City of Dreams (Huy The Scribe) [Paperback]

Anton Gill (Author)

Book Description

Series: Huy The Scribe | Publication Date: February 15, 2006

First U.S. edition Once a high-status scribe in the court of the pharaoh Akhenaten, Huy has been reduced to freelance problem-solving – working, essentially, as the world’s first private eye. And with the child-pharaoh Tutankhamun now in power, all of Akhenaten’s former supporters are automatically suspect, so Huy has to conduct his investigations very quietly indeed, if he’s to avoid attracting the notice of the secret police. That in itself is a problem, because Huy’s latest case shows every indication of becoming extremely high-profile. A serial killer has been stalking wealthy young women in Thebes – the daughters of powerful, influential men. And every clue that Huy uncovers leads to the unavoidable conclusion that the killer is just such a powerful, influential man, with the ability to end Huy’s hardscrabble life with the flick of a finger. “Huy goes down the mean streets of ancient Egypt in a fine, swaggering style,” said the Glasgow Herald, but while that swagger wins him plenty of bed-partners, it’s increasingly tempered by his sense of growing danger, as the streets grow meaner by the day. The 2nd Huy the Scribe mystery

Editorial Reviews

Review

“A thriller . . . of ancient Egypt . . . men, gods and kings step from the page fully alive” – Eastern Daily Press (UK) --Eastern Daily Press (UK)

“Stylishly written and compulsively readable” – Gay Times (UK) --Gay Times (UK)

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Felony & Mayhem (February 15, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1933397306
• ISBN-13: 978-1933397306
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,753,775 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars If you like mystery & Ancient Egypt this is a fine choice, September 5, 2007

By 

K. L. Evans "Book Fiend" (Southern Calif, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: City of Dreams (Huy The Scribe) (Paperback)

Huy had been a scribe during Akhenaten's reign. He survived the bitter return to the old ways, gods & a new pharoah's reign under the yoke of rivals Horemheb & Ay, but at the cost of his profession. Unable to live by previous means he is 'unofficially' asked by a Medjay policeman to assist in solving the mysterious deaths of young beautiful girls.
The deaths are due to unknown cause & pressure mounts to find the guilty party(ies) quickly. Huy uses keen observation, commonsense, contacts and instinct to probe the frightening murders.
The author sets the mood & period very capably. Dialogue & descriptions are very readable & are void of distracting 'modernisms' & comparisons.
While not a 'classic', it is a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon distraction & a pleasure to read.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good series, see prior review of 1st book about Huy "City of the Horizon", May 17, 2007

By 

gilly8 "gilly8" (Mars, the hotspot of the U.S.) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: City of Dreams (Huy The Scribe) (Paperback)

This is the second book about the ex-Scribe Huy, forbidden to work as a Scibe (one of the most prestigious professions for a commoner) due to his link to the court of the "Great Criminal" the now dead Pharaoh Akenaten. Huy in his youth was a "true believer" in Akhenaten's new religion. Now, older, he doesn't know what he believes. However, due to his past, he is forever marked as untrustworthy" by the current regime, controlled by General Horemheb and Ay (a commoner,but the father of the late Queen Nefertiti), and led by the figurehead Pharaoh, the boy king Tutankhamun,who is still a child. Since he can't be a scribe, Huy has learned he has a gift for solving "problems", and rather unbelievably, these men in power turn to him when the daughters of nobles are being killed by a serial killer. Not to reveal the plot, but that was hard to believe. At any rate, as I said in my review of the first book, the concept of someone whose life has been destroyed in the aftermath of Akhenaten's fall, like someone of the 20th Century, who was a minor unknown person in Stalinist Russia or Maoist China and was somehow on the wrong side, and who then and forever had to scrabble and scrape to survive. In Huy's case he previously he held a proud profession and a middle or upper middle class lifestyle in the nation's new capital...all that was gone from him without his ever being given a chance to "recant that some were given...that is interesting and could be made more so I think. His loss of wife and son (she left due to his "politics" in the last days of the Akhenaten era) are never discussed, which I find not realistic. The books in the series are interesting but could be better.