Books with author Paul Sussman

From the international bestselling author—a “cinematic, rip-roaring adventure mystery” about Egypt’s ancient past and a race for priceless treasure (Booklist). In 523 BC, the Persian pharaoh Cambyses dispatched an army across Egypt’s desert to destroy the oracle at Siwa—only for the entire force to be overwhelmed by a sandstorm and lost forever. Two and a half millennia later, a mutilated corpse is washed up on the banks of the Nile at Luxor; an antiques dealer is savagely murdered in Cairo; and a British archaeologist is found dead at an ancient necropolis of Saqqara. The incidents appear unconnected, but Inspector Yusuf Khalifa of the Luxor police is suspicious. And so is the archaeologist’s daughter, Tara Mullray. Following a trail of clues from both the past and the present, they enter a labyrinth of intrigue, violence, and betrayal. Their desperate search for the truth could lead them to the same fate as Cambyses’s long-lost army . . . In this “textured, well-researched and expertly paced debut” (Publishers Weekly) with “a plot as complex as a hall of mirrors, and almost as gripping as a death threat” (Kirkus Reviews), bestselling author and real-life archaeologist Paul Sussman made his explosive entrance into the thriller field.

An ancient secret threatens to unleash a modern war in this international-bestselling “thriller on par with the best literature out there” (James Rollins). Jerusalem, 70 AD: As the invading Romans destroy the Holy Temple, a young Jewish boy is hidden away—chosen as the guardian of a great secret. And for seventy generations, the secret is kept safe . . . But now, in order to ignite a new conflict between Israel and the Arab world, a Jewish radical is prepared to reveal what has been hidden for centuries. The only ones who can stop the coming bloodshed are a beautiful young Palestinian journalist and two detectives—one Israeli, one Egyptian—in an unlikely alliance. As their separate searches for the truth intertwine, they discover there are some in this war-torn region who believe true peace can only be found in death . . . Full of the detail and in-depth knowledge only a bestselling author and true-life archaeologist could deliver, this is a “tightly-plotted, richly-observed, thought-provoking thriller” (Raymond Khoury). “Sussman, an archeologist, puts in plenty of satisfying twists and turns, and grounds the story in the violence and intrigue of the current Israeli-Palestinian conflict.” —Publishers Weekly

In 523 BC, the Persian pharaoh Cambyses dispatched an army across Egypt’s western desert to destroy the oracle at Siwa. Legend has it that somewhere in the middle of the Great Dune Sea his army was overwhelmed by a sandstorm and lost forever. Two and a half millennia later a mutilated corpse is washed up on the banks of the Nile at Luxor, an antique dealer is savagely murdered in Cairo, and a British archaeologist is found dead at the ancient necropolis of Saqqara.The incidents appear unconnected, but Inspector Yusuf Khalifa of the Luxor police is suspicious, as is the archaeologist’s daughter, Tara Mullray. Lured into a labyrinth of intrigue, violence, and betrayal by a mysterious hieroglyphic fragment and rumors of a mythic lost tomb, what began as a search for the truth becomes a race for survival. Confronted by both present day adversaries and ghosts from their pasts, Khalifa and Mullray find themselves on a trail that leads into the desert’s unforgiving, burning heart, and the answer to one of the greatest mysteries of the ancient world.

A pulse-pounding, roller coaster of an adventure.When the body of hotel owner Jan Weiss is discovered at Malqata, an archeological site on the west bank of the Nile, it looks like a routine investigation for Inspector Yusuf Khalifa of the Luxor police. But the more the detective finds out about Weiss, the more he is reminded of the brutal killing of an Israeli woman at Karnak years ago -- a murder for which he has always suspected the wrong man had been convicted. Despite opposition from his superiors and his own misgivings about working with the Israelis, Khalifa re-opens the case and teams up with hard-nosed Jerusalem detective Arieh Ben Roi.At the same time journalist Eva Town receives an anonymous letter at her Jerusalem home. It requests her help in contacting “Al-Mulassam” (“The Veiled One”), a Palestinian extremist leader she has recently interviewed; in return it offers her the scoop of a lifetime.Against a backdrop of escalating violence between Israelis and Palestinians, Eva follows up the cryptic letter while Khalifa and Arieh slowly uncover the unpleasant truth about Jan Weiss. Their investigations intertwine as they all get further in to the web of duplicity and intrigue that has at its center an ancient artifact of such potent symbolism that it could plunge the Middle East into an all-out war.From the Trade Paperback edition.

An adrenaline-packed thriller and archaeological adventure by and outstanding new storytellerIn 523 BC, the Persian emperor Cambyses dispatched an army across Egypt’s western desert to destroy the oracle of Amun at Siwa. Legend has it that somewhere in the middle of the Great Sand Sea, his army was overwhelmed by a sandstorm and destroyed. Fifth thousand men were lost. At first, the incidents appear unconnected. Inspector Yusuf Khalifa of the Luxor police is suspicious, however. And so too is the archaeologist’s daughter, Tara Mullray. As each seeks to uncover the truth, they find themselves thrown together in a desperate race for survival—one that forces them to confront not only present-day adversaries but also ghosts from their own pasts. From a mysterious fragment of ancient hieroglyphic text to rumors of a fabulous lost tomb in the Theban Hills, from the shimmering waters of the Nile to the dusty back streets of Cairo, Khalifa and Mullray are drawn ever deeper into a labyrinth of violence, intrigue, and betrayal. It is a path that will eventually lead them into the forbidding, barren heart of the western desert, and the answer to one of the greatest mysteries of the ancient world.At once an adrenaline-packed thriller and a wonderfully evocative archaeological adventure, The Lost Army of Cambyses marks the debut of an outstanding new storyteller.

Jerusalem, 70 AD. As the legions of Rome besiege the Holy Temple, a boy is given a secret that he must guard with his life...Southern Germany, December 1944. Six emaciated prisoners drag a mysterious crate deep into a disused mine. They too give their lives to keep the secret safe: murdered by their Nazi guards...Egypt, Valley of the Kings, the present day. A body is found amongst some ruins. It appears to be an open-and-shut case for Inspector Yusuf Khalifa of the Luxor police. But what begins as a routine investigation rapidly turns out to be the most trying case of his career. Forced into an uneasy alliance with Arieh Ben-Roi, a hard-drinking Jerusalem detective, and Layla al-Madani, a daring Palestinian journalist, Khalifa enters a murky, murderous world of greed, duplicity, intrigue and revenge as he goes in search of an extraordinary long-lost artifact that could, in the wrong hands, turn the Middle East into a blood bath. Traveling from ancient Jerusalem to contemporary Egypt, and involving Cathar heretics, coded medieval manuscripts, and hidden Nazi treasures, The Last Secret of the Temple is an absorbing thriller set against the tumultuous politics of the present-day Middle East.

In 523 BC, the Persian pharaoh Cambyses dispatched an army across Egypt’s western desert to destroy the oracle at Siwa. Legend has it that somewhere in the middle of the Great Dune Sea his army was overwhelmed by a sandstorm and lost forever. Two and a half millennia later a mutilated corpse is washed up on the banks of the Nile at Luxor, an antique dealer is savagely murdered in Cairo, and a British archaeologist is found dead at the ancient necropolis of Saqqara.The incidents appear unconnected, but Inspector Yusuf Khalifa of the Luxor police is suspicious, as is the archaeologist’s daughter, Tara Mullray. Lured into a labyrinth of intrigue, violence, and betrayal by a mysterious hieroglyphic fragment and rumors of a mythic lost tomb, what began as a search for the truth becomes a race for survival. Confronted by both present day adversaries and ghosts from their pasts, Khalifa and Mullray find themselves on a trail that leads into the desert’s unforgiving, burning heart, and the answer to one of the greatest mysteries of the ancient world.

Jerusalem, 70 AD. As the legions of Rome besiege the Holy Temple, a boy is given a secret that he must guard with his life...Southern Germany, December 1944. Six emaciated prisoners drag a mysterious crate deep into a disused mine. They too give their lives to keep the secret safe: murdered by their Nazi guards...Egypt, Valley of the Kings, the present day. A body is found amongst some ruins. It appears to be an open-and-shut case for Inspector Yusuf Khalifa of the Luxor police. But what begins as a routine investigation rapidly turns out to be the most trying case of his career. Forced into an uneasy alliance with Arieh Ben-Roi, a hard-drinking Jerusalem detective, and Layla al-Madani, a daring Palestinian journalist, Khalifa enters a murky, murderous world of greed, duplicity, intrigue and revenge as he goes in search of an extraordinary long-lost artifact that could, in the wrong hands, turn the Middle East into a blood bath. Traveling from ancient Jerusalem to contemporary Egypt, and involving Cathar heretics, coded medieval manuscripts, and hidden Nazi treasures, The Last Secret of the Temple is an absorbing thriller set against the tumultuous politics of the present-day Middle East.

In the year 70 AD, as the Romans sacked and destroyed the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, a young Jewish boy was hidden away and chosen as the guardian of a great secret. For seventy generations this secret remained safeguarded. But in present day Israel, a Jewish radical threatens to reveal this hidden truth and use it to rend apart the fragile Middle East—and only an unlikely duo of hardened detectives of very different origins and a young, enterprising Palestinian journalist can unite to ward off disaster. A relentless and fast-paced thriller that moves from Egypt to Jerusalem to the Sinai Desert, that spans the millennia and involves Cathar heretics, Nazi prisoners, and modern-day suicide bombers, Paul Sussman’s The Last Secret of the Temple is a thrilling, roller-coaster adventure that brilliantly examines the participants on both sides of the Arab-Israeli conflict. Timely, important, and completely absorbing, it marks Paul Sussman as one of today’s great thriller writers.

In 523 BC the Persian Emperor Cambyses dispatched an army across Egypt's Western Desert to destroy the oracle of Amun at Siwa. Somewhere en route through the burning wastes, the army was overwhelmed by a sandstorm and destroyed. Fifty thousand men were buried beneath the desert sands. Two and a half thousand years later an antiques dealer is murdered in Cairo, a mutilated corpse is found floating in the Nile at Luxor, and a British archaeologist dies in mysterious circumstances at Saqqara. At first the incidents appear unconnected. Egyptian detective Yusuf Khalifa is suspicious, however, and so is Tara Mullray, the archaeologist's daughter. As each seeks to uncover the truth, they find themselves thrown together in a deadly battle for survival, one that forces them to confront not only present day adversaries, but also ghosts from their own past. From a mysterious fragment of ancient text to a lost tomb in the Theban Hills, from the shimmering waters of the Nile to the dusty back streets of Cairo, Khalifa and Mullray are drawn ever deeper into a labyrinth of intrigue, fanaticism, politics and violence, one that eventually leads them into the forbidding wastes of the western desert and the solution to one of the abiding mysteries of the ancient world.