Title: Sphinx
First published: 1979
Description: From the back of the book "Amid the awesome temple in Egypt's Valley of the Kings a fabulous Treasure is waiting to be discovered, a treasure worth dying- or killing - for.
This book contains a little bit of something for everyone. It's a little mystery, adventure and romance. Like the title says, this is not a typical Robin Cook medical thriller. I found the book to be extremely enjoyable. It was easy reading and fascinating. Erica Baron travels to Egypt to escape/get away from a romance that she isn't sure she wants and to fulfil her dream as an Egyptologist what could go wrong. During a visit to an antique shop Erica meets Abdul Hamdi the proprietor who shows her an authentic life size statue of Seti I. But what she didn't bargain for was seeing Hamdi murdered before her very eyes. This starts a trail of intrigue, romance, and danger as Erica decides to help do something about the black market trading of Egyptian antiquities.

As usual, Mr. Cook's characters are colorful and seem so true to life. He brings the story alive and sets the various scenes without wasting words on descriptions. The characters are few and you don't really know who is friend or foe.

Again, don't be fooled. If you're a fan of Mr. Cook and are looking for his usual medical thriller this isn't one. Don't leave it off of your reading list though. For you die hard Cook fans, this is one of his earlier works and may be hard to find. I this book and read it in one day at the beach.

Mr. Cook, this book shows that you definitely have the ability to venture into other areas of writing rather than just medical thrillers. I will be placing this book on my shelf alongside your other novels. You are a great author in my opinion and greatly enjoy your works.

I gave this book 4 stars because I felt it could have been a little more exciting and was just a little slow starting. I highly recommend this book for anyone who enjoys mystery, romance and intrigue.

Other books I have read by this author include Fever, Brain, Outbreak to many others to list here.

Again don't leave this book off of your reading list.
Subjects: Fiction, Archaeology, Fiction in English, Large type books, Fiction, general, Egyptologists, Archaeological thefts
Places: Egypt