Atlantis by David Gibbons

For my Mystery Challenge "Nice to Meet Ya... Read a book by a new to you author", I read Atlantis by David Gibbons.




The idea behind the story is that Solon, the famous Greek statesman is told the story of Atlantis by the great Egyptian priest Amenhotep. However, his parchment with the writing on it is stolen from him. He was hit over the head and remembers little of the tale. What he remembers is told to Plato's grandfather in Greece who then relates it to Plato who puts it in writing. 2500 yrs later during a dig in the dessert of Egypt the parchment is found used in the wrappings of a mummy. What follows is a rapid meeting of the minds with several translators and marine archaeologists to set a course for Atlantis. Halfway through the book Atlantis is found and a fight begins for rights to the dig. They have to deal with Russians who want to protect the secrets of a sunken submarine and a group of mercenary treasure hunting pirates.



Well what can I say about Atlantis?? It was a bit of a disappointment. I had hopes for this book because the author is an archaeologist himself and used real digs as a back drop to the story. The search for Atlantis was interesting, the archaeological discoveries were interesting. However, just when things start getting good, they had to stop for pirates, sex or sunken submarines. Unfortunately, the author felt that those things were necessary when the hunt for the lost city was exciting enough.