Raiders of the Nile--A Novel of the Ancient World

December 9, 2013
Spot-on period detail and tight plotting elevate bestseller Saylor’s 14th novel featuring ancient Roman sleuth Gordianus the Finder (after 2012’s The Seven Wonders). In 88 B.C.E. Alexandria, Gordianus celebrates his turning 22 with his lover—and slave—Bethesda, who disappears after they take in a satiric play mocking King Ptolemy that’s broken up by the monarch’s soldiers. Since one of the performers could pass as Bethesda’s twin—and she’s vanished as well—finding his sweetheart’s whereabouts is complicated, and sets Gordianus on the trail of brigands known as the Cuckoo’s Gang. Subsequent events loop back to the dramatic opening, in which the detective-to-be is involved in a plan to steal the golden sarcophagus of Alexander the Great. While series fans may hope for an eventual return to the continuing story line of the older Gordianus, last visited in 2008’s The Triumph of Caesar, both they and newcomers will find this outing entertaining. Agent: Alan Nevins, Renaissance Literary and Talent.

March 1, 2014
Saylor's (The Seven Wonders, 2012, etc.) latest historical adventure chronicles young Gordianus' adventures as he gets trapped in a scheme to loot Alexander the Great's sarcophagus. Son of the famous Gordianus the Finder, young Gordianus has traveled to Alexandria, Egypt, in 88 B.C. There, he too works as a finder, adding a few coins to his purse, but his treasure is Bethesda, a beautiful slave he's taken into his bed--and his heart. Celebrating Gordianus' 22nd birthday, the couple watches a street-mime troupe. One of the performers is beautiful Axiothea, who looks so much like Bethesda she could be her twin. After the ribald performance is broken up by King Ptolemy's troopers, Bethesda disappears. Gordianus learns she's been mistaken for Axiothea, who's thought to be the mistress of wealthy merchant Trafhapy. Bethesda's being held for ransom in the Nile delta by a thief known as the Cuckoo's Child, and therein the plot: Gordianus treks into the wilderness looking for Bethesda, accompanied by opportunistic Djet, Trafhapy's slave boy. The pair finds the Cuckoo's Nest--think Butch Cassidy's Hole-in-the-Wall--but the quest is made even more dangerous by the fact that the Cuckoo's Child, Artemon, has fallen in love with Bethesda. Then Gordianus finds himself tangled in Artemon's scheme to loot Alexander's tomb, part of a wider conspiracy involving Ptolemy's brother Soter. Saylor's action runs nonstop, from political unrest to murders at a rural inn to a mob seeking to kill Gordianus to a pirate raid on Alexandria. Gordianus leaps from the pages as a modern trope--a wisecracking, good-hearted charmer--and Saylor frames him against an entrancing interpretation of ancient Egypt, from slaves, sun, mosquitoes, brothels and markets to derring-do swordplay, the Pharos Lighthouse and the vibrant streets of the fabled city. Fans of James Lee Burke or Lee Child will enjoy a two-millennium time shift to tour the dark corners of ancient Egypt.

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Starred review from January 1, 2014
Saylor's long-running Roma Sub Rosa series affords astonishingly vivid views of the tumultuous first century BCE. Saylor has found an ingenious way of showing court intrigues, sea and land battles throughout the empire, and the most common (and lively) street life by creating a fictional detective respected by everyone, from the emperors and senators on down. Roman citizen Gordianus the Finder plays on his knowledge of human nature and politics to solve whatever he's presented with. Now, Saylor skips back about 40 years (from Caesar's difficulties with Ptolemy and Cleopatra in 44 BCE) to 88 BCE, when Gordianus, just turned 22, is staying for a time in luxurious Alexandria and is in love with his female slave. This attachment is the fulcrum for the novel. The slave, Bethesda, vanishes from a street fair she was attending with Gordianus. She has either been kidnapped by a band of pirates or has been taken as a slave for a much richer man. And in a twinning device entirely suitable to a Roman drama, the whole mystery is complicated by the fact that Bethesda bears an uncanny resemblance to a woman in the mime troupe whom she and Gordianus met after a performance. As usual with Saylor, a feast of details about Roman cuisine, street life, dress, and social strata is presented here, spiked with the contrast to Alexandrian customs. Another history-mystery that can be devoured on both levels.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)