The Egyptologist by Arthur Phillips (2005, Paperback, Reprint)

I should preface this by saying that I knew nothing of this book before picking it up and it was purely one of those "you may also like" suggestions that Amazon likes to make. I thought it was a murder mystery from the book jacket and let me say that if you are hoping it is, you will be disappointed. I was delighted, however, to find that it was so much more than a simple mystery. There is a bit of a mystery, but it's easy to spot and only serves as the thread to connect a sequence of alternately funny and tragic portraits. The story is told entirely in letters and journal entries from the perspective of the main (and, at first, seeming unconnected) characters and this creates the most fascinating subtle style that leaves the reader in a perpetual state of dawning. The author never spoils the jokes by explaining them and many times through out the story he employs the duality of Ralph's "reporting" about his pharaoh and letting the reader piece together how it really applies to him and his actions. The book maintains a very light tone throughout, even as horrible and disturbing events begin to enfold and, though the vignettes are all in first person, the reader still has a strong impression of being able to see the narrator as the other characters see them. Every narrator in this story is eventually proven unreliable and the real mystery is sifting through the truth in what each person says to get at not what happened (which is easy to tell from the start) but exactly how it happened. This book may not be for everyone for this certainly dark humor may put off readers who were hoping for a sleuth story, but for those that read it through and approach without any preconceived notions, they will find the story is an astonishingly good read that leaves your mind with plenty to chew on once you close the covers.