The Alexander Cipher-Will Adams

The Alexander Cipher
Will Adams
Grand Central, Mar 5 2009, $24.99
ISBN: 9780446404686

In Alexandria, excavation of a site to construct a new hotel reveals the ruins of an ancient tomb. Construction manager Mohammed el-Dahab shuts down work to notify the authorities of the find as proscribed by Egyptian law. The Feds send archeologists to catalogue the tomb. The professionals quickly determine the artifacts come from the age of Alexander the Great. As a side consequence of an Alexander age discovery, there is renewed interest in finding the tomb of the Great Macedonian conqueror.

As the fervor arises Daniel Knox works on a dive vessel in the Red Sea until his chivalrous nature gets him in trouble when the Good Samaritan rescues a woman from a sexual predatory mobster with money, connections and anger. Forced to flee, he rushes to Alexandria where he has a haven to hide in with an archeological friend Augustin until the Red Sea incident becomes forgotten. Daniel gets inside to see the new Alexandria tomb and realizes the greatness of the discovery because there are clues to where Alexander the Great was buried. He soon meets ancient Egyptian language expert Gaille Bonnard, who is part of a team working on an Alexander dig to the north. Before he knows what happened Daniel is in love and searching for Alexander’s tomb.

Although overwhelmed with too many subplots, THE ALEXANDER CIPHER is a terrific thriller that cleverly interweaves historical tidbits of Ancient Egypt and Macedonia during the Alexander era into the contemporary adventure. Readers will root for Knox, a sort of modern day Indiana Jones, who gets into one hot water situation after another until the audience assumes he is an over cooked hard boiled egg. Fans will enjoy his escapades in an entertaining brisk archeological thriller.

Harriet Klausner