THE PHARAOH KEY

The latest pulse-pounding thriller from New York Times bestsellers Preston & Child. Perfect for fans of Michael Crichton and Clive Cussler. There''s no such thing as too great a risk for a man living on borrowed time. Gideon Crew is out of a job. It is the least of his worries: his doctor has just told him he has only months to live. His employer, Effective Engineering Solutions, has shut up shop; its enigmatic boss has disappeared without a trace. There''s no other option for Gideon and his colleagues but to clear their desks. And that''s when Gideon and Manuel Garza discover a computer programme that, left running for five years, has finally cracked the code it was attacking. It has deciphered the infamously enigmatic hieroglyphs of the Phaistos Disk. For a century, the ancient stone tablet defied interpretation, but now Gideon and Manuel have a lead on an undiscovered civilization, long-lost beneath the sands of the Egyptian Sahara. As a man doomed by an inevitably fatal brain syndrome, Crew needs little persuasion to embark on one final adventure. ''Relentless mayhem ... [A] thrill-a-minute read'' KIRKUS REVIEWS. ''Their most expertly executed entertainment yet ... A big-boned thriller, one that will make a terrific movie'' PUBLISHERS WEEKLY.