A very enjoyable read incorporating some quite intriguing and well thought out puzzles. Apparently the author is a leading authority on ancient cultures and the history of religious belief. This shines through in the detail that is provided through what has to be extensive research.
His heroine, Emily Wess, is a young university professor who is led on an ingenious quest by one of her mentors, a Keeper of the Ancient Library of Alexandria. The Keeper is a member of the Society, long protectors of the Library, but there is another faction, The Council, who seek the power that they believe that owning the Library could bring.
Mix in with this some quite serious American political intrigue, although this part of the story is not too intrusive, and a "chase" throughout Europe, and you have a highly engaging first novel. The ending is both innovative and satisfying.
I look forward to reading more from Mr Dean. ( )

If you liked the davinchie code you will like this. it has many of the same elements in that the main character has to track down clues to save the world as we know it.
However if found this to be a better written and more believable novel. The main character is driven by curiosity and the need to protect those that she knows, the violence is not to graphic and their is less running arround and involvment of the various police forces.
I strongly recceomend this book

This conspiracy thriller, describing a battle between good and evil for world domination, reminded me a lot in style of Dan Brown's ANGELS & DEMONS, THE DA VINCI CODE or even Matthew Reilly's SEVEN ANCIENT WONDERS.

The story begins with the lost library of Alexandria, a major centre for scholarship in Egypt from the 3rd century BC to around 30 BC. Ir was supposedly burnt down accidentally by Julius Caesar, but apparently survived in one form or another until the 6th century AD. But what if, rather than being destroyed, it simply disappeared, went underground? What if it survived until the present day? How could its work and its knowledge be used to manipulate world domination today? What if throughout history the library has simply been moved from one location to another? If so, where is it now?

The tale told in THE LOST LIBRARY strains the bounds of credibility a bit but nevertheless makes interesting reading. It got me thinking about the times during history when bits of the library might have been sighted - for example, what about when Constantinople was sacked in 1453 and "lost" manuscripts found their way to the Western world and caused the Renaissance? The author poses some interesting scenarios - for example, the censorship imposed by a Keeper who decides which knowledge is to become public.

There are some pretty improbable events in the book, but it ignites the imagination, and I guarantee you will read to the end. ( )

Read this on the plane from Darwin to Launceston - 3 flights, took all day. Perfect plane fodder - no real attention required. Plot is along the same lines as Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code - but this time the intrepid heroes are tracking down the lost library of of Alexandria, which disappeared in the 8th century.
Of course, the library is not lost nor misplaced - the (white hat) Keepers have been protecting its location from the (black hat) Council for generations - and the key to its secrets is passed down from Head Keeper to a successor generation after generation. But now the Council has killed the Head Keeper before his successor is in place - and there is a real risk that the baddies will find out the secret before the new Head Keeper gets ahead of them. Blah blah blah.
It is a first novel, and the author does at times try to pack a little too much 'history' into story. But I didn't find this as annoying as the histrionics in Da Vinci Code. All in all, a good airport read - literally. ( )