Easy Go

by John Lange (Pseudonym), Michael Crichton

Beneath the sands of the Egyptian desert lies treasure beyond imagining. And when a professor of archaeology finds clues to the location of a Pharaoh's lost tomb in ancient hieroglyphs, he hatches a plan to find the burial site - and plunder it. 

But can a five-man team of smugglers and thieves uncover what the centuries have hidden? And even if they find it, can they escape with it...and with their lives? 

Genres: Fiction, Thriller, Mystery, Adventure, Crime, Mystery Thriller, Egypt

276 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1968

About the author

John Lange™ is a pseudonym of author Michael Crichton. His pen name was selected as reference to his above-average height of 6' 9"(2.06 meters). Lange means "tall one" in German, Danish and Dutch.

Librarian's note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Bill Riggs · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pulpy, fun, crime, adventure, Egyptian tomb mystery. This one has a little bit of everything but it all blends very well into a thoroughly enjoyable theft/heist story.

[Anete · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesants piedzīvojumu romāns par bariņu uzņēmīgu cilvēku, kas apņēmušies atrast un izlaupīt pēdējās Seno Ēģiptiešu kapenes…
Šķiet tīri reālistiski atspoguļo 1960to gadu Ēģiptes dzīvi. Grāmatiņa man lika pie sevis spriest, nez kur gan Spīlbergs iedvesmojies savam slavenajam Indiana Jones tēlam….

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy Go was Crichton's third or fourth published novel and was published in 1968 as John Lange. Andromeda Strain released the previous year was published under his real name.
Crichton wrote Easy Go while enrolled at Harvard Medical School.

Easy Go is an adventure novel about a small band of conspirators who find information about the hiding place of the last tomb of the Pharos, secretly excavate the tomb, and make plans to abscond with the treasure from Egypt. The book is clearly among Crichton's earlier works and suffers from a number of flaws both in terms of character development and in terms of the plot. The book is not a masterpiece and can sometimes seem flat but, once you get past the introductory parts, it is a worthwhile read. Once the excavation got under way, the story flowed quite well and the discovery of the tombs is quite compelling.

[Brendon Lowe · Rating 3 out of 5]

An early crime novel by Michael Crichton writing under the name of John Lange and released as part of the awesome "Hard Case Crime" line of books.

The premise of this makes it sound like it's going to be amazing. A Professor in Egypt identifies the location of the last tomb of a Pharaoh unknown until that time. He sources a group of petty criminals and a rich benefactor with the intent of raiding the tomb and robbing it for its hidden treasures. Will they locate the tomb? Can they escape with the loot or will the dangers they face be too much?

This is just ok. I didn't hate it but it also wasnt very intriguing either. We are subject to alot of bland detail on the Professor and his work, him searching for a crew to assist him, obtaining the equipment needed and how they are going to trick the authorities. Once we read past this bit we then read the slow, slow process of the crew slowly identifying the right area to dig and their painstaking efforts to actually get to the tomb itself.

Its not to the final quarter of the book where the action really starts to happen and the tomb is entered. In saying all that its definitely not a bad novel and is quite funny in parts.

I really like the characters of Lord Grover the ultra rich benefactor. Hes a hard drinking womaniser funding the robbery for nothing more than his own amusement. Hamid is a local Government official who is overlooking the crew as they pretend to conduct research during the day and then conducting enquiries into the tomb at night. His English is poor and his choice of words and how he spoke made me laugh everytime he was on the page.

Crichton has added a little bit of romance between two of the characters as well which was ok and didn't feel out of place. It's a good story just very slow and not alot of tension is built during it until the end. I must say I did enjoy how it all wrapped up and felt satisfied with its conclusion.

[Benjamin Stahl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like many of Crichton's later novels, this one boasts an undeniably enticing premise. Before Spielberg got to making his Indiana Jones movies, here's the guy who would later pen Jurassic Park, writing a story about a bunch of self-made tomb-raiders, seeking out and ransoming the priceless treasure of the last remaining pharaonic tomb in the outskirts of Luxor, right under the Egyptian government's nose.

With Crichton's (or Lange's) fast, utilitarian writing style, an exciting, violent and campy adventure seems likely. However, as is also common of Crichton, the story doesn't really seem intent on reaching its own potential. It ponders along, being all charmingly macho and wiseass in that classic 60's/70's way, but nothing really seems to happen. Even the eventual climax has little more than a hint of tension.

The main characters are hardly complex, but as distinctive characters they get the job done. Pierce, the hero, was as empty a shell as they come; Nikos was the tough guy - he disapproved killing, but had few qualms beating an Egyptian peasant boy senseless; Barnaby, the intelligent but wimpy tag-along; Conway, the smartass black guy; Lisa, the hot girl who isn't afraid to roll up her sleeves. Lord Grover is actually the most interesting, in that I kind of despised him but always was more invested when he was around. His clearly unconscionable lifestyle, his fondness for multiple girls and his stereotypical "rich Brit" schtick was embarrassingly lazy of Crichton, yet fun all the same. I also liked Hamad Iskander as his presence brought a little needed tension whenever he came along to check on the camp. Crichton handled his dialogue kind of terribly though. I don't know if it was racist, or just a lame overuse of the man's poor grasp of English, or something of a combination.

I also feel the end was too ambiguous - especially regarding the apparent execution of a bunch of poor bastards falsely accused of the crime the "heroes" actually commit. Not even Lisa, the feminine voice of reason and compassion, seemed to have any problem with this. Maybe Varese just made it up to coax the real culprits into a confession. I don't know. It strikes a morally jarring note to end on either way.

In conclusion, Easy Go (a laughable title, by the way) was far from great. It wasn't even exactly good. Yet somehow, I found it enjoyable from start to finish. Go figure.

[Greg · Rating 2 out of 5]

COUNTDOWN: Mid-20th Century North American Crime
BOOK 231 (of 250)
Hook=4 stars: "The Great Pyramid of Cheops filled the horizon" opens the book. An archaeologist translates hieroglyphics on page one. It's Crichton (Jurassic Park, Andromeda Strain and so many more very good to great novels) exploring ancient Egypt! Could you possibly set this one aside?
Pace=1: Yea, you could set this one aside after all...by about page 50. The breasts of every female is discussed at length. That's fine if that's your thing. But, lots of cigarettes are leisurely smoked. Lots of "facts" are littered throughout the book. Many photos are taken...that is, Crichton's hero seems to have a lot of money for film. Much history is discussed completely unrelated to the (???) plot. Slo-mo novel.
Plot=1: A long lost tomb? It's been done before, many times. And done very nicely. Not here. Near the the end I, too, became lost. And the beating of a young boy, almost to death, is just torture porn to me.
Characters=1: Some had breasts. (A much better title.) There is a 'hero'. Don't remember anything about him after closing the book.
Atmosphere/Place=2: I'm giving this 2 stars because I've read Gore Vidal's "Thieves Fall Out" and it felt like he'd never visited Egypt and had opened perhaps one tour book to mention a couple of statues. Here, it feels like Crichton has read several tour books for his research, but also had not visited Egypt. (I have, I've been inside the Great Pyramid of Giza, and inside Tut's tomb. I've cruised the Nile, visited Alexandria, and maybe that's the issue for me.) Yes, I understand it's fiction. But could you author a book set in, say, Southern USA in 1860 and not mention slaves and cotton plantations? Here, in "Easy Go" Crichton talks about the ancient Egyptian's luxurious lives. Maybe the 1%. Bartle Bull in "Cafe on the Nile" and Agatha Christie in "Death on the Nile" get closer to a real ancient Egypt, as does Norman Mailer in "Ancient Evenings."
Summary: Great hook, great expectations. Then, little to nothing for an overall rating of 1.8.

[Joe · Rating 2 out of 5]

When Michael Crichton (Yes, that Michael Crichton) was in med school, he wrote a number of crime potboilers to pass the time under the name "John Lange." This went undiscovered for many years but thankfully was eventually discovered. I have a love/hate relationship with Crichton. His novels were my first leap into "adult" reading as a kid. Jurassic Park, The Lost World, Andromeda Strain, Congo, Sphere...the list could go on and on. These books changed my life. They helped me see a larger world and that smart people have a leg up in it.

But then in what would unfortunately become the twilight of his career, he let his conservative politics ruin his writing. State of Fear and Next were lazy and just poor writing. Crichton and I had a literary breakup and before we could get back together, he died tragically young of Lymphoma in 2008.

I was so excited to see these early books existed! What better way to bury the hatchet then to go back to the beginning? So...was "Easy Go" any good?

It was...fine. The writing and set pieces were actually pretty great. Synopsis: Ocean's 11 but for sacred burial grounds in Egypt. The characters are thin but effective. The ending, however, was sudden and ineffective. Obviously the gender and racial politics didn't age well but I largely give it a pass given the genre and the time period.

So this was worth my time, but only barely. I suspect I'll slowly work my way through the rest.

[Kaleb · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have been a longtime fan of Michael Crichton and was excited to discover that he had written under a pseudonym early in his career. I had to see what "John Lange" was all about.

This was one of Crichton's earliest novels, and possibly his first according to at least one source I found, originally written when he was in medical school. His youth as a writer is evident, as the characters are underdeveloped, archetypal, and "larger-than-life" in their portrayal. However, they are all very likable. I don't think I will ever forget the boisterous Lord Grover, the nervous and greedy Barnaby, or the seductive Lisa who is both the love interest and momentary voice of morality among the group of thieves.

The plot moves quickly, spurred on by short, witty dialogue between characters that had me chuckling most of the time. I was not suspecting the surprise at the ending, and in fact found it quite clever. However, I wish it had been more thoroughly fleshed out and not simply dropped in on the last couple of pages with a wink and a nod. Overall, the book jumps from plot point to the next a little too quickly so that, when it is over, you felt like you just watched an enjoyable hour-long TV show that could have been turned in to an excellent full-length movie.

As I was reading I could see shades of who would become the author of some of my favorite books as a teenager: Jurrassic Park, The Andromeda Strain, Congo, Sphere, Timeline, Prey, State of Fear, and others. Crichton would later structure his novels around themes of cutting-edge technology, and was famous for his ability to weave together science fiction and science fact. In Easy Go, this is replaced by historical and contemporary tidbits about Egypt. The diverse group of strangers brought together is a motif he would continue in future novels such as Jurassic Park, Sphere, and The Andromeda Strain.

All in all the characters are enjoyable and the search for the treasure definitely keeps the reader in suspense. How could a tale of wannabe Egyptian tomb-raiders not? I just wanted more! I wanted it to be written by a mature Crichton.

Easy Go is a fun, light read that I thoroughly enjoyed. I definitely am going to check out more of the John Lang books.

[Roger · Rating 4 out of 5]

I recently realized I have read every work of fiction Michael Crichton published under his own name. This has been a goal of mine for a long time-I really had not realized I had done it, however, and now I am strangely depressed. There is still a little more Crichton to go-the author wrote eight novels under the pen name John Lange, and I still have three of those to track down. Speaking of which-Easy Go is a reasonably thrilling heist novel. I am not a big fan of this kind of book but these are some nice twists that elevate Easy Go above your typical adventure. And no of course I am not going to tell you what those twists are. It still amazes me that Crichton wrote the Lange novels to pay for college-he was freaking brilliant.

[Colin Barnes · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you go into this book with the mindset of it being a dime novel adventure tale then you won't be disappointed. It's an entirely different beast to Crichton's technothrillers but I'm glad of that. This is pure, old-school adventure. It rattles along at a fast pace with old timey characters doing daring things. Set mostly in Egypt, it's all about a tomb heist. To say more than that will spoil it, but if you're looking for a quick read that's fun and utterly enjoyable, this is a good one to try out.

[Valeria Franco · Rating 1 out of 5]

Questo libro si è rivelato un’immensa delusione. Nei primi capitoli sembrava una storia appassionante e coinvolgente, poi si è rivelata soltanto capace di dilungarsi su argomenti inutili tralasciando le parti più interessanti del romanzo.
Non saprei nemmeno con che genere definirlo data la piattezza della trama e delle vicende. Non si può parlare di “azione” perché non vi ho trovato proprio azione, le scene nelle quali poteva esserci si sono ridotte a miseri accenni… E non si può parlare nemmeno di “thriller” perché i momenti di tensione sono stati praticamente tagliati o ridotti all’osso.
Molte situazioni si sono rivelate inverosimili e deludenti, mentre i personaggi vaghi e caricaturati.
Ci ho visto davvero molte potenzialità sprecate in questo libro… Ma è anche vero che, dopo questo volume, Crichton si è rivelato il maestro che tutti conosciamo. Quindi direi che il nostro autore è riuscito (senza alcun dubbio) a sviluppare tutte le sue potenzialità che ha lasciato inespresse in questa storia.

Questo, in estrema sintesi, è “La vendetta del deserto” se volete leggere una recensione un po’ più approfondita ecco il link del mio blog: http://viaggidicarta.altervista.org/l...

[Audrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun noir-esque heist book. Had no idea it was nearly 60 years old until about half way in!

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

An unlikely band of acquaintances come together to score big off of tomb robbing. An archaeologist, a wealthy Englishman, a writer and a couple of hired muscle men along with the beautiful personal secretary to the Englishman head to the heat of Egypt under the guise of translating hieroglyphics. By night, they search for an elusive tomb thought to contain wealth beyond their means.

Easy Go is an easy read. You wont find a lot of facts about Egypt and the hidden treasures that abound but you will encounter a lively bunch of characters each with their own distinct 'feel' and a thief's theme that takes an unconventional turn.

[Trevor S · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been waiting years and years and years to get a chance to read Michael Crichtons John Lange books, thank you Hard Case Crime for getting them out there!
Easy Go was actually a better read then I was expecting, a fast and exciting book it really feels like a good draft of what would have been a great Crichton.

[Craig Childs · Rating 4 out of 5]

An archaeologist finds a coded message in some ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics that points to the existence of the tomb of an unknown pharaoh and a lost treasure. Soon he partners with four other men with a plan to pose as a legitimate archaeology expedition, but their secret mission is to find the last tomb of the pharaohs and steal the loot.

The most interesting member of this crew is Lord Grover, who is already rich and is only investing in the mission as a lark. He occupies his time by bringing an assortment of women into the camp and throwing lavish drinking parties.

Easy Go is much better than Hard Case Crime's other treasure hunting themed offering - Thieves Fall Out by Gore Vidal.

In fact, this is my favorite of the John Lange novels that Michael Crichton wrote while in med school. This one is slower than the others and grounded in Egyptian history and lore. The author allows the suspense to build naturally during the search for the tomb, the puzzle of how to gain entrance, and finally the inventive plan to fence its contents and evade detection.

The only flaw is a rushed and somewhat muddled ending. In fact, I googled the book and saw several posts asking for the final three chapters to be explained. So here it is…

(Spoiler alert) Varese, the Director of the Egyptian Antiquities Department, suspects the expedition of criminal mischief after he finds an authentic scarab beetle made of lapis lazuli, which one member of the crew lost. Varese disguises himself as a beggar on two occasions in order to sneak into their work camp, but he is unable to find any concrete evidence of their real mission. However, after he receives a ransom note demanding fifty million dollars in exchange for the location of the tomb, he figures it out.

Here’s the rub: Varese needs the crew in order to find the location of the tomb. He arranges for them to be detained, so they will think they have been caught. Then he offers a fair trade. He will pretend they are innocent if they will lead him to the tomb. They will not get rich, but they will be compensated for their expenses and they will become famous for their discovery.

This plan is essentially what Lord Grover had wanted to do in a previous chapter. The book implies Grover left hints for Varese in the ransom note he wrote, but the extent to which Grover affected Varese’s actions remains unexplained. In any event, Grover would rather have the fame than the money, so he is happy to go along with the arrangement and make the others believe it is their only choice to avoid arrest.

(end spoilers)

[Michael L Wilkerson (Papa Gray Wolf) · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I found out that Michael Crichton had written several novels under the name of John Lange before he was well known I wanted to see what they were like. This one was mediocre though it had it's moments. I was tempted to put it down and either finish it later or not finish it at all, but I stuck it out.

Crichton honed his skills and became one of the superb writers of his time, and, well, after his time also. His works are classics in both literature, adventure and certainly instructive no matter the subject he was writing on, dinosaurs and cloning, nano technology, great apes . . . whatever.

This was before he became superb to say the least. Not bad, and when you consider that they were first novels written when he was quite young, they do display a talent.

Even this book was instructive as to Egyptology. However; overall there was little adventure; even the scenes with the cobras were muted and when trapped you knew Pierce, the primary protagonist (is that redundant?) was going to be OK. Whoops? Is that a spoiler? If so, not much of one. In order to understand those you would have to READ THE BOOK but I can't honestly recommend that you do. I won't say you shouldn't, just that. . . well, it's up to you. (As for the love scenes. . . excuse me for yawning.)

I won't be ordering any more John Lange books but will remember Mr. Crichton as the great writer that he was a bit later in his life.

Oh, the cover? It has absolutely nothing to do with what takes place in the book so if you buy the book for its cover you're going to be disappointed.

[Leah · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was such a simple, straightforward book that the ridiculously soft ending should have surprised me less, but it didn't. This is such a cosy-mystery, don't-offend-the-sensitive-readers, everyone-gets-a-nonviolent-slaponthewrist-comeuppance ending that I wanted to vomit. I guess pseudonymous pulp writers of the 60s and 70s weren't in it for the grit? It's like the Hays Code for books, and it is really unsatisfying.

Anyway, the setup is a classic adventure plot: Someone Discovers Something Astonishing, a Crew is Formed, The Plan Gets Underway, Some Setbacks Occur (but Nothing Too Difficult), The Plan Goes Off (With a Small Hitch), The Jig is Up, The End. Where The End = A Solution To The Benefit Of All But Without The Boundless Riches Envisioned By Everyone Involved.

Clive Cussler cut his teeth on this kind of thing, I assume. It worked really well for me, up until I realised that SPOILER nobody dies or gets bitten by cobras or even arrested. I was fully prepared for at least 3/5 of the crew to die horrendous, Egyptian-booby-trap deaths, and none of them did. QUELLE DISAPPOINTMENT.

And it even SPOILER ends in a marriage, just like a cosy romance novel. All in all, fun but forgettable, and massively doesn't deliver on its promises.

[Jaimie Engle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Michael Creighton is one of my favorite authors so anytime I can get my hands on a new story of his, I dive in. What I love about this book is that it captures that golden age of being a novelist, the world traveling, the untrustworthy Shenanigans, the inappropriate swooning, the even more inappropriate dialogue, all woven together in a story, reminiscent of Romancing the Stone or Indiana Jones, about a group of thieves looking to pull a heist in a pharaoh’s tomb. It was such a fun book to fall into. I mean, just look at the cover. It says everything you need to know.

[Oliver Clarke · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was kind of fun, and rattled along at a good pace, but I ended up not really knowing what the hell was going on. Possibly worth 2 stars rather than 3 but Egypt, heist, etc

[Erin Kymes · Rating 5 out of 5]

My new favorite book

Do you love Egyptian history, tomb-robbing, and archaeology? My childhood self was completely satisfied with this book! Would 100% recommend!

[Anya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable but I expected more than the ending I got 😑

[Rodrigo Mares · Rating 5 out of 5]

Existe una legión de nosotros, millennials, que creció fascinada con el remake que hizo Stephen Sommers de The Mummy (Universal Pictures, 1999). Los elementos sobrenaturales de esta película son atractivos, pero lo que a mí en realidad me cautivó fue su tono aventurero y de acción con mucho corazón, pero sobre todo la evocadora representación del antiguo Egipto, a pesar de las imprecisiones que fueron destacando con el tiempo. Easy Go es como una versión light de esa historia. Lo admito: esta es una comparación simplista e innecesaria, pero la idea de una expedición en busca de la tumba no descubierta de un faraón es razón suficiente para abrir el apetito lector.

Esta es la tercera novela de Michael Crichton (Chicago, 1942 – L.A., 2008), publicada bajo el pseudónimo John Lange (1966 – 1972), mientras estudiaba en la facultad de medicina de Harvard. Según el chismecito, esta fue en realidad la primera novela que escribió, y lo hizo en aproximadamente una semana. Fue republicada en 1974 con el nombre de The Last Tomb .

Como comentaba en mi reseña de The Venom Business, los trabajos de Crichton de esta época me recuerdan mucho a los de Ian Fleming en términos como los siguientes: los personajes masculinos son anticuadamente —mejor dicho, contextualmente— viriles, fumando como chacuacos y muchas veces cosificando a las mujeres; un ímpetu por llevar al lector a lugares exóticos; y hacer gala de automóviles lujosos y propiedades edénicas. Pero en este caso, todo ello es peccata minuta, pues estamos ante un trabajo lindo, muy ameno, con una historia súper alivianada y personajes algo misteriosos, cada uno con sus idiosincrasias, en una experiencia lectora bastante placentera.

En términos generales, la historia sigue al egiptólogo Harold Barnaby, experto en jeroglíficos y quien, tras una exhaustiva investigación, concluye que una serie de documentos ha sido traducida incorrectamente. Barnaby descubre que su traducción indica el sitio de la tumba de un faraón: una tumba que bien podría ser la última por descubrir en Egipto. El lingüista conoce a Robert Pierce, un escritor y periodista a quien, tras unos cuantos tragos, le revela su descubrimiento y le propone asociarse para hallar la tumba y hacerse con el tesoro y con la gloria. Pierce, por cuestiones de su quehacer, conoce justo al grupo de personas necesario para emprender el proyecto, y ensambla un equipo para la expedición. Tras realizar los preparativos, incluyendo una serie de documentos que legitimaban la expedición disfrazándola de un proyecto de investigación en un sitio arqueológico cercano, el equipo establece un campamento, dedicándose durante el día a las labores legítimas y durante la noche a la búsqueda de la tumba.

A pesar de que no hay mucha acción ni aventura en el sentido tradicional, disfruté muchísimo esta lectura. Hasta donde he leído, me parece que se trata de la única novela de Michael Crichton donde no hay una sola muerte violenta. Los únicos fenecidos ocurren en menciones de eventos ajenos a la trama y son más bien datos curiosos. Se trata de una historia con mucho corazón, muy ligera, con toques humorísticos ocasionales, y con giros argumentales y revelaciones que, las más de las veces, sorprenden gratamente.

Como antropólogo, lo que más valoro de esta novela es que la falta de acción hollywoodense se compensa con un espíritu de descubrimiento donde el gran tesoro es el conocimiento. De hecho, esto resulta ser uno de los temas del relato, pues lo que empieza como una empresa con una meta muy específica, deviene un episodio que va más allá del hacerse de una fortuna a expensas del gobierno egipcio. De verdad me parece una cosa maravillosa cómo trasciende la experiencia en la perspectiva de algunos personajes, lo cual hace todavía más satisfactorio el final, pese a que algunas críticas califican el desenlace de anticlimático o absurdo.

Debo señalar que devoré esta novela disfrutando cada minuto del puñado de horas que me tomó leerla. Se trata de uno de los libros más bonitos que he leído últimamente, con una estructura clara, una trama directa, y un grupo de personajes que, aunque con ciertas excentricidades, en realidad transmiten una energía positiva. Ojalá existiera una versión en español para que más personas pudieran gozar de este trabajo fenomenal: lo recomiendo ampliamente.

Crichton, M., Lange, J. (1968). Easy Go (The Last Tomb) [edición eBook]. Open Road.

[Jenni DaVinCat · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad, not bad. It's definitely Crichton, but in order to enjoy this short adventure story, you must not be expecting Crichton. As the blurb states, this was written well before he became the famous author that he was and has nothing to do with the types of novels that he became famous for. There's no element of science in this book, aside from some archaeology.

That being said, it really wasn't bad. It's the kind of book that you really don't have to get too involved in. Something you might bring to the beach, or on an airplane. It's an adventure story set in the 1920's about searching for and robbing the last remaining untouched tomb of a Pharaoh. The characters are interesting and far more developed in a short time frame than many other authors are able to do with much longer books. Crichton has always been talented. He does, however, struggle with writing female characters, which I've found to be true for most of his books. It doesn't make me like him any less, just something I've noticed from reading his many many books.

It actually wouldn't make a bad movie. There's a little twist towards the end that I wish would have been developed further, or maybe he could have allowed the reader to know a little more about what happened after the events of the book, but for the most part, it was entertaining and satisfying.

[Claire · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pulp fiction of the 1970s this Indiana Jones type tale was notably not published in Michael Crichton's own name.

A select group of Super Talented Men (a burglar, an archaeologist, a linguist and a rich Lord) decide to rob the last "undiscovered" pharaohs tomb in Luxor, right under the noses of the Egyptian Antiquities department.

As sexist and racist as you would expect from an era where Egypt is still a British colony and Afghanistan is considered a holiday destination. We've come a long way in half a century.

[Garrett · Rating 4 out of 5]

My jumping on point with Crichton was The Great Train Robbery, and like a lot of people, I didn't read Jurassic Park until I heard the first movie was coming out back in 1993. From that point I devoured his stuff, and while the newer stuff got more and more complex and twisty, the older stuff - with its straight ahead H. Rider Haggard-type vibe - always hits the spot, too. This is a reissue, so it's truly vintage, and feels like it, but fans of detail-oriented fortune-seeker pacing will enjoy this no end.

[Christopher Perez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ocean’s Eleven in the desert. An exciting last 30 pages, was worth the wait.

[Sean Robinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

An exciting and fun read. I like the adventure Michael gives in his books. My only complaint would be the ending seemed rather abrupt and anticlimactic.

[Tom Place · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super fun, quick read. 1960s desert exploration. Solid characters and fun plotline. Will probably read it again in a couple of years.

[Seth Clawson · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[James Shrimpton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not an astonishing thriller of itself, but very enjoyable and an easy read. The real triumph is the ending. A prime example of sticking the landing with a strong moral imperative.