Amazon Review
A sealed tomb in the heart of Egypt has been the beginning of many a yarn, and here Tom Holland uses it to weave a labyrinthine Gothic mystery spanning the ages. Connecting darkest deeds in the time of the pharaohs to the quest of Howard Carter in the Valley of the Kings in 1922 are the stories of a mediaeval Islamic scholar, a Christian merchant, the Sage of the Mountains, and the Jinn of the Temple of the Sands. Enigmatic as the Sphinx, the result is a genuinely gripping adventure, into which Holland has skilfully incorporated real historical personages and events with a considerable authority. Mixing historical thriller with romance and supernatural horror, and serving up his tale with elegantly mannered prose, Holland also pays homage to the master, Bram Stoker, not only the author of Dracula, but also of the archetype of Egyptological terror The Jewel of Seven Stars.

Indeed, The Sleeper in the Sands, is the continuation of an ambitious secret history (though each reads perfectly well as an independent novel), a world of arcane nightmare begun with the biography of Lord Byron The Vampyre, and elaborated in Supping With Panthers and Deliver us from Evil. Let Tom Holland be your guide, he is a real storyteller, and he has an epic tale to tell. --Gary S. Dalkin