McDermott's novels usually tease my
imagination with intriguing titles; The Hunt for Atlantis, The
Secret of Excalibur, The Tomb of Hercules, so on and so
forth. These books pack barrels of actions and they provide a few
hours of entertainment, but the stories are also forgettable.
However, I do read them every now and then when I just want to read
something simple. A few weeks ago, the need to read something simple
rose again. I visited my local library, and with a swipe of my
library card, I borrowed The Cult of Osiris and carried it
home. This novel narrates the fifth installment in Nina Wilde and
Eddie Chase's adventure. As its name suggests, this time, the
story is set in Egypt.
Synopsis:
Since a time immemorial, the Great
Sphinx has been staring, unwaveringly, into an open sky and the sandy
desert. It lies waiting, hiding a secret vault underneath its
megalithic frame.
Today, the Sphinx's secret is about to
be unveiled on international television, as a group of archeologists
prepare to break into its secret vault. Macy Sharif is a student in
archeology and a part of the team planning to uncover the Sphinx's
hidden vault. Things went pear-shaped, when Macy accidentally
stumbled upon a shocking discovery involving a religious cult: The
Cult of Osiris. The cultists raided the site and Macy realized they
are after an invaluable artifact; the map to the lost pyramid of
Osiris.
Macy bore witness to the cultist
activity. Unfortunately, the cultists caught Macy's spying. Although
she escaped successfully, but the cultists bribed the corrupt
officials, framing Macy for crimes of theft, sending her on a run for
her life. The only two people who can help Macy out of her
predicament are Nina Wilde and Eddie Chase.
The question, however, remains: What secret lies in Osiris' lost pyramid that's worth killing for?
My thoughts about this book:
The Cult of Osiris follows the
same formula as other books by Andy McDermott, and the story's
structure in this book is almost identical to its predecessors. The
story itself reads like a movie script from an action adventure film.
Every page dazzles readers with action scenes; from vehcile chases,
gun fights, fist fights, and explosions. This book did entertain me
for a few hours, but the story was easily forgettable and nothing
really stood out to make a lasting impression on my mind.
Nina Wilde and Eddie Chase remain
likable characters. Their constant bickering against each other
brought comic reliefs to the story. Having said this, character
development is completely absent in this book. By the end of the book
none of the characters changed, not even a bit, despite having went
through the life-threatening ordeal in the story. The villains in
this book are cook-cutter characters reek of stereotypes and
therefore unimpressive.
However, I do think The Cult of
Osiris improved slightly over its predecessors. The previous
installments of this series suffered from a lack of suspense, because
Nina and Eddie always uncovered the important artifact about 30% into
the story, followed by 300 pages of tiresome action scenes. This made
the previous installments boring and anti-climatic. The Cult of
Osiris differs from the previous installments. This time, the
story reached its climax about 70% into the story. This means the
author prolonged the suspense in the story, and naturally this made
the book more interesting to read. Yet, I still think this book is
100 pages too long. It would have been better if McDermott wrapped up
the story at the climax when Nina and Eddie uncovered the artifact.
Instead, the story went on for another 100 pages of more action and
fight scenes, and I thought the last 50 pages of the book was
especially tedious.
The Cult of Osiris is a somewhat
entertaining, but mindless action adventure romp. It was fun when I
was reading it. However, the story is forgettable because it reads
just like “another” episode in Nina and Eddie's treasure hunt
adventures.
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