Julian Cranwell, obsessed by his search for a legendary lost city, has disappeared in Cairo. His colleague, Omar Ross, a maverick archaeologist, sets out to find out what could have happened to him when he discovers a panicked voice-mail from Julian. Someone is coming for him, he says, someone after the ‘Akhnaton ushabtis’… He immediately flies to Cairo and finds the body of his friend. He starts talking to Julian’s friends and family, including his friend Kolpos and his gorgeous Greek assistant, Elena. It turns out Julian was referring to the ancient tomb of Akhnaton, almost a myth to the world. But Julian had found some long lost artefacts and taken it to expert Robert Rabjohn who confirms that they are the real thing. When Ross finds strange connections between the deaths of Julian, Tutankhamen, Howard Carter and Orde Wingate, all years apart, he becomes concerned for his own safety. Julian’s body goes missing and then a strange message is found which says ‘Let the Eye of Ra descend’, referring to the ancient God Ra who sent his Eye to slay all the human beings… Every contact and every informant he speaks to disappears. How long will it be before the culprits catch up with him too? Threatened, almost friendless, Ross turns for help to his mother’s people, the Bedouin Hawazim tribe. It is only with their help, that he can solve the mystery of The Eye of Ra…
Author
Michael Asher is an author, historian, deep ecologist, and notable desert explorer who has covered more than 30,000 miles on foot and camel. He spent three years living with a traditional nomadic tribe in Sudan. Michael Asher was born in Stamford, Lincolnshire, in 1953, and attended Stamford School. At 18 he enlisted in the 2nd Battalion the Parachute Regiment, and saw active service in Northern Ireland during The Troubles there in the 1970s. He studied English Language & Linguistics at the University of Leeds. at the same time serving in B Squadron, 23rd SAS Regiment. He also studied at Carnegie College, Leeds, where he qualified as a teacher of physical education and English. In 1978-9, he worked for the RUC Special Patrol Group anti-terrorist patrols, but left after less than a year. He took a job as a volunteer English teacher in the Sudan in 1979. The author of twenty-one published books, and presenter/director of six TV documentaries, Asher has lived in Africa for much of his life, and speaks Arabic and Swahili. He is married to Arabist and photographer Mariantonietta Peru, with whom he has a son and a daughter, Burton and Jade. He currently lives in Nairobi, Kenya.
