Book Review: The Lost Army of Cambyses

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I picked up The Lost Army of Cambyses from my mother’s bookshelf. Being an aficionado of ancient history, I knew Cambyses was an ancient Persian King who died not long after he conquered Egypt. But I wondered why my mother didn’t initially offer this novel to me after she read it. She explained that it was a mystery novel set in modern times and she knew that I wasn’t a big mystery fan. (If you check my list of “Books Read” section , you’ll see most are historical fiction, historical non-fiction, science fiction, and action adventure.)

Standing in the hallway with the book in my hand, I decided to look at Chapter 1. Wouldn’t you know it, Chapter 1 started off in 523 B.C. with the lost army. I was hooked. Unfortunately, Chapter 1 was the only chapter set in that time period, but the novel kept me going with Sussman’s academic and detailed style. I say academic, because his use of grammar marks such as commas, semicolons and colons were placed so perfectly. It stood out in the way one of his characters mentioned you could tell the difference between hieroglyphic forgeries and the real thing: the forgeries were always perfect. I started to wonder if Sussman’s work had been translated. There seemed to be a simplicity to his style, yet it worked well with the novel’s setting, especially when we were in the Egyptian police officer’s perspective.

Sussman’s details created a great sense of place. From “the clutter of cement bags and paint pots” in the officers’ apartment for his fountain to the “towering wall of sand stretching right across his line of sight in a single, unbroken curve, with other higher dunes ranged behind it, like waves freeze-framed in the act of crashing down onto a beach. The outlying ranges of the Great Sand Sea.”

Sussman almost lost me when we he used his great attention to detail to dive into Tara’s emotional issues about her father and lover in chapter 3, but once I slogged through those 9 pages (out of 576), the novel really took off.

A good read.