Set in the reign of Egypt's infamous pharaoh, Akhenaten, Queen Nefertiti vanishes just before the celebration of the completion of her husband's new capital city. Rai Rahotep, chief detective of the Thebes division of the medjay, is assigned to investigate the queen's disappearance. He has only ten days to find her or he and his family will be executed. In the course of his investigation, he discovers that not all that glitters in the seemingly cosmopolitan city is gold. Some have dark secrets to hide, and they will do anything to gain power.

Armchair enthusiasts of history and Egyptophiles will love this novel. Drake's writing style is remniscent of Lauren Haney and Lynda S. Robinson.

The accuracy to detail. There are major gaps in what is known about this period in history and Nick Drake takes it at face value. When Rahotep records things, like who is related to who, there is a lot of mystery to it. Ay is taken for granted as being Nefertiti's father in scholarly circles. In the novel, it's the last thing that she or Ay want known to her subjects.

There was a subtle perversion to this story that rankled me. It's almost as if Nick Drake has read the obscure trilogy about Nefertiti written by Alexandra Hamilton. I noticed many similarites in her work and his.

Anticipate a sequel. Usually mystery writers tend to write several novels centered around one character. It worked for Lauren Haney's Leiutenant Bak and Lynda S. Robinson's Lord Meren.

Detatched. I could envision the setting, but had a harder time believing the characters.

This is Nick Drake's first novel. He has written several screenplays and stage works. He lives in London.

For a venture into the Amarna era, it's bold. I like it when a writer actually does research and gets it right(unlike others who have also written about the same subject).

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Created Dec 17, 2007 at 2:26am • Submit your own review...