After reading the threads here at Ancient Worlds pertaining to the Tom Holland symposium recently, I decided I really wanted to order one of his books. Accordingly, I ordered (no surprise) his Egyptian novel, The Sleeper in the Sands.

I wasn't sure what to expect, but "Gothic chiller" is a good category. It's well-written, and descriptive passages are well-handled. It is presented as a series of manuscripts, starting with Howard Carter, who has a hidden reason to believe that an unraided tomb lies somewhere in the Valley of the Kings. Indeed, he has come upon the above-mentioned manuscripts, which take us back in time to an early Arabic era, and which further lead us back to the reign of Amen-hetep III and that of his son, Akh-en-aten, the Heretic King. Most of this part of the tale is seen from the perspective of Amen-hetep's wife, Tyi, as she discovers the luridly dark secrets of the prests of Amen.

I don't want to give away too much of the plot; what is fascinating is how Holland builds on the holes we have in this era of time, while keeping track of the things Egyptologists do know, to create fictional answers (to burning questions such as who was Smenkhkare, why was Tut's tomb intact, why did Akh-en-aten rebell against the legacy of Amen, why did his family members look like that) that are plausible within the context of the genre.

And you care about most of his characters, a selling point.

An enjoyable read. It could make a really dark movie, although they'd probably have to change the non-linear approach Holland takes.

Info: The Sleeper in the Sands, by Tom Holland. ISBN 0-349-11223-1, Abacus Books 1998, 428 pages.

Has anyone else read this book and want to discuss?