The Portals of Osiris

by Jerry Merritt

Set in Egypt just before the start of WWII, Gib Tinsley, raised on a ranch in Terlingua, Texas, is working on his PhD in Egyptian archaeology and is about to unearth an ancient relic with capabilities that exceed human understanding. As the story opens on the Giza Plateau, Gib’s professor steps into his tent to see how his idea that the pyramids are somehow part of an earthly star chart of the heavens is panning out.After catching up on the progress and sharing a brandy, the professor leans back and announces that his daughter, Ava, has graduated Cambridge and is arriving in Alexandria by steamer in a few days. Since the two had a rather turbulent past, this is not news Gib wants to hear. Worse, the next day the professor sprains his ankle and tells Gib he will have to take the camp motor launch and go to Alexandria to get her and bring her back up the Nile to their camp—a two-day trip. And Ava is trouble from the start.On the steamer, she has met a dapper, brown-shirted envoy of Hitler, Herr Wolfgang Warburg, and already invited him to visit her father’s camp to see what he’s working on.As the story unfolds and Gib finds the portals that give this novel its title, he realizes their existence needs to be kept a secret. If word of the advanced technology on display were to get out and be seized by those determined to achieve world domination, they would be unstoppable. But understanding the technology seems hopeless, when Gib determines that once you start through the portals you can’t back out. And the only way to find out what’s on the other side is to go through them. And worse, thanks to Ava inviting the Germans into her father’s camp, they soon suspect there has been a major discovery. Once they figure out where it is, they try to seize it for the Third Reich.The outcome of that struggle forces Gib to enter one of the portals. On the other side, he discovers he is on another planet, and the one-way doors were built by an ancient civilization that vanished, leaving no maps or clues about where the portals lead, how they work, or how to return to Earth. And he’s stuck there on the other side with Ava.

773 pages, Paperback

Published September 11, 2022

Reviews

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fun read

My favorite book, “A Gift Of Time”, by jerry Merritt. I’ve read it twice.
“The Portals Of Osiris” goes beyond the aforementioned in imaginative thinkIng. No sex and just a tinge of violence, but a lot of theory on how the pyramids were constructed. Definitely not what I usually read on Amazon. A real “page turner”.

[Chuck Woodbury · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Typical Merritt Delight

You never know where Jerry will take you in one of his tales, and this one is no exception. From Egyptian archeology in the 30’s to, well, no spoilers here, but expect a wild and crazy ride and even better finish. Loved it but it’s out there!