Sheba

In this slick archeological thriller, Higgins (The Eagle Has Landed) reaffirms his skill as a storyteller. In 1939, with the world on the brink of war, American Arabist Gavin Kane is hired to find a missing husband. The missing husband, John Cunningham, disappeared while on a wild goose chase through the Middle East in search of the legendary Temple of Sheba. The Temple turns out to be all too real. And, unfortunately for Kane and his friends, the Nazi's have discovered the Temple first and are using it as headquarters to implement Hitler's plan to destroy the Suez Canal. The mixture of archeology and Nazism, naturally brings to mind Indiana Jones and, in fact, the book is very reminiscent of those movies. This is the kind of story where all the villains have German accents, and the heroes can survive a 30-mile hike in the desert with no water. Who cares if the characters are one-dimensional stereotypes (the dashing archeologist, the mysterious beautiful woman)? This fast-paced story has enough action and adventure to make up for any such shortcomings. (Jan.)