Sphinx

by Robin Cook

Intrigue, corruption, and murder envelop a young American archaeologist when, after stumbling upon an unplundered pharaoh's tomb, she ignores the threats of traffickers in stolen ancient treasures

Genres: Fiction, Thriller, Mystery, Suspense, Egypt, Mystery Thriller, Medical

323 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1979

About the author

Librarian Note: Not to be confused with British novelist Robin Cook a pseudonym of Robert William Arthur Cook.

Dr. Robin Cook (born May 4, 1940 in New York City, New York) is an American doctor / novelist who writes about medicine, biotechnology, and topics affecting public health.

He is best known for being the author who created the medical-thriller genre by combining medical writing with the thriller genre of writing. His books have been bestsellers on the "New York Times" Bestseller List with several at #1. A number of his books have also been featured in Reader's Digest. Many were also featured in the Literary Guild. Many have been made into motion pictures.

Cook is a graduate of Wesleyan University and Columbia University School of Medicine. He finished his postgraduate medical training at Harvard that included general surgery and ophthalmology. He divides his time between homes in Florida, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts where he lives with his wife Jean. He is currently on leave from the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary. He has successfully combined medical fact with fiction to produce a succession of bestselling books. Cook's medical thrillers are designed, in part, to make the public aware of both the technological possibilities of modern medicine and the ensuing ethical conundrums.


Cook got a taste of the larger world when the Cousteau Society recruited him to run its blood - gas lab in the South of France while he was in medical school. Intrigued by diving, he later called on a connection he made through Jacques Cousteau to become an aquanaut with the US Navy Sealab when he was drafted in the 60's. During his navy career he served on a nuclear submarine for a seventy-five day stay underwater where he wrote his first book! [1]


Cook was a private member of the Woodrow Wilson Center's Board of Trustees, appointed to a six-year term by the President George W. Bush.[2]


[edit] Doctor / Novelist
Dr. Cook's profession as a doctor has provided him with ideas and background for many of his novels. In each of his novels, he strives to write about the issues at the forefront of current medical practice.
To date, he has explored issues such as organ donation, genetic engineering,fertility treatment, medical research funding, managed care, medical malpractice, drug research, drug pricing, specialty hospitals, stem cells, and organ transplantation.[3]


Dr. Cook has been remarked to have an uncanny ability to anticipate national controversy. In an interview with Dr.Cook, Stephen McDonald talked to him about his novel Shock; Cook admits the timing of Shock was fortuitous. "I suppose that you could say that it's the most like Coma in that it deals with an issue that everybody seems to be concerned about," he says, "I wrote this book to address the stem cell issue, which the public really doesn't know much about. Besides entertaining readers, my main goal is to get people interested in some of these issues, because it's the public that ultimately really should decide which way we ought to go in something as that has enormous potential for treating disease and disability but touches up against the ethically problematic abortion issue."[4]


Keeping his lab coat handy helps him turn our fear of doctors into bestsellers. "I joke that if my books stop selling, I can always fall back on brain surgery," he says. "But I am still very interested in being a doctor. If I had to do it over again, I would still study medicine. I think of myself more as a doctor who writes, rather than a writer who happens to be a doctor." After 35 books,he has come up with a diagnosis to explain why his medical thrillers remain so popular. "The main reason is, we all realize we are at risk. We're all going to be patients sometime," he says. "You can write about great white sharks or haunted houses, and you can say I'm not going into the ocean or I'm not going in haunted houses, but you can't say you're n

Reviews

[Tahera · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book back when I was I think in the 10th grade so it suffices to say I don't remember much of the main plot line at all except that it had nothing to do with medicine and the mystery was based in Egypt. I wouldn't mind reading it again if I find a copy to refresh my memory...

[Exina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sphinx is not the usual medical thriller by Cook but an adventurous mystery set in Egypt. I liked it at the time, but to be honest I prefer his medical stories.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

I first saw the movie with Lesley-Anne Down as Erica Baron about an archaeologist who comes to Egypt to see a golden statue of the pharaoh Seti I in an antiques shop and when the proprietor gets killed and the statue taken she finds herself in danger. She essentialy gets involved in an in-fight between the various fractions of the Black Market selling Egyptian archaeological artifacts and the ministry responsible in stopping the traffic and selling of Egyptian treasures. The whole plot hinges on the whereabouts of the pharaoh Seti I whose statue leads to murder and mayhem.

A fairly decent thriller by the former king of the medical thriller, however it sometimes feel dated which would be understandable as the book is almost 35 years old. The pace is sometimes high and falls flat on other moments. But still there are worse books to read than this archaeological thriller.

I started this book a year ago but somehow my Kobo Glo HD stopped doing the glo bit and it was not until I got a new e-reader that I could continue the story. Hence the long period of reading.

[Sarah (is clearing her shelves) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read for the 2017 POPSUGAR Challenge prompt 'A Book that's Been on Your TBR List for Way too Long'

SPOILERS FOR IDENTITY OF BAD GUY AND WHERE THE MAIN CHARACTER ENDS UP

I have read this before, but not in at least a decade and I had obviously forgotten a number of pertinent plot points, enough that I might as well have been reading it for the first time.

The main thing that I had forgotten and was surprised (and not pleased) to read was that there was a love triangle (or maybe square) between Erica, Yvon, Ahmed, and Richard. I didn't go into this expecting there to be any romance, so to find out that Erica's relationship with Richard (and then Yvon and Ahmed when Richard turns out to be a chauvinistic dick) played a major part in the story was a disappointment. I wanted a thriller featuring the mysteries of Ancient Egypt, not a stupid and unnecessary love square. The 'romance' was just not necessary and didn't add anything to the plot, it almost felt like a waste of paper and ink.

While I didn't like Richard's dismissal of Erica's intelligence I also found it slightly appropriate (although he didn't know that at the time) as she did make a number of decisions that made me question her intelligence only pages after feeling the need to defend her ability to think for herself to Richard. I was especially suspicious of the too-smooth and suave Yvon. Just because he didn't try to kill her didn't automatically mean he was trustworthy enough to get naked with (which turned out to be completely right as he eventually admitted to being a cheating bastard with a wife and two children back home in France) or to allow him to put her life in danger for his monetary gain.

Originally I was thinking this was going to be an easy four star read, despite Richard's chauvinistic attitudes because Erica refused to buckle under his expectations of what how his little woman should behave. He kept denigrating her passion for Ancient Egypt and eventually he gave her the ultimatum of come home with me or lose me forever and she chose to stay (I cheered). So Erica's making her own choices and being an independent thinker and following her passion and I'm thinking "Yay, forget that idiot. You don't need him (or either of the other two)." But then that last scene where Erica gets home from Egypt, after all the excitement of being involved with a black market smuggling ring controlled by the very man supposed to be in charge of policing that kind of activity, she runs into Richard's arms and tells him "You were right, Richard. I was over my head from the start. I'm lucky to be alive.". To me that reads like she's relinquishing all her independence and telling Richard that it's okay for him to tell her what to do because he knows what's best for her. So all the gains that she had made when she was refusing to allow him to dictate to her what she can and can't do were just thrown away by that final piece of dialogue. So the four stars became three on the final page.

Regarding the Seti I/Tutankhamen storyline I found that fascinating and loved the way Cook was able to thread his story into real life events (Carter and Carnarvon's discovery of Tutankhamen's tomb). The fictional story made me want to look further into the true story of Seti I and King Tut (I have a very large book on Ancient Egypt as a whole as well as an only slightly smaller one on Tutankhamen that I bought when I saw the 2015 tour of the artefacts from his tomb).

[Brian · Rating 1 out of 5]

Perhaps this was Robin Cook's thinking:

"Sphinx" = Egypt
"Sphinx" = riddle
"Riddle" = mystery
Sphinx = mystery in Egypt.

In any case, no sphinx figures into the plot of this novel, but it is an Egyptological mystery/thriller.

Young, beautiful Egyptologist Erica Baron, while on a sort of working vacation in Egypt, unexpectedly gets taken into the confidence of a black market antiquities dealer. The dealer shows her a fabulous statue of Seti I, a New Kingdom Pharaoh who ruled shortly after Tutankhamen, that doesn't officially exist and which hints at still more treasure from an undiscovered tomb. When the dealer is murdered and the statue stolen, Erica finds herself drawn into a world of black market intrigue and treasure hunting.

This is Cook's followup to Coma. For both, he chooses a female protagonist, then undercuts her authority by hinging the plot on her physical beauty. In Coma, the heroine was only able to pursue her research into strange coma cases at a Boston hospital because her boss had the hots for her. Here, Erica remains alive not because of her decision-making skills (extremely poor), fighting prowess (she has none), or her academic credentials (which actually make her more of a threat), but simply because not one but two men find her irresistibly attractive. (The total number is, in fact, four, but one of the other two men wants her to leave Egypt and the other is merely a lackey.) And so, with each new turn of the plot, instead of heading toward increasing excitement, the story explores new avenues of absurdity.

The lure is Ancient Egypt, but this isn't like a Dan Brown novel, in which art and architecture take center stage. For Cook, its all merely an exotic backdrop for...well, Cook can't really decide what its for. Romance? The black market? A treasure hunt? It's all three. Sphinx is a prime example of the pejorative definition of "bestseller": shallow, titillating, and superficially exciting.

The titillating part (this was published in 1979) is Erica herself, and her romantic relationships. You might think that because this is set in the land of the great pyramids, the fact that Erica finds herself at the apex of a romantic triangle is thematically or metaphorically significant, but I can tell you that Cook doesn't operate on that level. No, he sticks to the basics, giving Erica a choice between a tough ladies man and a sensitive intellectual. Almost forgotten in all this is her doctor boyfriend, who gets to say what we're all thinking -- darling, you're an Egyptologist, not a super-spy -- but who then proves what an ass he is by denigrating Erica's professional aspirations. During the course of the book, Erica has an opportunity to sleep with all three, but I'm thinking you only need one guess to figure out which one she picks.

Cooks opens the book with a quotation from Herodotus: "Concerning Egypt itself I shall extend my remarks to a great length, because there is no country that possesses so many wonders, nor any that has such a number of works that defy description." Because this novel barely describes any of these wonders (real or imagined), I will close this review with another quotation, this one from one of Herodotus' critics, substituting only the proper name: "Though we cannot entirely rule out the possibility of Cook having been in Egypt, it must be said that his narrative bears little witness to it."

[J.H. Moncrieff · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

A decent thriller with a side of Egyptian mystery, this was a quick and engaging read. While I didn't really care about the protagonist so much, and wondered why she kept assessing how beautiful she looked each day in her mind (is this how men believe women think? When I was in Egypt, the last thing I cared about was how my tan set off my dress), the novel had a good plot that kept one guessing, especially about the ancient-Egyptian aspect of the mystery.

Recommended if you like adventure stories with female protagonists, especially if you have an interest in ancient Egypt. And if you've been to Egypt, it's fun to revisit it through this book.

[MikeR · Rating 4 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️½ – Sphinx by Robin Cook
“Come for the tombs. Stay for the black-market antiquities. Try not to get murdered.”

🏺 Plot (Spoilers, Sand, and Slight Disappointment Ahead)
So Robin Cook put down the stethoscope, picked up a sun hat, and said, “Let’s do Indiana Jones… but make it confusing, vaguely romantic, and absolutely devoid of curses or mummies.”



Erica Baron, a fiercely independent Egyptologist from Boston, finally takes the trip of her dreams to 1920s Egypt—a land still reeling from the seismic impact of Howard Carter’s 1922 discovery of King Tut’s tomb. She's there to escape her possessive boyfriend Richard and to immerse herself in fieldwork and hieroglyphic translation. What she doesn’t count on? Witnessing a murder in a Cairo marketplace and glimpsing a priceless statue of Seti I that shouldn’t exist. The cartouche? Historically impossible. The implications? Explosive.

As she digs deeper (figuratively and literally), she gets entangled with a web of enigmatic men:

Yvon Julien de Margeau, suave and helpful… maybe too helpful.

Ahmed Khazzan, the Director of Antiquities with Oxford polish and ambiguous motives.

Stephanos Markoulis, a walking red flag with mob ties.

Kalifa, a mysterious figure in a black suit shadowing her every move.



Erica’s quest quickly pivots from “vacation of a lifetime” to a deadly race against tomb raiders and corrupt officials, all with their eyes on the rumored undisturbed tomb of Seti I—one that could rewrite history and ignite the black market.

Along the way, she learns the secrets of the late Sarwat Raman, foreman on Carter’s dig, whose widow Aida may hold the last key to unlocking the tomb—and surviving.

No curses, no plagues, no ancient undead. Just greed, deception, danger, and one woman navigating it all in linen slacks and grit.

The Historical & Archaeological Angle (vs. Medical Thrillers):
This isn’t your typical Robin Cook setup. No sinister hospitals, unethical researchers, or bioterror threats. Instead, it’s a colonial-era archaeological adventure, driven by the cultural plundering of Egypt’s heritage, with undertones of:

The ethical murkiness of Western museum collections

Post-WWI gender dynamics

National identity vs. foreign interference

The seductive power of lost history

Compared to Coma or Fever, Sphinx lacks medical urgency but mirrors Cook’s favorite themes: systems failing people, scientific obsession, and a lone woman trying to do what’s right.

✍️ Writing Style
Cook dials back his clinical precision here and leans into lush descriptive prose. The Cairo streets, tomb interiors, and bureaucratic offices are vividly rendered. That said, the romantic subplots feel a bit pulp and the pacing dips in the middle like a camel in heat.

If you came looking for a slow-building conspiracy with archaeological gravitas, you're in luck. If you wanted mummies, curses, or Indiana Jones with a uterus—sorry, Erica’s adventure is more Agatha Christie than Spielberg.

🏁 Final Word
Not bad—just not what you probably signed up for.

If you came for the usual Robin Cook medical mayhem, you may find yourself squinting at hieroglyphics and muttering “Where’s the CDC?”



But if you treat Sphinx like a one-off archaeological detour—like Cook trying to cosplay Wilbur Smith—it’s a fun, pulpy ride with just enough peril, passion, and plot twists to keep your camel trotting.

Would I recommend it? Sure. Just bring lower expectations and a sunhat.

[Sarah ~ · Rating 4 out of 5]

رواية سريعة وخاطفة في أحداثها ومتقنة في كتابتها ، استمتعت بأجواء الآثار المصرية الموجود بينَ جنباتها ..وأحداثها التي تقع بمدينة القاهرة في السبعينات من القرن الماضي .
اريكا بارون عالمة مصريات تصل إلى القاهرة " بصفة سائحة " ومن القاهرة تبدأ مغامرتها المثيرة . وفي عالم الآثار الذي يتعاركُ الكثيرون لنيل جزءٍ منه ، فساد وسوق سوداء وأسرارٌ عائلية موغلة في القدم وألغازٌ لا يجرؤ أحد على سبر غورها أو الإقتراب منها ومحاولة حلها .
رغمَ كوني لا أطيق فكرة البطل المطلق "الأمريكي غالباً " ذلكَ البطل الذي يصل ويقاتل كلَ الأشرار والفاسدين وحيداً وينتصر في النهاية ..
وهو مايحدثُ هنا في هذه الرواية .
إذا تغاضينا عن هذه النقطة بإمكاني القول أن الرواية جيدة جداً وهي أيضاً عملٌ بوليسي متقن اتخذ الآثار كـ خلفية تتمحور حوله كل الأحداث ..
أرشحها لكم ، لكل محبي الأدب البوليسي وعشاق الآثار والتاريخ .
ستستمتعون بقراءة هذه الرواية

[Aslı Dağlı · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hastaneler, tahliller, durum degerlendirmeleri yuzunden elimde istedigimden fazla kalan #Heykel en nihayetinde bitti. Daha once #RobinCook'un iki kitabini okumustum ve okuduklarima dayanarak medikal gerilim yazdigina kanaat getirmistim. Oysa Heykel hic de oyle degildi. Genc bir misirbilimcinin kendini ispat etmek ugruna Misir'a gittigi ve aniden kendini sanat eseri kacakciliginin orta yerinde buldugu bir hikaye okumayi hic ama hic beklemiyordum. Ote yandan guzeldi de. Bana daha ziyade #CliveCussler'in kitaplarini animsatti.

Kitapla ilgili asil sorun cevirisiydi. Imla hatalarindan gecilmediginden kimi yerlerde hikayeden kopmaya baslayinca sindirmeceli degil de hikayenin keyfini cikarmacali okuma yapmak adina hizlandim. Hizlaninca da bazi seyler gozume batmaz oldu. Fakat asla ama asla misirbilimi terimlerinin cevirilerinin farkliligini sindiremedim. Bunu cevrildigi yildan oturu arastirma imkaninin kisitli olmasina bagliyorum. Lakin bu benim gozumde #AltinKitaplar'i temize cikarmiyor. Eski cevirileri ya elden gecirilip modernize etmeli ya da cope atip kitaplarini yeni cevirilerle sunmalilar. Dunyaca unlu yazarlarin kitaplarini baskisi tukenmis katliamvari cevirilerden okumamaliyiz.

Siradaki kitabim yine Robin Cook'tan. Cunku ameliyat oncesinde, sonrasinda, oram buram kesilmis vaziyette hastanede yatarken neden medikal gerilim okumayayim? :)

Itinayla duruma uygun kitap secilir! 😏

Muahlar!

[Elizabeth Graf · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read other Robin Cook books that are all medical. This one has nothing to do with medicine.

This story is about Erica, an Egyptologist from Boston, who has traveled to Egypt as she has wanted to do for years and to get some time/space from Richard her boyfriend. On her first day there, she witnesses a murder, and sees a rare statue of Seti I. From then on, she meets a few people, Yvon and Ahmed, who claim that they want to help her as they are trying to stop the black market on antiquities. As the story progress she startes to wonder about their motives with the black market. Thru out the story it talkes about the tombs of King Tut and Seti I. At the end you finally get to see (read), who really has their interest in trying to stop/slow down the black market.

I know this was one of his earliest written books and the writting is not the best but I enjoyed the story line as it was a change from other Robin Cook books, but I do enjoy a good medical thriller. For me it was a quick read as it keep my attention some what. I think it would be a good book for someone that is interested in Egyptology or just to read about the life/scenes of Egypt.

[موسى البلوي · Rating 5 out of 5]

من أروع الروايات التي قرأت

[Wendy Gamble · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good, solidly enjoyable novel somewhat reminiscent of a gothic romance, with the heroine, Erica, being a protector of Egyptian artifacts. This was one of his diversions from the medical world, with the only connection being Erica’s physician fiancée who was present very little. I didn’t empathize with her as much as some of his other characters. Perhaps I wasn’t convinced myself of the grave importance of what she was doing compared to the danger she knowingly put herself in (or should have known about). I enjoyed the descriptions of ancient Egyptian monuments and artifacts, and the suspense and character drama. I didn’t guess who was a “bad guy, ” but I predicted some elements.
Compared to a Sydney Sheldon novel though that I found on the living room floor and read (it must have popped off of some shelf, figuring it was it’s time) it was not annoyingly predictable. I appreciate the frequency with which Cook features female characters in his novels, but I must admit I’ve never found them to be quite as realistic or deep as his male doctors. He tends to make his leading ladies impulsively willing to put themselves into danger when I feel other options haven’t been explored first.
Cook’s point in this work was the safeguarding of national treasures, and how they should belong to the country who treasures their history and sacred properties.

[Renato · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve bought this book back in the 80s, when I was a pre-teenager and, as every kid, fascinated by Egypt. I started reading it by then but, when I was halfway through it, I noticed that the copy that I had bought was missing some 50 pages, so I had to stop and actually never went after a complete edition.
30 years later, I’ve found a copy that was complete, and I started reading it again, and finished yesterday. It is a nice story, very different from all Robin Cook’s book (no medical thriller here), and I’m glad I read it only now, because 15 years ago I was able to travel to Egypt for work, and I’ve stayed there for 6 months, visiting most of the places that the author mentions (Luxor, Cairo, Karnak, the Nile, etc.), so I could easily picture the tombs, the desert, The Valley of the Kings and so on.
The narrative is, as usual, quite captivating, but the “mystery” could be better elaborated. And as in most Robin Cook’s books, the protagonist is always too much heroic and stubborn to the point that it is way too difficult to believe that someone like that can really exist (think Laurie Montgomery, from his medical series). Frankly, I was expecting more, but it was a good quick book to read and remember the times in Egypt.

[Natasha · Rating 1 out of 5]

This. Was. Woeful. I can recommend the first half for a good cringe. But don’t subject yourself to the rest of it.

[John Beta · Rating 2 out of 5]

Note to self......read the synopsis first! I randomly choose a Cook novel and I expected a medical thriller. This is not. Just a run-of-the-mill hunt for Egyptian artifacts. Sorry, no thrills, no mind-bending medical breakthroughs. Done at 25%. Moving on.

[Gabriela Silva · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is probably the worst book I've read from Robin Cook. Not only was weird (because usually they are related with doctors and medicine) but also weak in characters. Erica was 100% stupid. Come on she just hushed herself from man to man as some kind of b**** and felt happy to have so much male attention. And worse! She was naive enough to be fooled by everyone - although the ending was.. kind of unexpected. I couldn't find anything remotely interesting in this book.

[Saraswati Urao · Rating 5 out of 5]

This Book is totally adventurous and so fiction in it. Erica is so intelligent and brave.Hope is the best medicine to get anything you want.
The valley of kings and queen.
And while reading this book, my whole memory spent in Egypt was coming to live, the Giza Pyramids and the desert, the scorching heat.
Thank God i entered in one of the tomb

[Rachel · Rating 2 out of 5]

*Spoilers ahead*

I just didn't care for this book.

Most of the problems were with the characters.

The heroine, Erica Baron, is so naive its unbelievable. She trusts people she has zero reason to trust. She witnesses two murders, is informed of a third, and eventually uncovers a fourth, all in the space of only a few days. Yet just minutes after the first brutal murder (committed, apparently, over a statue of Seti I that is about to be smuggled out of the country), she is discovered by Yvon Julien de Margeau who tells her that he is trying to put an end to the antiquities black market. He asks her for help in locating the statue and warns her not to go to the police. He doesn't show her his law enforcement credentials because he doesn't have any. He's just a random, wealthy Frenchman who happened to wander in.
She immediately trusts him and later accepts a dinner invitation for that night. (I don't think I'd want to go out to dinner just a few hours after watching a man's throat being slit, but whatever.) Erica decides she's interested in Yvon, even though she has a boyfriend back in the states that she is this close to marrying. She doesn't get a chance to choose between the man she has known for years and the total stranger she has known for only a few hours because a third love interest shows up and he does have credentials.

Ahmed Khazzan is the director general of the Department of Antiquities and he wants to know why Erica is hanging out with Yvon, who is a known buyer of antiquities. Ahmed is concerned that Yvon is part of the black market. Erica decides not to tell Ahmed about the murder or the statue of Seti. After she leaves, he decides to have one of his subordinates tail her and see what she's up to. This is unfortunate for the subordinate because after Erica tells Yvon about her meeting with Ahmed, Yvon decides (without telling Erica) to hire an assassin to tail her and act as her bodyguard. He also decides (again without telling her) to tell his contacts in the black market that Erica witnessed the murder, so that he can use Erica as bait for drawing out the smugglers.
The assassin, Khalifa, at times seems like the bad guy from an Abbott & Costello film. He is supposedly a professional, but sees Ahmed's subordinate (who is described as being, and looking like, a chubby college grad) and becomes so concerned that the only thing to do is shoot him in front of Erica and a bunch of tourists. Even though the man had done nothing to Erica other than follow her.
Erica's boyfriend flies out to see her against her wishes and turns out to be selfish and an idiot. He hangs around for maybe a day or two and then goes back to the states, though not before pleading with Erica to go to the American embassy, tell everything she knows, and then leave Egypt. She refuses to leave because she has studied hieroglyphics for years and she's not leaving without translating some.

*MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD*


The black marketers and smugglers eventually catch up with Erica. The tomb robbers tell Erica she can see the statue of Seti IF she comes alone and isn't being followed. She goes, sees the statue and is promptly locked up in an ancient tomb. She manages to escape but having read the hieroglyphs on the statue, realizes that they reveal the location of Seti I's real tomb (which was why the smugglers wanted her dead so they could continue to loot it). Instead of going to the authorities, she decides that she needs to see this tomb first. The entrance is through a crawlspace in the men's room of the concession stand right next to King Tut's tomb. I'm serious. Turns out Seti's advisors built two tombs and the real one is hidden under Tut's tomb. The mummy of Seti on display in the museum is just a decoy that was placed in the original tomb when it was decided to build a new one.
Having explored the tomb Erica goes back to her hotel room where she is set upon by two of the black marketers. She escapes with the help of Khalifa and decides to run to Yvon. Khalifa captures one of the black marketers, Stephanos, and brings him to Yvon. Stephanos reveals that Yvon is a black marketer. Surprise!
Erica is SHOCKED and runs to Ahmed...who is meeting with the man who committed the first murder. Turns out Ahmed became head of the Antiquities Department only so he could help out his family of tomb robbers. Erica goes on the run again, wakes half the neighborhood and ends up at the house of the deputy assistant defense minister. She finally goes to the authorities who decide to let her help excavate Seti's tomb. She returns to Boston and meets up with her boyfriend and they share a good laugh. The End.

Some random things that bother me:

People are described as looking like famous (or famous at the time) people: Jean-Paul Belmondo, Omar Sharif, and Idi Amin.

I don't think the words hieroglyph or hieroglyphs show up in this book once. I don't know if I've ever read or heard of someone saying "I want to translate these hieroglyphics" or "There are hieroglyphics all over this". Maybe its grammatically correct, maybe its not. All I know is it drove me up the wall.

At one point, Erica decides to go see the mummy of Seti I. She is shocked by his appearance and is sickened by his "dried-up" face. It made me laugh because Seti I is generally considered to be the least hideous mummy and one of the best preserved. He just looks like he's sleeping.
She's been studying Egyptology for years and this is the mummy that disgusts her? She's never seen a photo of any other mummy? Never show this woman pictures of Seqenenre Tao or Duathor-Henuttawy. She will throw up and pass out.

Waaay TLDR: Save your time and skip this. Dated and full of unlikable, stupid people.
The book is dragged down by the characters and creaky plot but the author seems otherwise competent. Maybe his later books are a better bet.

[Caroline Formol · Rating 3 out of 5]

História bem escrita com enredo bem feito e bom desfecho. Ótima ambientação com bastante detalhes sobre a parte histórica do Egito.
Protagonista feminina forte e inteligente para um livro escrito na antes dos anos 2000, o único defeito for ser escrita por um homem que acha que mulheres possuem senso de perigo de um pombo, fora algumas cenas onde há ênfase nas coxas? A partir do meio a história começa a ficar mais intrigante e menos homem-escrevendo-mulheres-do-ponto-de-vista-de-homem e a tensão da trama toma conta. O desfecho é bem imprevisível, porém já deu para sacar muito cedo que Yvon apenas estava usando Érica.
Sobre Ahmed, fiquei incomodada como em pelo menos duas cenas (encontro dele e da protagonista pela primeira vez e depois em Luxor), ele teve ataques de raiva; isso só reflete como homens negros são lidos como homens raivosos

Leitura fácil e bem fluída, tirando esses pequenos detalhes a história é ótima pra quem gosta de suspense

[Brandon Bergman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Remarkably forward for the 70's, which isn't saying much. SOlid lady lead, bad romantic subplot, good action, fun mystery. Will it stay on my shelf? Might end up a give away. But I am happy I gave it a second chance.

[Elizabeth · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not necessarily terrible but certainly dated by 2023; A lot of the descriptions and actions of the female protagonist are sexist and kinda gross. I found large stretches of the mystery to be boring and the resolution was EXTREMELY rushed and unsatisfying.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

A novel steeped in the details and mysteries of both ancient and modern Egypt. Sometimes with awkward dialogue but overall a fun action read.

[Mohamed · Rating 2 out of 5]

رواية في بعض أجزائها لطيفة ولكن يغلب عليها الممل ما عدا النهاية حيث إيريكا عالمة المصريات في زيارة لمصر لأول مرة و لكنها تتورط في عمليات قتل تحدث في وجودها بسبب تمثال ستي الأول والذي يجعلها تسعى لمعرفة ما يحدث حولها بمساعدة إيفون الفرنسي الذي يسعى للحد من تجارة الآثار
الترجمة جميلة وسلسة

[Fatima · Rating 5 out of 5]

it was a good reading journey, it was like im living in the old times, better yet i lived in egypt with erica and sensed all her emotions through tempting adventure.... a must read

[KruemelGizmo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Die Gräber der Pharaonen, so heißt es wären alle verflucht. Erica Baron, eine junge Ägyptologin, ist fest entschlossen sich von diesen abergläubischen Ängsten nicht beeinflussen zu lassen. Kaum in Kairo angekommen, wird ihr Spürsinn belohnt, in einem Hinterzimmer eines Souvenirladens zeigt man ihr ein außergewöhnliches und uraltes Kunstwerk. Noch während sie das Kunstwerk bestaunt wird der Besitzer des Ladens ermordet. Und das ist nicht der letzte Mord…

Der Fluch der Sphinx aus der Feder von Robin Cook stammt aus dem Jahre 1979.

Die Geschichte um die junge Ägyptologin Erica Baron konnte mich nicht wirklich auf eine Reise durch Ägypten mitnehmen. Die Protagonistin, immer wieder gerne als keine wirkliche klassische Schönheit, aber mit einer sinnlichen Ausstrahlung beschrieben, die durch diese Geschichte stolpert, war für mich in vielen Bereichen nicht wirklich überzeugend. Alle Männer waren natürlich sofort von ihr eingenommen und hin und weg von ihr, was ich schon bei dem ersten männlichen Protagonisten mehr als abgedroschen fand, leider folgten diesem dann auch noch ein paar mehr. Auch die Auseinandersetzungen mit ihrem Lebensgefährten, die bis fast zur Hälfte des Buches immer wieder eine Rolle spielten, waren für die Geschichte völlig überflüssig und zehrten auf Grund der Dialoge schon manchmal ein wenig an meinen Nerven.

Die Geschichte selbst hatte wenig Neues zu bieten, ob das 1979 anders war, kann ich heute nicht mehr wirklich beurteilen. Ein „Schatz“, eine Heldin, natürlich ausgestattet mit einem besonderen Anreiz für die Männer, Bösewichte, der ein oder andere Tote der den Weg säumt, eine Verfolgung, die Suche nach dem Schatz in alten Grabkammern ist in knappen Worten die ganze Zusammenfassung des Buches. Aus heutiger Sicht wurden dabei auch noch das ein oder andere Klischee bemüht, was das Ganze für mich nicht gerade aufgewertet hat. Auch wirkte der ganze Ablauf arg konstruiert und vor allem zum Ende hin mehr als unglaubhaft.

Einzig die Beschreibungen von Kairo, mit seinem Basaren und dem Alltagsleben der Ägypter fand ich interessant und gut beschrieben und ließen einen Hauch von Atmosphäre erahnen.

Mein Fazit:
Eine vorhersehbare Geschichte mit einer nicht überzeugenden Protagonistin und einem unglaubhaftem Ende. Hier kann ich diesmal keine Leseempfehlung aussprechen.

[Roberta · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read almost all the books of Robin Cook and this is the one I like less. The plot is fine, characters are fine, the book is just that: fine.
A young, beautiful american girl with a doctorate in egyptology finally has the chance to travel to this country. If she were an Italian tourist she would have had food, a romance and some horrible souvenirs; if she were German, a sunburn; but no, she's American, so she witness a murder the very first day of her touring. Obviously she doesn't report it to the police but prefers to investigate the matter on her own, supported by a French millionaire who lends her his private jet and hire a clumsy bodyguard to follow her around (he let himself be spotted too many times for my taste) and theEgyptian chief of the Department of Antiquities. They both have a crush on her, but she's focused on playing Mata Hari. While looking into the blackest of the black market in search for a precious statue she also has the time to solve some ancient mystery overlooked by professional archeologists in decades of work.

I probably don't like the novel because I've only read Cook's medical thrillers, which I truly enjoy, and I don't think he added much to the genre with this exploit into an exotic location.
Nevertheless, it's a mild reading suitable for a lazy afternoon.

[Carmen · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Overall a good read, with lots of exciting scenes in fantastic settings, but the author seems to have trouble in getting a life-like woman on paper. The negatives are 1) the naive, oblivious heroine who has a doctorate but no judgment at all and who manages to escape major injury despite herself, 2) the awkward, unrealistic dialogue whenever she is involved in the conversation, and 3) the author's propensity for having most of his male characters fall in love with her at first sight. The rest of it was enjoyable....really!

[Nikhil Singh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Moving away from his forte ( medical thrillers ), I think robin cook has done a great job in writing a novel that encompasses history ( ancient Egypt ) and the current situation in Egypt. Also, I love the character of Erica. She is beautiful, smart and is damn good at what she does.

All in all, if you are a robin cook fan, you must read this book. It will give you a different angle of his writing capabilities.

[Mareli Thalwitzer · Rating 1 out of 5]

I love Robin Cook. Especially if you are just looking for a quick read (Sunday afternoon, want to finish the damn book in one sitting). His novels always keeps me intrigued, but THIS - this was the biggest load of crap I've read in years. AND I finished it.... But I guess that is how we grow. Three years later it doesn't bother me as much to just put a book down, leave both of us in peace and just read the next one!

[Babywanderer · Rating 1 out of 5]

Nada original. La protagonista es estúpida y es imposible sentir conexión alguna con ella. A la mitad del libro no quería seguir leyéndolo pero continué para ver si al final la trama podía ser interesante y ni siquiera valió la pena. El autor hace descripciones totalmente innecesarias y sexistas sobre las 2 mujeres que aparecen en el libro.