The Sphinx is Book 4 in the Area 51 series, and IMHO, the best of the lot to date! The reader finally gets some answers, which, after slogging thru The Mission, were welcome additions to a really good story. It is revealed, at the very beginning of the book, what connects the Sphinx to Area 51. We are taken back to 1855 and meet Richard Francis Burton, an English explorer. As we travel with him, new characters, who will impact the future storyline, are introduced. Professor Niama Mualama, an African anthropoligist who is on a journey to find Arlia artifacts travels around the world, following in Burtons tracks. Kaji, the Eqyptian Watcher is instrumental in revealing the inner working of the Sphinx, and the mystery man, Abdu Al-Iblis, comes and goes as he pleases. This guy is not nice and he holds power over all he meets. Of course, Lisa Duncan and Mike Turcotte, along with Yakov and Major Quinn, are still holding down the fort for the government, altough no one is listening to them any more. Kelly Reynolds is still trapped by the Guardian on Easter Island where something VERY strange is happening. Che Lu and Lo Fa are inside the mountain in China - wolrd politics are totally going down the toilet, everyone is jockeying for position and power, but they still have no clue who or what they are dealing with. The reader gets an interesting tour through the underground caverns of Lubyanka in Moscow. The connections between the Alria artifacts, the Nazi movement and WWII, ancient history as e thought we knew it, all changes as more information is revealed. The things that Mualama finds, and the steps Turcotte takes to stop the Arlia are all twisted together in a fashion that leaves room for the reader wonder "what the heck is gonna happen next?" And then when it does, you are totally surprised, again. I have absolutely no idea where Robert Doherty is going with this story line but I am going to keep reading as long as he keeps writing!
Title: Area 51: The Sphinx |
9/18/04
