Shadow of the Sphinx

by Christian Jacq Book 3 in the The Judge of Egypt series.

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2.5(5)

Pazair reaches the final stage of his confrontation with the forces trying to corrupt the state and endanger Ramesses II. The investigation returns to the symbolic world of Giza and the Sphinx, where public power and hidden crime meet. The novel concludes the trilogy by testing whether a judge’s commitment to truth can survive political pressure, fear and the machinery of royal government.

The final investigation makes Pazair’s personal survival inseparable from the legitimacy of the state he serves. Evidence points toward people able to manipulate law, religion and access to the pharaoh, so a correct judgement may itself become dangerous. Returning to Giza gives the conclusion a setting where royal monuments promise permanence even as the political system around them proves vulnerable to hidden ambition.