About The Book

Paul Sussman is an international best-selling writer whose previous two books, The Last Secret of the Temple and The Lost Army of Cambyses, have each sold over one million copies worldwide. In his new book, The Hidden Oasis, Sussman delivers a heart-pounding, action-packed novel set in Egypt’s Western Desert and revolving around a legendary desert paradise.

The Hidden Oasis begins with the murder of Alex Hannen, a former CIA agent living in Egypt. Her sister, Freya, a world-class mountain climber from the United States, travels to Cairo to help bury Alex, and once there immediately becomes suspicious of the doctor’s news that Alex had taken her own life. How, she asks, could Alex have injected herself with a lethal dose of morphine, given her lifelong fear of needles? The mysterious circumstances surrounding Alex’s death lead Freya on a search for the truth. She soon meets her sister’s dear friend, Flin Brodie, a world-renowned authority on predynastic Egypt. Flin is also searching for answers—he has devoted his career to studying the existence of a mythic hidden oasis, an Atlantis of the sands, elusive to the great desert explorers of the twentieth century and supposedly housing a valuable, mythic stone untouched for millennia.

In this propulsive, fascinating thriller that takes readers through the bustling streets of Cairo and into the vast stretches of the Western Desert, Freya and Flin are led on an extraordinary adventure—sometimes violent, often dangerous, always thrilling—for the answer to one of archaeology’s greatest mysteries: the location of the legendary lost oasis of Zerzura, and the key to the astonishing, terrifying secret that lies at its heart. Filled with fascinating history about ancient Egypt, and featuring a terrific cast of characters, from a corrupt, lecherous arms dealer and his twin soccer-loving bodyguards, to a duplicitous American embassy worker and the dynamic couple at the book’s heart, The Hidden Oasis is another spellbinding thriller from Paul Sussman.

Praise

“Another winner from Paul Sussman—hands down one of the best writers of international suspense in the business. Told with authority and style, excitement melds with adventure—you can feel the scorching desert heat and the chapping, acrid winds. The Hidden Oasis offers bone chilling thrills, a flair for the macabre, and off-the-charts suspense. Superb.” —Steve Berry, author of The Charlemagne Pursuit

“The Hidden Oasis is that rarest of literary entities: an intelligent, compelling, beautifully written thriller. You will enjoy every page of this breathtaking ride—and the secret at the heart of it will knock the top of your head off.” —William Bernhardt, author of Capitol Offense

“The Hidden Oasis is a rip-roaring gem of a read. . . . You are in for a real treat!” —Raymond Khoury, author of The Last Templar

“The Hidden Oasis evokes a lost world of primordial myth that men have sought since the very dawn of history—the twist: this time, the seeker is a female mountain climber! Amidst non-stop action—and literal cliffhangers—Paul Sussman again convinces us that there is nothing boring about the lost worlds of archeology.” —Katherine Neville, author of The Fire

Excerpt

“So?” asked Girgis, once he was in and the door closed.

“Nothing, I’m afraid, Mr. Girgis. Half the film was spoilt, and the other half . . .” He handed over a sheaf of A4-sized photographic prints.

“Useless, completely useless. See, all the images are from inside the oasis—nothing to help identify the actual location. It’s like trying to find a house in the middle of a city when all you’ve got to go on is a picture of the bathroom. Completely useless.”

“Could you have missed something?”

Usman shrugged, pattered the tips of his fingers together again. “I’ve gone through them extremely carefully, so I’d say not. Then again . . .” He gave a nervous laugh. “. . . I’m not a world authority on the subject.”

“Brodie?”