Again Gibbs hits one out of the ballpark – pyramids?—with this tween spy tale that significantly re-positions Cleopatra's place as a genius amid otherwise male-dominated Roman history.
Charlie's wanted by everyone by now: Israel's Mossad, her brother, Dante, the CIA, and of course she has to start the story off by adding another enemy to the growing list: an Egyptian head of a very powerful family, Ramses Shah, who has both the resources and the cunning to hunt Charlie across continents.
But first: Charlie's got to get a rubbing from a tablet in the house of the Shah's somewhat-idiotic adult son's house (how else could he be so easily foiled by a thirteen-year-old). The tablet was once owned by Cleopatra. It's been all-but forgotten. Charlie's convinced it holds the clue to the greatest treasure the world's ever known, the source of Cleopatra's Ptolemy family power, and a secret Cleopatra hid for her son, Caesarion, to discover after her death.
Charlie's not sure what it is, but that doesn't stop her embroiling her brother and his partner in her search for it, ostensibly to bring it back to the US and the CIA. Wink, nudge, wink. Yeah, right.
It might be the key to the Library of Alexandria. Or it might be something else.
In any case, her brother's ties to the CIA are abruptly cut short when the director changes and the new one doesn't care a whit who is killed to get Charlie's secrets – Charlie included. He's still appalled she's got the Einstein equation and dispatches a team to retrieve her.
After the operation to get the rubbing goes bad, the Mossad rescues her (inadvertently – they're still going after Einstein's equation from the first book, too) from the Shah's family and the Egyptians.
But Charlie's already got the first clue. Dante rescues her and they're on their way to Italy to figure out where the next clue is, and what exactly it'll lead Charlie to.
I can't say any more, I'll ruin it.
I really enjoyed this read. It's another "Lost Ark" type MG spy thriller quest and I can't wait to read the next one.
