****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
"Egypt: the Book of Chaos" is the third in the trilogy featuring Rahotep, chief detective of the Thebes Medjay, during the 18th Dynasty some 33 centuries ago. Nick Drake, as with the previous two, "Nefertiti" and "Tutankhamun," captures well the spirit, the landscape and atmosphere, and the suspense of the time and place of that historically significant age. Drake's Rahotep is a fascinating, and fully developed, central character, a "police procedural," as it were, set within the excitement, the political maneuverings, and history-setting situations of the time. Rahotep is also human and suffers the same feelings, successes, and failures of ordinary human beings. His role as a Medjay policeman offers him unique challenges--and dangers. After all, it was a dangerous time. Tutankhamun, the Boy Pharoah, has died (and under mysterious circumstances) and the whole kingdom is teetering on revolution, treason, and great upheaval. His widow, the Queen Ankhesenamun, has employed (and implored) Rahotep's assistance. The intrigue grows from here--and the plot becomes, of course, deadly. General Horemheb is poised to take over, to implement martial law, and destroy the dynasty. Drake's book is filled with political intrigue (setting up an alliance with archenemy the Hittites to consolidate the queen's power and thus foil Horemheb's plans, among others. (Historians know the real results, of course.) One doesn't have to be a history buff to appreciate, even to enjoy, this novel (although it helps to know a little about the history of this time). It was with a welcome moment when I found this, the third, book published. Here's to more of Rahotep, Mr. Drake.
