The Egyptologist

July 5, 2004
How was Phillips to follow up a debut as startlingly brilliant as Prague
? By doing something completely different. His story, set mostly in Egypt in the early 1920s, stars Ralph Trilipush, an obsessive Egyptologist. Trilipush is more than a little odd. He is pinning his hopes on purported king Atum-hadu, whose erotic verses he has discovered and translated; now he must locate his tomb and its expected riches. Meanwhile, an Australian detective, for reasons too complicated to go into, is seeking to unmask Trilipush, who may have had some relationship with a young Australian Egyptologist who died mysteriously. Trilipush and the detective are two quite unreliable narrators, and the effect is that of a hall of mirrors. Where does fact end and imagination, illusion and wishful thinking begin? Phillips is a master manipulator, able to assume a dozen convincingly different voices at will, and his book is vastly entertaining. It's apparent that something dire is afoot, but the reader, while apprehensive, can never quite figure out what. The ending, which cannot be revealed, is shocking and cleverly contrived. Agent,
Marly Rusoff. (Aug. 31)

Forecast:
It remains to be seen whether the admirers Phillips won for
Prague will come out for something so very different, but Random is giving this title a big launch and it can be strongly handsold to readers in search of refreshingly original characters and situations.

May 1, 2004
Having hit it big with his debut, Prague (set in contemporary Budapest), Phillips makes the natural transition and presents a second work featuring a 1920s Egyptologist who wants to uncover the tomb of an apocryphal king.

Copyright 2004 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2004
Phillips follows up his first novel, the best-selling " Prague "(2002), with an equally inventive if totally unexpected foray into ancient Egypt. The novel is artfully constructed in the form of letters and journal entries written by unreliable narrators, the primary one being erstwhile Egyptologist Ralph Trilipush. Obsessed with fragments of hieroglyphic pornography reputed to be the work of King Atum-hadu, Ralph talks his opium-addicted fiancee's wealthy father into bankrolling his expedition to Egypt, where he hopes to unearth the king's tomb. Meanwhile, his every move is being tracked by dogged detective Harold Ferrell, who thinks Ralph is not only a fraud but also a murderer. There are many funny bits about Ralph's tendency to romanticize all things Egypt and about his burning jealousy of Howard Carter, the real-life archaeologist who discovered King Tut's tomb; in addition, the novel's layered construction cleverly reveals the reality beneath Ralph's endlessly self-serving commentary. Some readers might find the amount of pharaonic minutiae tedious reading, but it all serves to support the novel's shocking yet entirely credible ending and its themes of the longing for immortality and the nature of identity. Phillips proves himself once again to be a wildly creative storyteller.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2004, American Library Association.)

November 1, 2004
This recording of Phillips's maddeningly suspenseful novel of death, betrayal and morbid self-absorption features outstanding performances by all of the narrators involved. Told through letters, journal entries and telegrams, the book features arrogant British explorer Ralph M. Trilipush; his gadabout American fiancée, Margaret Finneran; and a sardonic Australian detective named Harold Ferrell, who becomes entwined with them both. While the book is told alternately from their three points of view, Trilipush commands the majority of the story, and Prebble's portrayal of him is spot on. The only problem is that he does such a fine job of capturing Trilipush's smug, overbearing attitude that it's difficult to listen to him for long stretches. The episodes told from Ferrell's perspective become welcome respites, and Negroponte's Australian accent is as sharp as the character's purported powers of observation. But Ferrell proves to be only slightly less conceited than Trilipush, and certainly no more reliable. Though the book's many clues are revealed as slowly as artifacts buried beneath the Egyptian sands, this excellent production will pleasantly tease listeners until all is unveiled—even if the main guide is one of the more unlikable characters in recent fiction. Simultaneous release with the Random hardcover (Forecasts, July 5).

July 1, 2004
Ralph M. Trilipush, the eponymous Egyptologist-a war hero who attended Oxford but never served in the military, with no record of his attendance at the venerable British institution? A sheltered, society heroine who drinks to oblivion and takes opium? These are but two central mysteries of this potpourri of intrigue, subterfuge, and deception concocted by Phillips, whose Prague was a recent best seller. The plot is perpetrated by a series of journal entries and letters among the protagonists, who include the Egyptologist seeking the tomb of the legendary Atum-hadu; his Boston fiancee, Margaret; her father, a financial backer of Trilipush's expedition; and a private eye keeping track of a series of murder cases that come to be closely interrelated in this web of mystery spun by Phillips. Unlike Prague, whose characters moved at a leisurely pace, this work offers, quite tongue in cheek, a tableau of action and adventure in a 1920s setting. Highly recommended for everyone in search of buried treasure. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 5/1/04; for a Q&A with Phillips, see p. 71.]-Edward Cone, New York

Copyright 2004 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.