Synopsis
The discovery of the Seventh Scroll, an ancient Egyptian papyrus containing the secret to a pharaoh's hidden tomb and its wealth, unleashes a deadly race to find the secret treasure
Reviews
A search for the 4000-year-old tomb of an Egyptian pharaoh along the Nile's headwaters in Ethiopia is the focus of this intoxicating sequel to River God. A heady mix of exotic adventure, romance and Egyptology, it pairs blueblood, devil-may-care Sir Nicholas Quenton-Harper, who recently has lost his wife and children in a tragic accident, and half-English, half-Egyptian archeologist Royan Al-Sima, herself recently bereaved, in a desperate race to unearth Pharaoh Mamose's fabulous treasures. Their rival in this quest is Gotthold von Schiller, an old, crazed, murderous German collector of antiquities whose mistress, a porno actress, dresses up as an ancient Egyptian queen to titillate him. The major clue is the eponymous seventh scroll, key to the tomb's location, written by ancient Egyptian scribe Taita, who figured prominently in River God. As the novel opens, thugs hired by von Schiller steal the scroll, and thereafter the rival archeologist teams play a cat-and-mouse game with Taita across the millennia, avoiding lethal traps and deciphering red herrings, which will fool the reader too. The colorful cast includes alcoholic ex-KGB operative Boris Brusilov and ruthless Texan Jake Helm, von Schiller's slavish sidekick. Fans of intricate adventure and Egyptian lore will be captivated by Smith's capacious saga, which should serve to increase his audience in the States. This prolific and popular British writer-with 24 previous novels, he is a bestseller in England and elsewhere, to the tune of 65 million copies-is a master of the genre. 250,000 first printing; $250,000 ad/promo.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
A consummate sequel, The Seventh Scroll perfectly complements River God , its phenomenally popular precursor. Smith has cleverly catapulted the story of Taita, the previous novel's wily narrator, 4,000 years into the future, that is, into the present. Mastermind Taita's brilliant feats of engineering and concealment succeeded in keeping the whereabouts of a pharaoh's tomb secret until a pair of archaeologists, Duraid and his young and beautiful wife, Royan, unearth a set of his clue-filled scrolls. As soon as they began translating the seventh scroll, they realize that they're onto something big. Soon their rivals catch the scent, and Duraid is the first to die in a treasure hunt that quickly escalates into a mercenaries' war. Plucky Royan enlists the help of a wealthy, dashing, and, yes, sensitive, British adventurer, Sir Nicholas Quenton-Harper, and soon they and their intrepid cohorts are reconnoitering in a treacherous Ethiopian river gorge. Their quest involves saints and torturers, guns and explosives, intuition and courage, constant danger and a rather sweet sexual restraint. Smith excels at action sequences, getting his attractive heroes and despicable villains into and out of hugely entertaining predicaments, all the while tossing off vivid descriptions, bits of historical detail, and classic low-key British banter. Donna Seaman
Noted Egyptologist Royan Al Simma escapes an attempt on her life, but her husband, Duraid, is not so lucky. This husband-and-wife archaeological team was immersed in unraveling the secrets of the "seventh scroll." Written in a type of shorthand, the scroll dates back to the Hyksos invasion of Egypt and was recently discovered in the tomb of Queen Lostris, whose story is told in Smith's River God (St. Martin's, 1994). Grieving over the loss of her husband, Royan engages Sir Nicholas Quenton-Harper, a wealthy English collector, to assist her in completing the work she and Duraid had begun by locating the tomb of Pharaoh Mamose the Eighth, husband of Lostris. Through collective teamwork, Royan and Nicholas travel to Ethiopia, at great peril to themselves, as they try to uncover a 4000-year-old secret. This well-crafted novel is full of adventure, tension, and intrigue. Recommended for general readers.?Maria A. Perez-Stable, Western Michigan Univ. Libs., Kalamazoo
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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