Ramses the Damned: The Reign of Osiris

The Rices, mother and son, pick up the thread of their last collaboration, Ramses the Damned: The Passion of Cleopatra, with this rousing blend of adventure, romance, and the supernatural featuring pharaoh Ramses II, resurrected as an immortal in Edwardian England. It’s 1914, and with Europe careening toward war, Ramses’s queen, Bektaten, has ordered him (in the guise of the dashing Egyptologist Reginald Ramsey) and his lover, Julie Stratford, to America to prevent the immortals from intervening in the impending conflict. Their plans are curtailed when they discover a plot to kill them and others who have consumed their elixir of immortality by assassins unaware of their invincibility. Clues lead back to disgruntled Russian nationalist Nikolai Vasilev, a former acquaintance of Julia’s archaeologist father who has stumbled upon an ancient weapon so formidable that even Ramses and his fellow immortals might be unable to prevent its use in combat. Though the Rices endow their characters with outsize superhero powers, they also give them an appealing introspective side that humanizes them throughout their challenging adventures. The authors have found a winning formula that ensures more entertaining installments to come. Agent: Lynn Nesbit, Janklow & Nesbit Assoc. (Feb.)