Daniel Knox is an outcast archaeologist and part-time dive instructor working in Egypt when a piece of gallantry suddenly means that he must go on the run to Alexandria to avoid painful and probably deadly retribution. At the same time an ancient tomb possibly linked to Alexander the Great is uncovered in Alexandria. This attracts some pretty unsavoury Macedonian separatists who wish to recover Alexander's body for their own nefarious motives.Knox begins to work on the site of the tomb but soon finds that he has jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire. Having read some of the other reviews for this book I feel that some of the readers seem to have extent missed the point. This is a 'thriller' and as such it is meant as an entertainment,a page turner rather than some great,in depth literary masterpiece. In many respects the plot does what it is meant to do, with short punchy chapters it motors along quite merrily to a reasonable climax which I personally found all the more pleasing as the good guys don't necessarily win and although Knox does escape from some pretty precarious situations how he does so is reasonably plausible and not as far fetched as say the Indiana Jones movie franchise. On the whole I felt that the character of Knox was well drawn. He is knowledgeable about Egyptology without knowing absolutely everything ala the insufferable Robert Landon,despite the predicaments he finds himself in he is no real muscle bound hero wreaking mayhem wherever he goes and he is generally likeable with a core of common decency. In fact most of the male characters are well drawn even if their female counterparts,especially Gaille,are vague to put it mildly.In particular I liked the little side story of Mohammed and his daughter which was a nice touch. The author has obviously done his research and the factual background to the overall story is informative to a novice without being too bookish. That said it isn't without its problems but on the whole the book does what it is meant to do,it opens a window of another realm away from the routines of daily life without being too taxing on the little grey cells. “O código de Alexandre”“O código de Alexandre” é uma estreia que saiu muito bem ao seu autor.O ritmo da história é alucinante, os factos são sequenciais e os acontecimentos fluem com muita naturalidade, prendendo a atenção do leitor e levando-o a não parar de ler. A história gira à volta de Alexandre, da carruagem fúnebre usada para o seu funeral e do local escolhido para depositar o seu corpo. Para quem gosta de romances históricos, é uma leitura deveras interessante, pois os factos conhecidos à volta desta importante personagem da História do mundo não são muito divulgados.A pesquisa histórica realizada para a construção da narrativa fornece muitos elementos desconhecidos para grande parte da opinião pública. O autor combina-os e insere-os numa teia de acontecimentos mais atuais, projetando-os para um universo mais presente. Eva Laginha
What do You think about The Alexander Cipher (2000)?
Awesome book in the same realm as Dan Brown and Brad Meltzer. Action all the way through.
—Lexi
Predictable and flawed. Blah characters and no real tension about the ancient mystery.
—supercooladeline
Boilerplate Archeology thriller/mystery. Not bad, just nothing special.
—kieron7660
Fast read. Okay thriller with some history of Alexander the great.
—Shanoqueeb
