In the late 1960s, Egyptologist Harold Barnaby finds evidence of an undiscovered tomb on a neglected papyrus scroll. Within a few clipped pages he has met journalist Robert Pierce, who scoots round glamorous old-world locations recruiting a knife-throwing hardman, a wise-cracking archeologist, a dissolute aristocrat and a wide-eyed beauty. Under the cover of a fake dig, they intend to ransack the tomb and sell its contents back to Egypt. Easy Go is one of eight thrillers Crichton wrote between 1966 and 72 as John Lange, now reiussed with lurid covers by Hard Case Crime. It has many of the features (greed, plans that go wrong, efficient and unimaginative writing) of his later work, although technology doesn't make much of an appearance. Indeed, with its talk of "muscular Negros" and wonder at the exoticism of places that can now be reached on a budget flight, Easy Go feels like a period piece. The Indiana Jones series has since done tomb-robbing with more charisma and Nazis, but there are moments, as when the tomb is opened with a real sense of unease and mystery, in which this old-fashioned caper feels thrilling.
