Fast paced early work from Crichton has a really clever central idea - an archaeologist discovers a lost tomb of the pharaohs and instead of telling the world decides to steal it. There is a rag tag group of characters assembled out of film archetypes - a British lord, a sexy dame, a smuggler, a thief, a journalist.
But the book doesn't seem to have many other fresh ideas after that. There's some research about digs, but not of a standard that Crichton would later excel in. There are some decent moments, like discovering the tomb and when the hero gets stuck in the tomb - but not enough of them. He doesn't put his characters in enough peril.
I found the ending confusing. I started off liking this but that feeling lessened as the bok went on. Still it is a great idea and I wish Crichton had revised this one.
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