Khaleel Datay's Blog - Posts Tagged "british-intelligence"

The Lost Army Of Cambyses by Paul Sussman

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


An antique dealer is killed in Luxor and an archeology professor is found dead at his dig house in Saqqara. The professor's daughter, Tara Mullray always had a difficult relationship with her father whose love for his work transcended the love for his family. After having received a call from her dad to come to Egypt she looks forward to an unlikely reconciliation. She seeks assistance from the British Embassy but gets an odd feeling about their handling of the matter. Inspector Yusuf Khalifa from Luxor Police Dept is assigned to the case of the murdered antique dealer. When another dealer is killed in a similar fashion in Cairo, he sets off to find a link to his case. When Tara Mullray is pursued by parties unknown she suspects foul play in her father's death. Her pursuers, led by a giant German, were after a missing piece from an ancient tomb wall. When she meets up with a former lover, a long time associate of her father's, she is hopeful of a way out. After a terror incident in Cairo where several people are killed by a lone gunman, it is clear there is a link between the terrorists and the murders. Inspector Khalifa digs deeper and deeper into the investigation and the more he finds the more he dreads the outcome. The missing tomb piece has a relevance to an ancient mystery and lost treasures. The killer German and his black robed terror outfit drop bodies at will, nothing standing in their way to get to the missing piece. There are explosive twists throughout the book right up to the very end. This was Paul Sussman's first Inspector Khalifa novel (he gets a mere mention in a previous book)where he gives us a glimpse into the Egyptian culture, its people and the tough problems they faced. Written prior to 9/11 it is eerily prescient of the happenings in the Middle East. Instead of giving us clichéd bad guys, he deconstructs the terrorist mind and gives those of us from the West something to think about. If you're a fan of the murder/mystery genre, this book is for you. A bit long, as his books normally are, but definitely worth it.



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