The Hidden Oasis

by Paul Sussman Narrated by Gordon Griffin

Overview

Egypt 2153 BC: Eighty priests set out under cover of darkness into the western desert, taking with them a mysterious object swathed in cloth. Four weeks later, having reached their destination, they calmly slit each other's throats...
Albania, 1986: A plane takes off from a remote airfield, bound for the Sudan. On board, a cargo that will forever change the Middle East. Somewhere over the Sahara the plane disappears...
The western desert, the present day: A group of Bedouin discover a mummified corpse half-buried in the dunes. With it are a roll of camera film and a miniature clay obelisk inscribed with a curious hieroglyphic sign...
Three unconnected events - or so it seems until Freya Hannen arrives in Egypt for the funeral of her sister, a desert explorer who has inexplicably taken her own life...For Freya it is the start of a terrifying, life-or-death adventure - one that will lead her and Egyptologist Flin Brodie deep into the forbidding wastes of the Sahara.
A must listen for fans of Clive Cussler, Tom Clancy and Wilbur Smith.
Their goal: one of archaeology's greatest mysteries and the astonishing secret at its heart...
"A rip-roaring gem - you are in for a real treat! - Raymond Khoury
"A compelling, high-octane adventure novel that seamlessly meshes past and present..." - James Becker
"Hands down one of the best writers of international suspense in the business" - Steve Berry

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

Set largely in Egypt's vast western desert, Sussman's entertaining if formulaic third archeological thriller (after The Last Secret of the Temple) starts out as an Indiana Jonesian quest for a legendary desert paradise known as the Oasis at the End of the World. When Alex Hannen, a former CIA agent living in Egypt, is found dead, an apparent suicide, her estranged sister, Freya, a world-renowned rock climber, travels to Cairo for Alex's funeral. Freya, soon realizing her sister was murdered, vows to bring the killer to justice. After befriending one of Alex's closest friends, enigmatic Egyptologist Flin Brodie, the unlikely duo find themselves on the run from a host of assassins, spies and government agents—and charging headlong into one of the biggest archeological discoveries in centuries. The smart pace and attention to character development compensate for some dubious plot twists toward the end reminiscent of a weird X-Files episode. (Oct.)

Library Journal

When mountain climber Freya Hannen's Egyptologist sister dies mysteriously, Freya suspects murder. The more she investigates with her sister's friend Flin, also an Egyptologist, the more they realize that the motive for the murder involves Hidden Oasis, a legendary lost desert paradise and an obsession of Flin. Freya's sister had apparently stumbled onto the key. As Freya and Flin search for the truth and the oasis, others will stop at nothing, including extreme brutality and violence, to find the secrets Hidden Oasis holds. VERDICT Sussman (The Last Secret of the Temple) is an archaeologist familiar with Egypt and the Sahara, but what could have been a great adventure novel is written in numbing detail and further diminished by a number of subplots—lost uranium, timely plane crashes, the CIA, and magic meteorites—that detract from the search for the oasis. Overwritten and disappointing. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 6/15/09.]—Robert Conroy, Warren, MI

Kirkus Reviews

Egyptologists, gangsters and spies race across the desert in search of an ancient oasis and the treasure concealed therein. Professional rock climber Freya and her sister Alex, an explorer working in Egypt, hadn't spoken in a long time, though they were extremely close as children. So when Freya gets a call informing her that Alex has died due to an injection of morphine, allegedly self-administered despite the explorer's lifelong terror of needles, she sets out on an emotionally trying trip to attend the funeral. While Freya is staying at her sister's house, a mysterious Bedouin emerges from the desert with a backpack he asks her to give to Alex, not knowing that she is dead. Soon thereafter, Freya returns to the house to find it being ransacked by vicious thugs; when they discover her lurking outside, a chase ensues. Fearing for her life, Freya flees to Cairo and the protection of Dr. Flin Brodie, an Egyptologist friend of Alex whom she met at the funeral. Flin and Freya almost immediately find themselves pursued by a local crime lord and a shady CIA operative with unknown motives as they rush to find an ancient desert oasis that seems somehow connected with Alex's death. Sussman (The Last Secret of the Temple, 2007, etc.), himself a sometime field archaeologist, gets off to a slow start but eventually settles into a tense groove, occasionally leavened by flashes of classic screwball humor. Although the British author gets some details wrong (Yanks hardly ever say "bloody" or "arse" and always know what a Hardees is), for the most part his American characters feel real. But the narrative too often bogs down in an excess of detail, and in the novel's final quarter twist after unwelcometwist slows the pace to a painful crawl. Above-average middle doesn't quite compensate for a slow start and painfully bloated conclusion.

From the Publisher

“The Hidden Oasis is a rip-roaring gem of a read….You are in for a real treat!” –Raymond Khoury, author of The Last Templar

“Another winner from Paul Sussman—hands down one of the best writers of international suspense in the business. Told with authority and style, excitement melds with adventure—you can feel the scorching desert heat and the chapping, acrid winds. The Hidden Oasis offers bone chilling thrills, a flair for the macabre, and off-the-charts suspense. Superb.”—Steve Berry, author of The Charlemagne Pursuit

“The Hidden Oasis is that rarest of literary entities: an intelligent, compelling, beautifully written thriller. You will enjoy every page of this breathtaking ride—and the secret at the heart of it will knock the top of your head off.”—William Bernhardt, author of Capitol Offense

“The Hidden Oasis evokes a lost world of primordial myth that men have sought since the very dawn of history—the twist: this time, the seeker is a female mountain climber! Amidst non-stop action—and literal cliffhangers—Paul Sussman again convinces us that there is nothing boring about the lost worlds of archeology.” –Katherine Neville, author of The Fire

JULY 2010 - AudioFile

Ploddingly paced, frustratingly contrived, and beyond implausible, this Indiana Jones knockoff sets a British Egyptologist and an American rock climber on a path toward an ancient treasure secreted in the legendary hidden oasis of the title. The pair are pursued at every turn by a psychopathic Cairo arms dealer and an American embassy official with an uncertain agenda. The heroine’s American accent gives British reader Gordon Griffin serious trouble. However, he also does his best to keep things moving and is reasonably adept in the roles of the other characters, particularly those of the sinister arms dealer and the taciturn Bedouin who provides aid to our heroes. A.B.G. © AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine

Product Details

BN ID:	2940171223335
Publisher:	W. F. Howes Ltd
Publication date:	04/01/2010
Edition description:	Unabridged

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