Indiana Jones and the Secret of the Sphinx is the twelfth and final novel in Bantam's popular Indiana Jones series and the fourth by author Max McCoy.
Publisher's summary[]
It is the most coveted of all ancient artifacts. In it is written the history—and the fate—of every human being. And he who owns it writes his own destiny. Now Indiana Jones follows a trail of danger, magic, and archaeological mystery through the war-torn Orient, from Rangoon to the Egyptian desert, searching for the secret underground hiding place of the all-powerful Omega Book. But with a beautiful woman seeking her missing magician husband, and a vengeance-crazed Japanese spymaster hot on his heels, Indy is running out of time. If the Omega Book falls into the wrong hands, not only his own fate but the fate of the world will be at the mercy of a madman bent on writing humanity's final chapter!
Appearances[]
Characters[]
- Aaron (Mentioned only)
- Abdul
- Sheikh Adda (Mentioned only)
- Ahkmed
- Allah (Mentioned only)
- Arthur
- Sheikh Ali Azhad
- Ibn Battuta (Mentioned only)
- Napoleon Bonaparte (Mentioned only)
- Marcus Brody
- Montgomery Bryce
- Jesus Christ (Mentioned only)
- Dharuma (Mentioned only)
- Divine Wind first mate
- Divine Wind engineer
- Alecia Dunstin (Mentioned only)
- Albert Einstein
- Jasmine el-Kahir
- Moshti el-Kahir
- Sallah Mohammed Faisel el-Kahir
- Charles Fort (Mentioned only)
- Ulysses S. Grant (Mentioned only)
- Gulliver (Mentioned only)
- Henri
- Hirohito (Mentioned only)
- Adolf Hitler (Mentioned only)
- Mr. Hyde
- Jadoo
- Indiana Jones
- Pharaon Khafre (Mentioned only)
- Genghis Khan (Mentioned only)
- Tzen Khan (Mentioned only)
- Lo
- Francois Malevil (Mentioned only)
- Faye Maskelyne
- Kaspar Maskelyne (Skull)
- Mystery Maskelyne
- Menes (Mentioned only)
- Miriam (Mentioned only)
- Miyamoto
- Moses (Mentioned only)
- Musashi
- Ed Musick
- Nurhachi (Mentioned only)
- Nut (Mentioned only)
- Pascal
- Pasha
- Plato (Mentioned only)
- Rameses II (Mentioned only)
- Babe Ruth (Mentioned only)
- Sallah's brother-in-law (Mentioned only)
- Sallah's father (Mentioned only)
- Satan / Shaitan (Mentioned only)
- Albert Schweitzer (Mentioned only)
- Si Huang (Mentioned only)
- Captain Snark
- Mishima Sokai
- Solomon (Mentioned only)
- Solon (Mentioned only)
- Thutmose IV (Mentioned only)
- Tutankhamun (Mentioned only)
- Clement Wragge (Mentioned only)
Locations[]
- Actium (Mentioned only)
- Atlantic Ocean (Mentioned only)
- Australia (Mentioned only)
- Baghdad (Mentioned only)
- Calcutta, India
- Atlas House
- Bengali
- China
- Great Wall of China (Miniature only)
- Lintong
- Luchow
- Orchid (Mentioned only)
- Peking (Miniature only)
- Shaanxi Province
- Mount Hua
- Shanghai
- Songshan Shaolin Temple
- Wei Bei plain
- Xi'an (Mentioned only)
- Yangtze River (Miniature only)
- Cozán, British Honduras
- East China Sea (Mentioned only)
- Egypt
- Cairo
- Muski
- Giza
- Great Pyramid
- Great Sphinx
- Tomb of Tutankhamun (Mentioned only)
- Cairo
- Gobi Desert (Mentioned only)
- Iraq
- Lalesh
- Nineveh
- Sheikh Adda
- Tigris River (Mentioned only)
- Upper Plains
- Iran (Mentioned only)
- Lazarus Island
- Leeds (Mentioned only)
- London (Mentioned only)
- Lubantuun (Mentioned only)
- Manchuria (Mentioned only)
- Manchukuo (Mentioned only)
- Nagasaki (Mentioned only)
- Neith (Mentioned only)
- Okinawa (Mentioned only)
- Oxford (Mentioned only)
- Pakistan (Mentioned only)
- Indus River (Mentioned only)
- Philippines (Mentioned only)
- Solomon's Temple (Mentioned only)
- Tokyo (Mentioned only)
- Imperial Palace (Mentioned only)
- International Hotel (Mentioned only)
- USA
- Barnett College (Mentioned only)
- Hollywood (Mentioned only)
- New York City (Mentioned only)
- Wall Street (Mentioned only)
- Claremore, Oklahoma (Mentioned only)
- Princeton, New Jersey
- Princeton University
- McCormick Hall
- Princeton University
Artifacts[]
- Ark of the Covenant (Mentioned only)
- Crystal Skull of Cozan
- Crystal Skull of Lubantuun (Mentioned only)
- I Ching (Mentioned only)
- Ivory moon
- Staff of Aaron
- Omega Book
Miscellanea[]
- American Museum of Natural History
- Bedouin (Mentioned only)
- Bible
- Book of the Damned (Mentioned only)
- British Mercantile Bank
- Chi
- Great Depression (Mentioned only)
- Divine Wind
- Halloween (Mentioned only)
- Indy's pistol
- Jackal (Mentioned only)
- Japanese Imperial Army
- Imperial Army Air Force
- Pan American Airways
- Russo-Japanese War (Mentioned only)
- Service des Antiquités (Mentioned only)
- Silk Road (Mentioned only)
- Snake (Mentioned only)
- Stone Age (Mentioned only)
- Sumerian (Mentioned only)
- Terracotta Army
- Thanksgiving (Mentioned only)
- RMS Titanic (Mentioned only)
- Travelers Aid
- Turkey (bird) (Mentioned only)
- USS Augusta
- Valentine's Day (Mentioned only)
- Yezidi
Behind the scenes[]
Development[]
Unlike his first three books in the Indiana Jones novel series by Bantam Books, Max McCoy didn't count with Tom Dupree but with Pat Lobrutto for the editing of Indiana Jones and the Secret of the Sphinx.[1] McCoy originally had an idea for the novel's ending that would have included a larger sequence with time travel involved, but Lucasfilm Ltd. creatives pushed against the idea for mixing science-fiction in a typical Indiana Jones adventure.[2] The sequence would have involved the title character returning the Crystal Skull of Cozan to the Temple of the Serpent only or the temple's exit to take him out to the American Museum of Natural History of New York City in the then-contemporary 1990s. The sequence's removal caused the finished book to lose some of its chapters, but MccCoy still added a few references to the phenomenon by having Indy witness a girl's execution during the Crystal Skull's earliest days only to then find a fresh rock with hair and blood and then approach Albert Einstein about his ideas of space and time.[3]
Continuity[]
In the novel, Indiana Jones states that he'll be turning 35 in 1934, placing the story sometime after the events of Indiana Jones and the Hollow Earth but before his birthday on July 1.
Clement Lindley Wragge, a meteorologist known for starting the naming of cyclones, is mentioned as a current friend of Montgomery Bryce, though the historical Wragge died in 1922, twelve years before the events of the book.
Cover gallery[]
Notes and references[]
- ↑ Indiana Jones and the Secret of the Sphinx
- ↑ Interview with Max McCoy at The Indy Experience
- ↑ "Is Indiana Jones allowed to time travel?" a START WRITING interview with author MAX McCOY! on YouTube
| ADVENTURE TIMELINE | ||
|---|---|---|
| previous | next | |
| June 1934 | 1934 | 1934 |
| Indiana Jones and the Cult of the Mummy's Crypt | Indiana Jones and the Secret of the Sphinx | Indiana Jones Adventure World |