Will Adams has written a book called The Alexander Cipher, a story of a search for the tomb of Alexander the Great. Main characters in the book are Daniel Knox, a deep sea diver/archaeologist, Gaille Dumas or Gaille Bonnard,interpreter, photographer, Mohammed el-Duhab, a construction worker, Ibraham Beyumi, the head of the Supreme Council for Antiquities in Egypt, Augustin Pascal, a French archaeologist, Elena Koloktronis, the head of an archaeological firm, and Philip and Nicholas Dragoumis, Macedonian patriots and entrepreneurs (gangsters).Hassan Assuyuti is the powerful boss of Daniel Knox who is moonlighting by working for Hassan as a deepsea diver. Nessin is Hassan's security chief who has the job of searching for Daniel when he gets into trouble with his boss.
The plot is simple. While archaeologists strive to find the elusive Alexander the Great's gravesite, Daniel Knox eludes his former boss, Hassan, who wants to get revenge on Daniel for having humiliated him by punching him out over an incident where Hassan was forcibly raping a young girl who got in over her head by coming aboard his yacht. So Daniel is on the run, hiding away in Egypt while Nessim and his men try to find him to satisfy Hassan's desire for revenge. When he runs to Alexandria to avoid Hassan's men, he hides out with Pascal, a Frenchman who is willing to help. This book is very strange in that for a man who is on the run, he has many friends in Egypt to whom he can turn at a whim to help him. During a construction job, Mohammed happens to find a site that appears to be Macedonian so that he has to alert the Egyptian officials. In the meantime, Elena has been digging in Siwa and has had to have Gaille, an assistant, sent to Alexandria to interpret the language that is found on the unusual site found in the building that Mohammed is tearing down. Mohammed has a dying daughter who needs a bone marrow transplant, and some of the story deals with the problem of finding doctors, donors, and money to help save his dying daughter. Gaille's father who is an archaeologist also had been the partner to Daniel Knox when Mitchell fell to his death. When Gaille and Daniel meet, Daniel is using a false name so that when he is with her, he learns how much she actually dislikes him and blames him for her father's death. When he finally admits to her that he is Daniel she is very angry at him. Naturally, the two of them fall in love over the course of this tale where both are taken hostage, held against their will, and with the help of many friends, get themselves in and out of trouble from Siwa to Alexandria to Cairo. Elena and Augustin Pascal have a sexy romance until she finds him cheating on her, but never mind, she has always been in love with her husband anyway. Nicholas and Philip learn of the archaelogical find which has Elena and Gaille helping Mohammed and Ibrahim. Money is needed for all these archaeological digs so Philip and Nicholas help to provide the funds, and travel all the way from Thessaloniki Greece to see if indeed Alexander's gravesite has been found.
In the meantime, Daniel is still outwitting Hassan and his security group, but he is in deep trouble with the Greek pair who hate him worse than his former boss does. At last, the gravesite is found, Mohammed has been blackmailed into helping the bad guys because of his daughter, and so that brings the entire group together in Siwa to see if they can find the gravesite of Alexander. From this point on this story gets a bit strange...Mohammed turns out to be a bit of a hero, but is forced against his will to help dig the new found treasure, Daniel's jeep saves the day for him, probably the most endearing symbol in the story, as he rushes in to save the day for himself and his love, Gaille, who is being held hostage at gun point.
Daniel tries to find a way to thrwart the evil Macedonian Nicholas who is bent upon stealing this treasure from Egypt and taking it back to Macedonia where it rightfully belongs. Not being greedy, the Greeks take only the prized object found but make Mohammed dig it up for them. All of Egypt's security forces soon learn of this travesty and are about to take all the Greeks into custody when Daniel finds a way to save the day....this story is as implausible as any that can be imagined...and the way that he saves the day is ridiculous but what the heck, the story has to end somehow or other.
Should I give it away? During all this long winding tale of man on the run, the story of Alexander the Great is told through various people's explanations to one another. Adams has used a mystery to teach some historical facts that historians tell each other all the time. So does he show respect for Alexander? Not by his method of building us to a huge climax to have it all go down as it does...No, it is a bad ending. Sorry but I do not like the ending at all....so it goes.
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