ISBN  978-1-4303-2599-4

    225 pages   

€13.25

Neeman Sobhan
FAO Magazine,
Italian Vignettes

His second novel, ‘Inquest on Imhotep Beyond the White Walls’, is a thriller which combines the history of the High Priest Imhotep, architect of the world’s first major stone building, the step pyramid of Saqqara, with a fast paced modern day story of international intrigue. The story is located around the writer’s former home outside Cairo near ancient Memphis. Seasoned with Eqyptian cosmology, archaeology and a dash of occult, this is a fun way to enjoy a read and be introduced to an important aspect of Derek Flower as an Egyptologist.

This is a decidedly curious book in its mixture of fact and fiction. Or is it, the "fact" - in fact - cleverly disguised fiction. Is there such a society as the "sons of Set"? It doesn't sound inherently unlikely. Its goings on, indeed, seem quite mild compared with the rituals of the Freemasons.

The core of the novel is the search for the tomb of Imhotep, the architect of the world's first major stone building, the step-pyramid of Saqqara, built for the pharaoh Djoser. Rather less well-known than the pyramids at Gizeh, the vast enclosure is still one of the wonders of the world. Imhotep himself was subsequently deified as the Egyptian god of medicine, roughly the equivalent of the Greek Aesculapius, and plays a leading role in a cosmic encounter between good and evil.

Derek Flower has himself lived many years in Egypt and his knowledge of the background is impressive. It still comes as a surprise that a non-Egyptian - the British protagonist in the novel - owns so vast an estate adjoining Saqqara that it is necessary to travel around it by car. Imhotep's tomb is to found somewhere on the estate. The search for it has already lead to two violent deaths and the protagonist, a British novelist, becomes embroiled in the murky world of Egyptian bureaucracy an international business. The novel is, essentially, a thriller with clues laid at various points and it would therefore be unfair to give away the plot. But those with a taste for Egyptian cosmology and archaeology, seasoned with a touch of the occult, will enjoy an additional bonus.

The author grew up between Cairo and Alexandria and still regularly returns to Egypt. This, his second novel, is a thriller hinging on the discovery of the 5000-year-old tomb of the High Priest Imhotep, architect of the world's first stone monument, who was deified as the Egyptian god of Medicine - an absorbing story, ranging wide in distance and time, a rich mixture of history, archaeology and international power politics.