The Lost Army of Cambyses - Softcover

Sussman, Paul

3.78

4,494 ratings by Goodreads

9780553814040: The Lost Army of Cambyses

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0553814044 ISBN 13: 9780553814040

Publisher: Transworld Pub, 2003

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In 523 BC, the Persian emperor Cambyses dispatched an army to destroy the oracle of Amun. Legend has it that the army was overwhelmed by a sandstorm and destroyed. Then a mutilated body washed ashore in modern Luxor brings old secrets and new dangers for Inspector Khalifa.

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About the Author:

Paul Sussman's two great passions have always been writing and archaeology. He fulfils the former by working as a freelance journalist and the latter by spending two months of each year excavating in Egypt. He is thirty-five and lives in London with his wife. The Lost Army of Cambyses is his first novel.

From Publishers Weekly:

Sussman's accomplished first thriller mixes an ancient legend of an invading Persian army swallowed up by a sandstorm in the Egyptian desert with the explosive politics of modern Egypt. London zoologist Tara Mullray comes to the pyramids at Saqqara to visit her father, a prominent archeologist. She finds him slumped dead in his apartment, apparently of natural causes. He has left his daughter an ancient, much-coveted wall fragment that he discovered, covered with hieroglyphics that may reveal the long-concealed site where the lost Persian army perished. The site would be not only an archeological gold mine but an incredibly valuable store of ancient treasure. Many shady characters are after the wall fragment, and Tara is caught up in a swirl of intrigue involving a malevolent Islamic fundamentalist leader, Sayf-al-Tha'r, who wants an Egypt freed of foreigners, and his associate, Dr. Dravic, a greedy, unscrupulous German professor. Helping her navigate the shadowy local politics is Daniel Lecage, an archeologist and former lover who left her for his other love, Egypt. She's also aided by Yusuf Khalifa, a thoughtful police inspector whose beloved older brother joined Sayf-al-Tha'r's radicals and was eventually killed by them. Sussman, who works on excavations in Egypt, has created a textured, well-researched and expertly paced debut. As the murders and thrills accumulate, the story veers toward melodrama, but the truly inventive plot twists come along at such a fast clip that readers won't mind.
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