Ghosts of Karnak by George Mann
It's the 1920's and the people are in a frenzy about Egypt again as an exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art is to be held after an expedition to Egypt had yielded so many interesting finds from a queen's tomb. Elsewhere, a young woman is found dead, ancient Egyptian runes carved into her body. Donovan is on the case, but are the two related?
While the Ghost is near executed by the Enforcer, who, he supposes has been sent by the local gangsters to try and have him killed, Gabriel is excited that he will see his girlfriend, Ginny again, but she never meets him at the train station and he begins to think she might have changed her mind about continuing their relationship. Ginny, it seems is a busy woman. She is in Egypt interested in seeing the Temple at Luxor; stuck in a bar that has no decent water. That is until a man helps her out with some of the bottled kind and they get into a conversation on archaeology as he's intrigued at what he'll find at the dig too.
In this new novel starring the Ghost, Gabriel and Donovan team up to find out the source of the Autumn Allen murder, and also why Ginny hadn't contacted him, or arranged to meet Gabriel when he thought she would. Like Bruce Wayne, Gabriel was a playboy type with unlimited cash who thought he might not have impressed Ginny as much as he'd hoped. He knows she is a hardy type who wouldn't let any man push her around, but that doesn't stop Gabriel worrying about her welfare. As far as he is aware, she is missing and has had Donovan file a missing person's report in the hopes of finding her alive.
Whatever is going on, there is a horrifying thought that all the clues lead to finding more than a coincidence as another body is found, that of a man who has a tattoo similar to that of Autumn, plus, Ginny has got herself into a spot of trouble with two strange fanatics who intend to raise an ancient goddess. Ghosts of Manhattan gave us the first glimpse of the Ghost and his friends, the mob and the evil ones who work within the shadows.
Now, in Ghosts of Karnak, Mann takes us on the cultist route of brutal murder, ancient rites and the resurrection of old gods. Gabriel and Donovan have to find out where Ginny could be, and hope she's alright. I could imagine that Gabriel would be mortified as Mann has made it so obvious how much he loves her. When the mania surrounding Egypt had happened in the 1920s, Mann brings the spirit of the age back to us with the steampunk effects, futuristic villains and delving into almost Lovecraftian realms of evil, brutish possibility.
