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Manhunt
The Vengeance of the Gods Book I

by Christian Jacq



      Scribe interpreter Kel seems all set for a stellar career, but when he arrives one morning he finds that everybody has been killed - and he is the prime suspect. Young and naïve, he runs away and makes himself look guiltier, but he is not without allies such as his old friend the actor Bebon, or the beautiful priestess Nitis. Everybody else seems to be against him, including the lazy pharaoh Ahmose who is rather too fond of the Greeks, and not wary enough about the Persians. As the net closes on Kel he must decipher the coded manuscript given to him by his late boss and find out what the conspiracy is all about.

Christian Jacq writes a fast paced novel filled with information about Ancient Egypt and rather engaging (if black and white) characters. His novels read rather like folktales, with an Old Testament style of never doing anything by halves which suits the period he is writing about. You won’t find modern idioms in here or anachronisms (unless you know better, in which case you are presumably an Egyptologist) and Jacq has a knack of bringing the long past to vibrant life. Well done, too, for writing about a period seldom covered, as Cambyses masses his army and Greek customs threaten to spoil the enlightened but old fashioned Egyptians. Don’t read this for in-depth character studies or an oblique look at modern issues but for a good yarn filled with chases, conspiracies and some fascinating facts about old Egypt.

The Book

Simon and Schuster UK
15 May 2008
Paperback
1847390609 / 9781847390608
Historical Mystery / 528BC Egypt
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Excerpt
NOTE: US edition different

The Reviewer

Rachel A Hyde
Reviewed 2008
NOTE:
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