Customer Reviews

The Pharaoh's Son

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The author is a new light apprearing on the literary horizon and deserves support and encouragement for his effort. The story is written in the present tense with the sequences of events that make up the plot cleverly layered to hold, build and heighten the reader's interest to the point where it becomes obsessive to find out what happens next. The characters are memorable, well presented and able to arouse emotional responses such as anger, pity, disgust, understanding, sympathy, hate, et al. in the reader. The author is in control from the beginning and uses dialogue to put forward his special brand of logic and ideas. He explores and expands on such complex topics as prostitution, pimping, violence, philosophy, occult sciences and comparative religions with surprising insights. His statement on prostitution "because it fullfills one of the most basic needs of man and to deny it is to create problems no one needs" is unabashed open minded liberalism of the 60's & 70's, but at the same time non-judgemental, non-cynical and non-superficial. He presents it to the reader for his or her ethical or spiritual morality to evaluate. The world's oldest profession with its attendents, drugs and violence still intrigues and mystifies and is dealt with very realistically. The reader is taken to a dangerous and compelling world without having to leave the comfort of familiar surroundings, by the writer, who either by research or personal knowledge makes the journey vivid and informative. The author examines with realistic insight the mind altering effects of hallucinogenic drugs and puts forth the provocative and tantalizing premise "somewhere within the chaos of abuse and misuse of hallucinogenics man may someday realize a benefit in their use as a tool to explore the frontiers of human consciousness" may someday prove prophetic. The dialogue between the mad character Christopher, the psychiatrist, physicist, Catholic priest and Buddhist is a classical exchange of abstractive logical thinking. Christopher's progressive deterioration after release from the mad house gives the reader a unique glimpse into the world and culture of street life. When he muses "maybe I needed to see and experience the depth of human misery in order to understand more fullu the great order of things from lowest to highest, I felt the power and meaning on a very personal level. After tours of Ethiopia and Egypt that were both humorous and knoledgeable like all good things the book comes to an anti-climatic end with the tinge of sadness that there is no more and appreciation of having experienced the craftsmanship and skill of a great writer.

I started to read "The Pharaoh's Son" while I was home sick in bed. I could not put it down, start to finish. I was completely overwhelmed by the many thought provoking concepts that Mr. Dahl intertwines within the story. To have tackled philosophy, religion, physics and science fiction all in one was an outstanding fete.

Christopher's story is often gut wrenching and one cannot read this without feeling personally involved. Everyone who has ever experienced a true search for their roots and individuality will identify with Christopher.

The language is beautifully constructed and the story is mesmerizing. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who loves a great story.