Narmer -- the pharaoh who in 3100 B.C. was the first ruler to unite upper and lower Egypt. Combining his characteristic meticulous attention to sparse historical detail with deployment of cutting-edge technologies and an army of well-paid specialists, Stone believes he has located Narmer's tomb in the brutal depths of the treacherous quasi-swampland called the Sudd, near Egypt's desolate southern border. But the closer Stone's team comes to the fabled crypt, the more the dig becomes besieged with strange and menacing mishaps, many of them insusceptible to other than paranormal explanations. With scores of lives and invaluable treasures at stake, Stone reaches out to Jeremy Logan, a Yale history professor whose reputation for researching the bizarre and paranormal has earned him the label of an "enigmalogist." By the time Logan joins Stone's team at the remote Sudd, fear and panic are palpable in Stone's floating headquarters, with jittery whispers about disembodied voices, hoary specters, and ancient curses murmuring throughout the beleaguered facility. As Stone locates and cautiously breaches the successive gates to Narmer's tomb, Logan wonders if the uncanny words of a mesmerized team member, a woman who is the survivor of the longest recorded near-death-experience, hold the key to stopping the deadly events plaguing the project before the excavation's doom turns inescapable.

Author Lincoln Child is unquestionably at the top of his game in "The Third Gate." This well-written, expertly-paced thriller is relentlessly intelligent and entertaining. Long-time Lincoln Child fans will be more than satisfied with this novel, and thriller fans who've not yet introduced themselves to Child's writing are in for a real treat. Very highly recommended. Read it.(less)

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May 11, 2012 Jacqui rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: history

Sci Fi meets historic fiction in Lincoln Child's newest novel, The Third Gate (Doubleday 2012) as world-renowned treasurer hunter Porter Stone sets his sites on what is considered the Holy Grail of Egyptology--a pharaoh's grave. This one is the resting place of none other than Narmer, the pharaoh who united Lower and Upper Egypt thousands of years ago. When odd--read that 'unnatural'--events begin to pepper the dig site, he calls in self-proclaimed enigmatologist (a specialist in enigmas) Jeremy...more Sci Fi meets historic fiction in Lincoln Child's newest novel, The Third Gate (Doubleday 2012) as world-renowned treasurer hunter Porter Stone sets his sites on what is considered the Holy Grail of Egyptology--a pharaoh's grave. This one is the resting place of none other than Narmer, the pharaoh who united Lower and Upper Egypt thousands of years ago. When odd--read that 'unnatural'--events begin to pepper the dig site, he calls in self-proclaimed enigmatologist (a specialist in enigmas) Jeremy Logan. What adds to the drama is that the site is located in the Sudd, a god-foresaken bogland south of the Egyptian border that the dig organizer calls Hell on Earth. Logan not only has made a career of studying oddities, but is an empath--a person who feels a person's emotional history by simply touching them. It doesn't take Logan long to realize the excavation is cursed and only withdrawing--which Stone refuses to do--can they end their problems.

This is an interesting tale with enough historic details to make readers of that genre deliriously happy. Despite what has become in action novels an ubiquitous reference to Occam's Razor--that sometimes the simplest explanation is the best--this tale is smart and challenging with lots of detail on ancient Egypt, the treacherous Sudd setting, and enough discussion on near-death experiences to get me interested in that topic. The plot--pitting a committed treasurer hunter against a deadly curse that seems more alive every day--is riveting, but not well told through the eyes of the main character, Jeremy Logan. He spends the first three-fourths of the book observing the action around him rather than being involved in it. True, he was hired to observe, but it puts the reader at arms length from the crises that pepper the plot--the mystical figures that appear on the treacherous Sudd landscape, the unexplained injuries to workers, the fact that the expedition's wife seems possessed by the dead pharaoh. Where these should strike fear in our heart and keep us turning pages, I found myself unaffected, because Logan was unaffected. This slowed the pace and stripped the terror that would otherwise imbue the plot.

Overall, a good read, challenging to those who enjoy an intellectual romp. (less)

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May 10, 2012 Louann Carroll rated it 4 of 5 stars

Ethan Rush, M.D., volunteers at the local emergency room one weekend a month. This particular weekend finds him waiting for an auto accident, one in which a woman has coded. Upon arrival, Rush discovers the woman is his wife, Jennifer. Refusing to believe she has died, he works on her for over fifteen minutes, eventually bringing her back to life.

Jennifer has changed since her NDE. Ethan starts an institute to study NDEs, yet he senses his wife continues to hold something back. In some ways, she...more

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Jul 26, 2012 Spencer rated it 4 of 5 stars

My introduction to Child was through a favorite series character of mine, Special Agent Pendergast, who made his appearance in the book Relic written with co-author Douglas Preston. I've taken the time to read through most of Child and Preston's individual works since then. I have found them all to be easy and enjoyable reads.

This book by Child reads like a screenplay and/or the first of a series (hopefully). I found Logan, the protagonist, to be an interesting character with some mysterious dep...more

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Dec 03, 2012 Chris Bauer rated it 4 of 5 stars

I'm a big fan of both the Pendergast series and the author's stand alone work, so I was expecting more of the same with The Third Gate.
I was pleasantly surprised by this novel!
Yes, there are problems in it. The prologue is sodden with melodrama. The science in the book, at many times, is pretty half-baked. The plot twist at the climax was telegraphed from across the Atlantic. Other minor points exist as well.
But, despite all that, I really enjoyed reading the work. The protag is a fresh departu...more

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Oct 04, 2012 John Teehan rated it 2 of 5 stars

A serviceable thriller, but not up to the standard I've come to expect from the Preston/Child Agent Pendergast novels. In those, there was usually a visible line between the natural and supernatural, and in this book the line is less clear. Parts of the pseudoscience reminded me of some of the more questionable portions of the last Dan Brown novel. The hero of the story seems to be vaguely derivative of Brown's Langdon character as well, i.e., a medieval historian who moonlights as--in this case...more

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Jul 26, 2012 L-J Johnson rated it 4 of 5 stars

When it comes to adventure novels, you have me at one word: Egypt. An eccentric (is there any other kind?) billionaire heads an expedition to Egypt to uncover THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL FIND OF THE MILLENNIUM. The group includes a feisty Egyptologist, a greedy and vain and famous archaeologist, a physician obsessed with near-death experiences and his survivor-of-one wife, and our hero Jeremy Logan, an enigmalogist. Who wouldn't want that job?!? His last mission had been investigating the Loch Ness Monst...more

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About Lincoln Child

Lincoln Child was born in Westport, Connecticut, which he still calls his hometown (despite the fact that he left the place before he reached his first birthday and now only goes back for weekends).

Lincoln seemed to have acquired an interest in writing as early as second grade, when he wrote a short story entitled Bumble the Elephant (now believed by scholars to be lost). Along with two dozen shor...more Lincoln Child was born in Westport, Connecticut, which he still calls his hometown (despite the fact that he left the place before he reached his first birthday and now only goes back for weekends).

Lincoln seemed to have acquired an interest in writing as early as second grade, when he wrote a short story entitled Bumble the Elephant (now believed by scholars to be lost). Along with two dozen short stories composed during his youth, he wrote a science-fiction novel in tenth grade called Second Son of Daedalus and a shamelessly Tolkeinesque fantasy in twelfth grade titled The Darkness to the North (left unfinished at 400 manuscript pages). Both are exquisitely embarrassing to read today and are kept under lock and key by the author.

After a childhood that is of interest only to himself, Lincoln graduated from Carleton College (huh?) in Northfield, Minnesota, majoring in English. Discovering a fascination for words, and their habit of turning up in so many books, he made his way to New York in the summer of 1979, intent on finding a job in publishing. He was lucky enough to secure a position as editorial assistant at St. Martin's Press.

Over the next several years, he clawed his way up the editorial hierarchy, moving to assistant editor to associate editor before becoming a full editor in 1984. While at St. Martin's, he was associated with the work of many authors, including that of James Herriot and M. M. Kaye. He edited well over a hundred books--with titles as diverse as The Notation of Western Music and Hitler's Rocket Sites--but focused primarily on American and English popular fiction.

While at St. Martin's, Lincoln assembled several collections of ghost and horror stories, beginning with the hardcover collections Dark Company (1984) and Dark Banquet (1985). Later, when he founded the company's mass-market horror division, he edited three more collections of ghost stories, Tales of the Dark 1-3.

In 1987, Lincoln left trade publishing to work at MetLife. In a rather sudden transition, he went from editing manuscripts, speaking at sales conferences, and wining/dining agents to doing highly technical programming and systems analysis. Though the switch might seem bizarre, Lincoln was a propeller-head from a very early age, and his extensive programming experience dates back to high school, when he worked with DEC minis and the now-prehistoric IBM 1620, so antique it actually had an electric typewriter mounted into its front panel. Away from the world of publishing, Lincoln's own nascent interests in writing returned. While at MetLife, Relic was published, and within a few years Lincoln had left the company to write full time. He now lives in New Jersey (under protest--just kidding) with his wife and daughter.

A dilettante by natural inclination, Lincoln's interests include: pre-1950s literature and poetry; post-1950s popular fiction; playing the piano, various MIDI instruments, and the 5-string banjo; English and American history; motorcycles; architecture; classical music, early jazz, blues, and R&B; exotic parrots; esoteric programming languages; mountain hiking; bow ties; Italian suits; fedoras; archaeology; and multiplayer deathmatching.(less)

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