The Hidden Oasis-Paul Sussman

The Hidden Oasis
Paul Sussman
Atlantic Monthly, Oct 6 2009, $24.00
ISBN 9780802119186

In Egypt, former CIA operative Alex Hannen commits suicide. Her estranged sister American mountain climber Freya arrives in Cairo for her funeral; but even before reaching Egypt, she has had a hard time picturing Alex killing herself. In Cairo, Freya quickly concludes that her sibling was murdered because the doctor who ruled suicide had no idea her sister could not have injected morphine into herself as Alex was down right phobic in her fears of needles. Though they had a schism Freya vows to get justice for her sibling.

Frey becomes friends of Alex's buddy, pre-dynasty Egyptologist Flin Brodie, who is working a dig in the western desert in search of the legendary lost for almost four millennia at theOasis at the End of the World of Zerzura. As he gets closer to the find of the century, Flin and Freya are soon in deep trouble from assassins who may be working for the government.

The third Egyptian archeological thriller (see THE LOST ARMY OF CAMBYSES and THE LAST SECRET OF THE TEMPLE) is a fast-paced action-packed thriller that keeps reader attention throughout even with some enigmatic late implausible twists. Like its two predecessors the story line has a modern day Indiana Jones like feel to it as one thing leads to another especially when Freya and Flin meet. Fans will enjoy Paul Sussman’s solid though by the book suspense saga as the lead couple appear reaching their end in ironically a paradise Oasis at the End of the World.

Harriet Klausner