The Exodus Quest

At the start of Davis's fast-paced if exhausting second antiquities thriller to feature archeologist Daniel Knox (after The Alexander Cipher ), Knox is strolling through a market in Alexandria, Egypt, when he spies what appears to be a valuable artifact, an earthenware bowl, which the young hawker claims is the “fruit bowl of Alexander the Great.” The bowl, which turns out to be connected to the Dead Sea Scrolls, leads Knox to a dig being conducted by the Rev. Ernest Peterson and his team of earnest young theology students. Peterson, a raging religious maniac, is on the trail of a portrait of Christ and will stop at nothing to possess it. Several corrupt Egyptian policemen, each with his own agenda, create too many subplots to keep track of or care about. Egyptian antiquities aficionados will be happy with the historical material, but those with less specific interests will find the frenzied chase confusing, tiring, and something of a letdown. (Apr.)