Review
A fantasy-adventure thriller filled with Ancient Egyptian mysteries, The Golden Sphinx by Lex Faulkner certainly sounds promising on paper.
We would probably recommend it primarily to teenage readers fascinated by ancient history, because at times it genuinely feels as though everyone except the reader has already discovered a lost ancient city.
But let’s start with the plot itself.
Ethan Frost is a former Delta Force operative and heir to the massive Frost Corporation, a global empire involved in industries ranging from technology to advanced weapons manufacturing.
His late mother was an archaeologist, which explains Ethan’s passion for history. He is also a trained historian himself, while one of his closest friends and mentors is Tobias Goodwin, a professor at Yale University.
Goodwin is brutally murdered on campus by a masked assassin.
After learning about the crime, Ethan immediately travels to Yale, where he meets Sophia, the professor’s attractive research assistant. A detective investigating the murder shares surveillance footage with them, revealing that the killer stole two important objects from Goodwin: a golden sphinx and a diary belonging to an archaeologist who disappeared in the Egyptian desert back in 1907 while searching for a lost city.
Ethan then contacts Scarlett — a computer genius capable of hacking virtually any system. With her help, he identifies the assassin’s employer: an eccentric Egyptian billionaire determined to uncover the hidden city and crown himself the new Pharaoh.
Naturally, Ethan assembles a team and travels to Cairo alongside Scarlett and Sophia to uncover the mystery and stop the villain’s plans.
At first, The Golden Sphinx genuinely feels entertaining and full of potential.
Unfortunately, the deeper the novel goes, the more absurd the story becomes.
Let’s begin with Ethan himself.
He is essentially a combination of Batman (wealth and technology), Superman (physical abilities), and Indiana Jones (love of archaeology and adventure).
Sophia becomes the “genius scholar” capable of instantly deciphering clues and locating ancient artifacts as though the treasures have patiently waited centuries specifically for their arrival.
Scarlett’s almost supernatural hacking abilities only add to the growing implausibility, while pilot Mitch somehow becomes capable of expertly flying virtually any aircraft after minimal exposure.
In Cairo, Ethan recruits former agent Luke to complete what effectively becomes a perfectly assembled action-movie super team.
BOOKLOVERS Rating: 2/5
We genuinely had high expectations for The Golden Sphinx, but the novel ultimately feels far closer to a third-rate action film than to a compelling adventure story.
The ideas themselves are not bad — Ancient Egypt, lost cities, archaeological conspiracies, secret societies — but the execution becomes increasingly exaggerated and difficult to take seriously.
Hopefully the next Ethan Frost novel will offer stronger storytelling and more believable characters.
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