Product Description

For three thousand years, the world's most dangerous treasure has been lost. Now the code that reveals its hiding place is about to be broken ...Sam Grant is a disgraced ex-SOE soldier and an adventurer by trade. But he has a secret: six years ago, a dying archaeologist entrusted him with his life's work - transcripts of mysterious writing found in a hidden cave on Crete. Deciphered, it could lead to one of the greatest prizes in history. But the treasure is as dangerous as it is valuable. The CIA wants it; so does the KGB. Helped by a brilliant Oxford professor, and a beautiful Greek archaeologist with her own secrets to hide, Grant is plunged into a labyrinth of ancient cults, forgotten mysteries and lost civilizations. But time is running out. The secrets of the distant past may hold the key to the newest threats of the modern world...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #47877 in Books
• Published on: 2007-10-18
• Original language: English
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 400 pages

From the Back Cover
For three thousand years, the world's most dangerous treasure has been lost. Now the code that reveals its hiding place is about to be broken ...

Sam Grant is a disgraced ex-SOE soldier and an adventurer by trade. But he has a secret: six years ago, a dying archaeologist entrusted him with his life's work - transcripts of mysterious writing found in a hidden cave on Crete. Deciphered, it could lead to one of the greatest prizes in history.But the treasure is as dangerous as it is valuable. The CIA wants it; so does the KGB.Helped by a brilliant Oxford professor, and a beautiful Greek archaeologist with her own secrets to hide, Grant is plunged into a labyrinth of ancient cults, forgotten mysteries and lost civilizations.But time is running out.

The secrets of the distant past may hold the key to the newest threats of the modern world...

About the Author
Tom Harper (real name Edwin Thomas) won the CWA debut award in 2001 for The Blighted Cliffs. He also wrote The Mosaic of Shadows, Knights of the Cross, and Siege of Heaven, published by Random House.

Customer Reviews

Lost Temple - Tom Harper
This was a good read, although it never got truly gripping or compelling. A previous reviewer (11/01/08) has mentioned the siege of Antioch, but he/she is mistaken as that event does not appear anywhere in this book, nor is this novel set in the Crusades. Indeed he/she seems to be reviewing a different book. Previous reviewers have done an adequate job in describing the novel, the plot and its good and bad points, so I shall keep this brief.

The book is different in that the secret or historical mystery is not concerned with Christianity, but with ancient Greece and Mycenae, the age of heroes and of Homer, and the Linear B text. In this respect the novel is an original, and welcome, addition to the historical thriler genre. The book remained interesting, and there was plenty of pace. However, things did get predictable and you could spot the bad guy a mile off. Most disappointing of all was the weak ending - a bit of a cop-out - and it made all that had gone beforehand irrelevant and perhaps a waste of time.

In conclusion, I would recommend the book, but be prepared for a let-down at the end!

I Enjoyed the Book Very Much
Tom Harper is a pseudonym of Edwin Thomas, who grew up in West Germany, Belgium and America before returning to England to study history at Lincoln College, Oxford. Writing under the name of Tom Harper he has written three previous books: The Mosaic of Shadows, Knights of the Cross and Siege of Heaven. He writes the type of books that I usually enjoy.

The Lost Temple, could by some people be called another Da Vinci Code clone and in some ways I suppose it is. It is about the world's most dangerous treasure that has been lost to mankind for three thousand years. Now the code is about to be broken. Deciphered it could lead to one of the greatest prizes in history,

The treasure could be as dangerous as it is valuable and all the major governments in the world want it. For starters the CIA are after it and so are the Russians and it is a race against time for who is going to get what could be the greatest and also the deadliest find there has ever been.

The book contains all the factors necessary to make an appealing and exciting story. Yes it may be similar to the Da Vinci Code and many other books published since, bo so what, not every book has to be a literary classic, sometimes we just want to be taken out of ourselves and entertained and i think that this book does that. I for one enjoy this type of novel and if you don't, well, that is the point of the review, you will not buy it.

I couldn't put this down
Tom Harper's fourth novel is set just after the second world war and is an imaginative, fast paced and intelligent tale of the deciphering of Linear B (an ancient Greek language that was actually decoded in 1952).

The book's heroes are "Sam Grant, a disgraced ex-Special Forces soldier... a brilliant Oxford professor and a beautiful Greek archaeologist". Together they set off to beat an assortment of hoodlums, former Nazis and KGB agents in a race to crack the code.

I liked Dan Brown's da Vinci Code, and Lost Temple is, to some degree, similar. But I think there is much more going for Tom Harper's tale. For a start, Harper's grasp of history is better than Brown's, as is his story telling. Think of it as a cross between the da Vinci code, Indiana Jones and James Bond, with some extra special "Harper spice" thrown in and you might be close to the mark.

Very good indeed.