This novel of suspense takes you to Egypt.

Sam lives in a boarding school, but he spends his summer with Uncle Jasper in Cairo, Egypt. Upon arrival, there’s no Jasper, but there is a very insistent boy who will take him to a safe place in his taxi . Sam doesn’t know Hadi, so he goes with the police who want to know where Jasper lives and where he is because he is guilty of stealing from the company for whom he works. Hadi helps Sam escape from the policeman to show him that he truly wants to help him. The only other person Sam seems to trust is Mary, a girl he met on the plane who is crazy about Egyptology and has a large “minder,” Bassem. Sam is determined to find Jasper, and Mary and Hadi are only happy to help.

Sam discovers that there are men after him--men who probably want his uncle, so Sam runs about the entire book putting clues together as to what his uncle was doing and where he might be and getting away from the “bad guys.” Hadi and Mary make appearances, but Sam is usually on his own. With Mary’s help, Sam discovers that Jasper sent an email that Sam was to stay in Boston, but the email was intercepted to keep him from receiving it. Sam follows the clues and stays ahead of the pursuing men throughout most of the novel.

You will learn a little about Egyptians in this novel--with an emphasis on “little.” Egypt is not a safe place to go these days. They had a coup a few years ago and still have struggles. That kids could run about Egypt is misleading information. I would love to visit Egypt and the Pyramids, but it’s not recommended by the US government as a safe destination. Therefore, I am wary of the Egypt as portrayed. There’s not a lot of depth to the novel--the plot is Sam running from one dangerous situation to another with him occasionally being smart, occasionally being naive. Everything is explained in the end with the “almost dying” ending before being rescued. You won’t read anything here you haven’t read in another novel. It sounds like I don’t like the novel. Not so. It’s a perfectly fine, typical middle years novel that is suspense with little thought, so it’s merely a fun novel to read. I will say that I think the cover is poor. It inaccurately implies Mary and Sam running together and it looks like a book for a 3rd grader. A third grader could read it--no doubt, but 6th graders might be hesitant with such a child-like cover. I would say this novel is for 3rd - 6th grades. ( )