Entry 43: The Secret of the Sphinx

Indy Timeline: 1934

The Secret of the Sphinx is the final Indy novel written by Max McCoy.  By opening the story with Indy searching for ancient treasures deep in the jungles of Southeast Asia and closing it with Indy teaming up with Sallah for desert exploration in Giza, the spirit of Raiders is clear throughout.  This is true not only in terms of the locales that Indy finds himself in, but also in terms of tone.  Secret of the Sphinx has a certain grit to it, with some dark and surprisingly violent sequences as well. 

The adventure begins with Indy delving deep into heavily booby-trapped ruins, barely escaping with his life, and landing squarely at the feet of his enemies- in this case, members of the Japanese Imperial Army.  In the course of a gruesome torture sequence, McCoy introduces a pair of key villains- Mishima Sokai, a dashing (and sadistic) Japanese officer, and his ruthless henchwoman, the beautiful Musashi.  Following a daring prison break, Indy finds himself on the run from the Japanese and falling into a partnership with Faye and Mystery Maskelyne, two American magicians searching for a missing family member. 

Indy is wounded during the escape (shot in the shoulder), and relies on the mother and daughter to help him flee from the Japanese on a tramp steamer filled with unsavory sailors and an alcoholic ship doctor.  While the ship was not captained by Simon Katanga, the homage to the Bantu Wind is pretty clear (which is great).  McCoy also uses this setting for another action sequence, complete with dive-bombing Japanese fighter planes. 

These sequences serve to set up Indy's quest to help the Maskelyne's find Kaspar, Faye's husband and Mystery's mother.  Kaspar had disappeared while searching for the "Omega Book," an artifact that contains the names and histories of every human who has ever lived.  The quest for Kaspar (and the book) sends them to Iraq and then to Egypt, with a variety of colorful characters introduced along the way.  It is here that the biblical Staff of Aaron is introduced as a central artifact to the story.

While I found the "Omega Book" a weak maguffin, Secret of the Sphinx gets quite a bit right.  Some of the "set pieces" are quite memorable (a visit to a leper colony, Indy and friends racing through the desert on motorcycles, finding secret passages in the Egyptian pyramids).  Historic locations, such as Giza, and a number of biblical references keep the story strong and in the Indy spirit.  The characters are also very "Indy," with major characters from the canon, such as Sallah and Marcus Brody playing a role, in addition to new villains and friends. 

The violence and torture in this book are a bit excessive, however.  There are three separate sequences involving some form of graphic torture.  At one point, a character has his eye gouged out by a torture device, and at another, some goons try to mummify Indy before being burned by acid and being bitten to death by cobras.  Indy has a chunk of his ankle slowly carved out with a dagger in one scene, just adding another example of the violence in the book.  While violence has always been a part of the canon (yes, I suppose the heart extraction in ToD was worse than all this), I thought it went a bit further than necessary more than once in this story.

Nevertheless, Secret of the Sphinx is a strong contribution to the canon that pays appropriate homage to Raiders while adding in a good amount of new adventure and excitement.  The conclusion of the book also puts a capstone on McCoy's longest story arc throughout his four Indy novels- Indy's difficult experiences with a certain crystal skull.  While this "second ending" to the book is a bit bizarre, it worked for me.  The "third ending," in which Indy discusses these experiences with Albert Einstein on a park bench in Princeton, I thought was a bit much.  This stated, these indulgences were not enough to spoil an otherwise worthwhile contribution to Indy lore.  In "Secret of the Spinx," McCoy does a fine job in closing out his cycle of Indy novels, which all reflect a strong understanding of the spirit of the franchise. 

Indy Rating: 8.5/10