Beneath The Pyramid
Secrets of the Desert
Judge of Egypt I & II
By Christian Jacq

     Originally published in France back in 1993, here are the first two volumes of Jacq’s Judge of Egypt trilogy. It tells the story of young Pazair, a junior judge from a small village who is promoted to work in Memphis, and the trials he faces if he wants to remain morally upright. Other lesser beings might turn a blind eye to corruption in high places but when Pazair starts investigating the disappearance of a member of the Sphinx’s honor guard it leads him to a plot to steal Ramses The Great’s right to reign. It also leads him to Neferet, the beautiful doctor who is the love of his life and has an equally burning desire to be an honorable doctor, again in the face of corruption in high places.

     As in all of his other novels, Jacq’s easy prose style makes for a fast and informative read. Did you know for example that the Ancient Egyptians had wristwatches, or baboons in the police force? Egypt in the time of Ramses the Great comes to life here, with facts from Jacq’s career as an Egyptologist and a hearty dose of wishful thinking. I personally wonder if Egypt was quite as enlightened as he portrays it and, as usual, his characters tend to be somewhat two-dimensional; either virtuous heroes or dastardly villains without a lot of shading in between. There is an Old Testament feel to all his work as nobody ever does anything by halves, which does give the tale a true taste of the elusive ancient world. Pazair and Neferet spend a lot of time swearing undying love to each other and trying to be the sort of incorruptible public servants that the ancients produced. My main problem with this trilogy is the wisdom of spinning one “mystery” story out through three books; this does have the effect of reducing its impact. But Jacq spins a congenial and enjoyable tale and it will be interesting to see where he takes this story in the remaining book in the trilogy.