Cleopatra's Needle

Archeology is a more dangerous occupation than ever in Siebert's sprawling first novel. Dan Rawlins, a leading archeologist at New York's Metropolitan Museum, is as famous for his lusty appetites as for his expertise in Egyptology. Approached by Liam McMay, ostensibly a wheeler-dealer from Sotheby's, he becomes involved in a frantic chase for an ancient Egyptian ankh. Unbeknownst to Rawlin, McMay is actually a transmogrified spirit who can also assume the shape of a huge, murderous bird. He possesses half the ankh and has tracked the other half to Rawlin's collection in the museum's storage area. The boxes belong to Rawlin's father, a leading biblical scholar, and his mother, an authority on the prehistory of the Nile Valley. The day after Rawlins sends his assistant to retrieve the broken relic, she is found dead at the base of Cleopatra's Needle, an obelisk in Central Park. Meanwhile, in Cairo, Mossad agent Jacinda el-Bahri has managed to steal the other half of the ankh from a terrorist linked to McMay. Flashing back to ancient Egypt, the narrative discloses how the ankh came to be split, and then the action returns to the present as good and evil forces struggle to unite the ankh and unleash its otherworldly power to bring the dead to life. Siebert employs half-human creatures, ghosts, goddesses, secret societies and the vividly feuding Rawlins family to enact this violent and intrigue-packed thriller, but the plot is strained with unpersuasive twists. When Rawlins and Jacinda, along with Israeli Colonel Avram Haveli, fight for the ankh during a solar eclipse, hoping to prevent the end of civilization, Siebert's rich historical scenes and taut dialogue become smothered in the over-the-top apocalypse. (June)