Egypt 2153 BC Eighty priests set out under cover of darkness into the western desert, taking with them a mysterious object swathed in cloth. Four weeks later, having reached their destination, they calmly slit each other's throats...Albania, 1986 A plane takes off from a remote airfield, bound for the Sudan. On board a cargo that will forever change the Middle East. Somewhere over the Sahara the plane disappears...The western desert, the present day A group of Bedouin discover a mummified corpse half-buried in the dunes. With it are a roll of camera film and a miniature clay obelisk inscribed with a curious hieroglyphic sign...Three unconnected events Or so it seems until Freya Hannen arrives in Egypt for the funeral of her sister, a desert explorer who has inexplicably taken her own life...For Freya it is the start of a terrifying, life-or-death adventure - one that will lead her and Egyptologist Flin Brodie deep into the forbidding wastes of the Sahara. Their goal: one of archaeology's greatest mysteries and the astonishing secret at its heart...
“The Hidden Oasis is a rip-roaring gem of a read….You are in for a real treat!” –Raymond Khoury, author of The Last Templar
“Another winner from Paul Sussman—hands down one of the best writers of international suspense in the business. Told with authority and style, excitement melds with adventure—you can feel the scorching desert heat and the chapping, acrid winds. The Hidden Oasis offers bone chilling thrills, a flair for the macabre, and off-the-charts suspense. Superb.”—Steve Berry, author of The Charlemagne Pursuit
“The Hidden Oasis is that rarest of literary entities: an intelligent, compelling, beautifully written thriller. You will enjoy every page of this breathtaking ride—and the secret at the heart of it will knock the top of your head off.”—William Bernhardt, author of Capitol Offense
“The Hidden Oasis evokes a lost world of primordial myth that men have sought since the very dawn of history—the twist: this time, the seeker is a female mountain climber! Amidst non-stop action—and literal cliffhangers—Paul Sussman again convinces us that there is nothing boring about the lost worlds of archeology.” –Katherine Neville, author of The Fire
Description:
Egypt 2153 BC Eighty priests set out under cover of darkness into the western desert, taking with them a mysterious object swathed in cloth. Four weeks later, having reached their destination, they calmly slit each other's throats...Albania, 1986 A plane takes off from a remote airfield, bound for the Sudan. On board a cargo that will forever change the Middle East. Somewhere over the Sahara the plane disappears...The western desert, the present day A group of Bedouin discover a mummified corpse half-buried in the dunes. With it are a roll of camera film and a miniature clay obelisk inscribed with a curious hieroglyphic sign...Three unconnected events Or so it seems until Freya Hannen arrives in Egypt for the funeral of her sister, a desert explorer who has inexplicably taken her own life...For Freya it is the start of a terrifying, life-or-death adventure - one that will lead her and Egyptologist Flin Brodie deep into the forbidding wastes of the Sahara. Their goal: one of archaeology's greatest mysteries and the astonishing secret at its heart...
From Publishers Weekly
Set largely in Egypt's vast western desert, Sussman's entertaining if formulaic third archeological thriller (after The Last Secret of the Temple) starts out as an Indiana Jonesian quest for a legendary desert paradise known as the Oasis at the End of the World. When Alex Hannen, a former CIA agent living in Egypt, is found dead, an apparent suicide, her estranged sister, Freya, a world-renowned rock climber, travels to Cairo for Alex's funeral. Freya, soon realizing her sister was murdered, vows to bring the killer to justice. After befriending one of Alex's closest friends, enigmatic Egyptologist Flin Brodie, the unlikely duo find themselves on the run from a host of assassins, spies and government agents—and charging headlong into one of the biggest archeological discoveries in centuries. The smart pace and attention to character development compensate for some dubious plot twists toward the end reminiscent of a weird X-Files episode. (Oct.)
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Review
“The Hidden Oasis is a rip-roaring gem of a read….You are in for a real treat!” –Raymond Khoury, author of The Last Templar
“Another winner from Paul Sussman—hands down one of the best writers of international suspense in the business. Told with authority and style, excitement melds with adventure—you can feel the scorching desert heat and the chapping, acrid winds. The Hidden Oasis offers bone chilling thrills, a flair for the macabre, and off-the-charts suspense. Superb.”—Steve Berry, author of The Charlemagne Pursuit
“The Hidden Oasis is that rarest of literary entities: an intelligent, compelling, beautifully written thriller. You will enjoy every page of this breathtaking ride—and the secret at the heart of it will knock the top of your head off.”—William Bernhardt, author of Capitol Offense
“The Hidden Oasis evokes a lost world of primordial myth that men have sought since the very dawn of history—the twist: this time, the seeker is a female mountain climber! Amidst non-stop action—and literal cliffhangers—Paul Sussman again convinces us that there is nothing boring about the lost worlds of archeology.” –Katherine Neville, author of The Fire