Easy Go by Michael Crichton (Hard Case Crime series)

8/10

This Hard Case Crime novel is set in Egypt, where Professor Barnaby has been given access to old papyrus to re-translate the hieroglyphics, whilst doing this he stumbles upon co-ordinates to what may be the last undiscovered tomb of a Pharaoh, and so begins this tale of intrigue, as he makes acquaintance with Pierce and work out how to steal lost treasures without ending up in an Egyptian jail.

The book is split into three sections, Part 1: The Plan, Part 2: The Search and Part 3: The Last Tomb. They are quite self-explanatory, the group of characters that Barnaby and Pierce collect to help them in their search include Lord Grover, who will finance an expedition to photograph the hieroglyphics in the tombs of the Valley of the Kings as a cover for the search for the lost tomb. Nikos a master thief, who speaks Arabic. Conway an archaeologist, jack of all trades and Lisa who is Lord Grover’s secretary.

This gang of fortune hunters have to get past the Egyptian Authorities into one allowing their project to move forward as well as hiding from them the true nature of their trip into the desert. Once there they then have to figure out how to find a tomb and contend with the vague idea of the curse of the Mummy which is still talked about when they opened Tutankhamen’s tomb. There are some great ideas thrown into this story of what kind of traps they may have to get around finding the rumoured treasure.

The story is fun and fast paced and you are left guessing throughout the book on whether they will succeed. The characters for all their faults are extremely likable and I found myself really wanting them to succeed, even if it was morally wrong.

As mentioned in the book we live in a world where most things in Egypt have been discovered and Egyptology is a waning subject, but wouldn’t it be wonderful for something new to be found and our interests rekindled?