Yes, another Indiana Jones book.
This one focuses on when he is younger, although he is also supposed to be a bit older than during the "Young Indiana Jones" series of book and the television series.
Here, he is a student in college, and hardly seems as entirely focused or confident - or even mature. In fact, he seems a bit of a mess, and much more of a dreamer than the way he is portrayed in the movies. Also, he falls for a woman that he never should have, and has to fight his own instincts in wanting to be with her. All in all, we see a different Indiana Jones in this novel - one that is more green, if you will. He has some growing up to do, and in this novel, he does quite a bit of growing up in a very short time span, with his first truly risky adventure.
This book also focuses a little bit on the strained relationship between Indy and his father, Henry Jones (and yes, it's hard not to picture either Harrison Ford or Sean Connery playing the roles) in the beginning of the book. On some level, Indy's teacher challenges him in a way that reminds him of his father, and we can feel the tension. Along with the other areas that Indy has to grow up a bit in, we glimpse some unresolved issues in the young man, and possibly the need to come to terms with all of that.
***Spoiler Alert***
Yet, his teacher, Professor Dorian Belacamus, is very different than Indy's father in many other respects. For starters, she is a woman, and she is very attractive. Quite naturally, that did not escape the attention of young Indiana Jones. Yet, she has largely ignored him, we find, early in the book. That is why he is so taken aback when she begins to not only notice him, but seem downright friendly. Even....flirtatious? He can't be too sure.
Still, she has called him her star student in the classroom, and after announcing to the class that she has to take a leave of absence for the rest of the semester to go on an expedition to Delphi, which is her particular field of expertise.
Indiana Jones wants to go, but mostly, it is his little head doing the thinking for him. He is really very attracted to the professor, and wants her. He is, after all, a young man in his prime, and she an attractive, sophisticated woman far different than the girls he tends to spend time with. The only thing is that he is uncertain about her intentions, or what exactly his own role is (remember, he is not yet convinced by this point that he even wants to be an archaeologist. Plus, his friends all give voice to their suspicions about the professor, and these begin to weigh on him more and more as the novel goes along, and his own doubts begin to grow to the point that he can no longer avoid them.
Still, he likes the idea of going to an exotic place like Greece, to look at ancient ruins, and he has high hopes that he will get with a very attractive woman that he seems to have fallen head over heels for. So, he goes.
He gets to visit Athens, and sees the ruins of an ancient civilization. We also see his reaction when he gets to see Delphi for the first time, and again, he seems almost awed by it - another sign of his still obvious youth. There has even an earthquake of late, and the legendary mists have started to rise from Delphi once again. Other things seem to be falling into place to fulfill a certain prophecy that included the return of a "Dorian" (the professor's name is Dorian), the return of the Pythea, the woman of ancient lore that would seem to ramble incomprehensibly, but when translated, would give prophecies that many believed in. So many came to believe in her prophecies in ancient days, that they began to actively pursue her, and she became legendary. As it turns out, those who believe in the newest prophecy of Pythia's return also believe that Professor Dorian Belacamus is, in fact, the new Pythea.
There is one more key element to the newest prophecy, and that is that the king of Greece will return to Delphi. Before long, it is revealed that the king is planning a visit to the site, to see the release of the legendary mists for himself. What he does not know is that there is a plot against him by Dr. Belacamus and her boyfriend, Colonel Mandraki.
Indiana's stated task at the site is to go down the crevice and retrieve a tablet embedded within the walls. Yet, he finds something else of even greater interest: the cone-shaped Omphalos. But the descent down the crevice does not go as smoothly as he wanted it to, and when he is pulled up back to the surface, he has taken a fall and injured himself. It will take some time to recover.
Indy's suspicions really begin to grow after he almost dies during this excavation, and he now begins to open his eyes much more. It takes him a while to recover, and during that time, he finds some things, and will no longer be able to dismiss the possibility that he is a pawn in a much larger game.
Slowly but surely, Indiana begins to gather enough evidence that his suspicions become cemented with evidence, and he understands what is going to happen. Still, it is not easy to break up the plot, and he finds himself encountering numerous difficulties, not least of which is that he is a stranger in a foreign land, and the natives do not trust him. In fact, there is only one native who really seems to like or trust him, and he is a boy, Nikolos.
Still, he already shows his ability to figure things out along the way, and this is how he manages to squeak by in very tight, dangerous situations. Jones is beginning to show the improvisational abilities that will serve him very well in future adventures.
They plan to entice the king near the crevice while there was a thick coating of mist, push him in and kill him, then assume power on their own. Indiana Jones has been involuntarily recruited to be the fall guy. But he manages to outsmart everyone, and winds up actually saving the king from the fall, thus making a friendship that will last a long time, the first in a long series of signs that Indiana Jones will make some powerful friends along the way.
The adventure does not yet end there, and Dorian/Pythia manages to capture two of Indy's friends the next day after the botched coup attempt. She shoots Mandraki, and it appears that she has killed him, although he manages to escape, all the while not knowing who it was who had actually shot at him. In the meantime, Jones is sent down the crevice, once again, to retrieve the Omphalos. She is holding everyone at gunpoint.
Indiana Jones manages to find it and excavates it from the walls. But on his way up, as he holds the thing to his chest, he finally feels the power of the Omphalos, catching some glimpses of his future, which is filled with adventures and treasures. Before all of that, he sees himself sitting with the king in a library, among other things. Yet, he also sees an image of Mandraki repeatedly pointing a gun right at him and pulling the trigger. He feels sickened by the Omphalos, and does not even want to touch it ever again.
Dorian/Pythia takes the Omphalos from Jones, and then has some kind of horrific glimpse of her own future. So horrified is she, that she freezes, dropping the gun, and seemingly gets completely detached from reality. Jones and his friends easily take the gun, escaping yet another close call.
But Mandraki has survived, and now, intends to kill Jones. Jones and his friends actually manage to steal Mandraki's car, and head towards Athens, to the palace, where they hope to reveal the thwarted coup d'etat to none other than the king himself. But Mandraki still holds a lot of cards, and puts up road blocks. Every soldier knows to shoot to kill, and it takes a lot of ingenuity, and no small measure of luck, for Jones and Co. to survive, yet again.
They make it to the palace, and are going to be sent out of the country as a crime. Mandraki has played his cards well, and pretends to be at peace with himself, "forgiving" Indiana Jones for stealing and destroying his car, and gracefully sending him out of the country. his greater interest is taking power in the country. But the king, trusting Indy from having saved his life during the coup attempt, meets with Indiana in the middle of the night, in his library. The first vision of his future has come true. Indiana reveals everything, from the beginning, so that the king understands that the threat against his life and rule posed by Mandraki is real, and remains.
Jones and his friends are going to leave the country the next day. But on the way to the port, Indy spots Dorian, and goes after her. Mandraki is there, though he remains hidden. Mandraki takes his gun and points it at Indiana Jones, then pulls the trigger. But Dorian steps in front of the bullet, and saves Jones. Mandraki now wants revenge more than ever on Jones, and once again, points the gun at him. But he is stopped by Nikolos, who kills Mandraki from behind. Jones is now safe to pursue further adventures in his future - the future book line of his adventures.
This book is actually very well written. There is one part in particular (at the very beginning of Chapter 8 -"Journey to Delphi") when Professor Belacamus wakes up very early and takes a bicycle ride very early in the morning, trying hard not to wake up the sleeping Indiana Jones, as she rides her bike in the chilly early morning air, that was so well-written, that I could almost picture myself being in that position. That is when fictional books are at their best, when they become almost literally an escape from yourself, when you feel almost like it is a vacation from yourself, for however many hours it takes to read the book, in any case. I think that makes this book worth reading, just by itself. Also, this book, although fictional and focused on the adventures of Indiana Jones, still nonetheless has some educational aspects to it, and that should be an additional enticement. This was a solid book, and I applaud Rob MacGregor on it.
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