Sphinx
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Product Description
Review
Sphinx is an unusual joy among recent apocalyptic thrillers for its convincing characters and well-crafted prose. Learner is that rare beast: a wordsmith who can spin a yarn (The Times )
An enjoyable fast-paced thriller (Sun )
Daringly new and resolutely no-nonsense (Telegraph )
An enjoyable fast-paced thriller (Sun )
Daringly new and resolutely no-nonsense (Telegraph )
Book Description
A compulsively gripping debut and one of Sphere's most exciting thriller launches in 2010.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is a superior thriller set in the Middle East. The story is told in the first person by Oliver Warnock, an oil surveyor, whose wife Isabella is an archaeologist. She discovers a unique and priceless artefact in an underwater location off Alexandria, but gets trapped by an underwater earthquake and drowns. But Oliver now has this fascinating mechanism, the astartium, and is hunted high and low by a range of people desperate to get hold of it. It is a well-told and exciting story with a startling ending, though the book is rather long. By using Oliver as her mouthpiece the author has to some extent diluted Oliver's characterisation, but seeing the author is female, she has done quite a good job, and the story is compelling and readable.
9 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is a sophisticated and well written thriller and as such the periodic lurches into Egyptian history can be forgiven. I found the first few chapters difficult going but thereafter the plot develops with remarkable speed becoming a story that compels and grips. The principal character, Oliver, and those with whom he has contact are complex and interesting even if the villains are lightly drawn. This is a thriller that ranks with the best of them. You will not be disappointed.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The idea of a clever and thrilling adventure in Egypt is great one. The lure is cast with Learner's title, however this is misdirection. Although the novel is, for the most part, set in Egypyt and there has clearly been some research conducted, there are no pyramids, no Sphinx and little adventure. The first half, as the characters and the mysterious plot are developed has a great air of intrigue, slowly tilting from science to spiritualism, a journey the protagonist is not keen to make. However the story soon becomes stale and the last third fails to gel with the book so far in terms of content, even though some of the intrigue remains. Sphinx could have been so much more, as it is though it's a run-of-the-mill story which fires at two genres and misses both marks.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Oh dear.
I can't believe this got published. The first book in a long time that I didn't persevere to the end; in fact, I didn't get past the first 50 pages.
Published 11 hours ago by JJ
Make your own choices
I almost didn't buy this book after reading the reviews! However I decided to chance it and boy was I glad I did. Read more
Published 1 month ago by snowglobe53
Plain boring.
I'm a third of my way into this book and i've lost my will to continue, or even live if i have to read any further. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Anon
d1234
Slightly slow to get going and a very long book at that. I found it to be quite an unbelievable story but nevertheless well written and entertaining. Read more
Published 3 months ago by d1234
Absolutely Awful
This is the first book I've abandoned in a very long time but life is too short to read this dross. It's improbable, badly-written and just plain not worth your time. Read more
Published 5 months ago by suggsygirl
Great yarn. Poor research
A really first class adventure that keeps you guessing and hypothesising. You really do warm and feel for Oliver as a man denied greaving, as he moves ever closer to the edge of... Read more
Published 9 months ago by Cyberian
Perhaps it should have remained a secret
Oh, dear. So promising, and yet so disappointing. This could have been a great book - a great premise, great setting, great time to be writing about political events in Egypt and... Read more
Published 11 months ago by Keen Reader
Heart-racingly brilliant!
I brought this book from a website I just happened across. I was at a loose end and thought it sounded good and that I'd give it a go.. so I brought it.. Read more
Published 21 months ago by Julie Emma
Disappointing
I had a tough time finishing the book... The plot (confusing, too detailed and not really making much sense at times) took forever to develop into anything close to enjoyable. Read more
Published 21 months ago by Karin Meyer
Beyond belief
This book was billed as a thriller and unputdownable. It's neither.
The character descriptions are hackneyed and trite: the main partners are either beautiful or of... Read more
The character descriptions are hackneyed and trite: the main partners are either beautiful or of... Read more
Published 22 months ago by PaperPanther
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