Indiana Jones and the Secret of the Sphinx

I took my time with Secret of the Sphinx, knowing it was the last of Max McCoy’s Indiana Jones novels and, frankly, I was enjoying it so much I didn’t want it to end too quickly. And that was something I was acutely conscious of when reading because it’s a relatively slim book, although it does pack a lot in.

Without wanting to gush, I think this might be my favourite of the McCoy quartet. And you know, that’s really saying something, as all of them have been genuinely fun to read (if you’ve been following my reviews, you’ll know I’ve enjoyed the whole run, giving the previous three stories a solid 8/10 each).

What really tickled me was how the novel subverts expectations. With a title like Secret of the Sphinx, you think, “Ah, Egypt. Indy. Sphinx. Good stuff.” But the twist? Very little of the book actually takes place in Egypt. That might seem disappointing to read in isolation, but in practice it’s actually brilliant.

We kick off in China. Indy gets caught up with some pretty nasty Japanese characters. This fits historically, given that by 1934, Japan had already begun its imperial expansion into Chinese territory following the 1931 invasion of Manchuria. From there, Indy quickly becomes entangled in a mission to locate the missing husband and father of the talented magician duo Faye and Mystery Maskelyne.

What follows is pure pulp adventure: brutal fights, death-defying escapes, high-seas drama, shipwrecks, leper colonies. Just about everything short of the kitchen sink. And that’s before we even get to Egypt, where a familiar face is waiting: Indy’s old mate Sallah, who is always a welcome presence.

As for the McGuffins, plural. First up is the Staff of Aaron, but the real prize is the Omega Book: a legendary tome in which everything that has ever happened, or will happen, is written down.

Now that’s a treasure worth chasing.

We also get some set-ups for the films, with this novel being set just a year before Temple of Doom. One particularly fun moment is when Marcus Brody casually mentions the Ashes of Nurhachi to Indy. An offhand reference, but fans will immediately recognize as the catalyst for the Shanghai nightclub sequence that opens Temple. It’s a great example of how the books can bridge the gap between the adventures we’ve read and the ones we’ve seen on screen, grounding the narrative firmly within the broader Indiana Jones timeline while rewarding longtime fans with Easter Egg moments.

Still, it’s not all smooth sailing. There are a few unfortunate clangers that pulled me out of the story. Some are minor, like a reference to Joan of “Ark” (yes, seriously, and not a cheeky nod to Raiders, just a clumsy typo). But others are more glaring. At one point, there’s a reference to Pakistan, a nation that didn’t exist in 1934. Historically, that region was still part of British India, and anyone referring to it at the time would more likely have said something like “the North-West Frontier” or “the Punjab region.” It’s an anachronism, and while the editor should’ve caught it, McCoy really should have known better.

Interestingly, the novel’s brevity turns out to have a reason. McCoy originally planned a different ending involving… wait for it… time travel. Indy would return the Crystal Skull of Cozan (a presence in some way, shape, or form across all of the McCoy novels), to the Temple of the Serpent, only to walk out into the American Museum of Natural History in 1990s New York. Lucasfilm, however, nixed the idea, not wanting sci-fi in an Indy story. (Oh, the irony, considering what we got more recently in Dial of Destiny!) With that ending scrapped, several chapters were cut, leaving the novel shorter than intended.

Still, historical hiccups and missing pages aside, this is a hell of a fun ride. It’s packed with energy, invention, great characters and that globe-trotting Indy charm we all love. I’m giving it a solid 8.5/10, just ahead of the other McCoy entries. It’s a strong, if ever so slightly flawed, finish to a terrific run.