In Hopkins’ SF novel, an American newlywed couple must find an ancient, powerful alien relic from Egypt to prevent the destruction of mankind.

The author begins his Powers That Be SF trilogy with this international caper, which opens in primordial times: Nascent human life on Earth is monitored by bodiless beings, the Light Specters, who believe humans are vital to the universe and must be safeguarded. The entities erect a pyramid-shaped beacon in ancient Egypt, effectively preventing extraterrestrial interference; certain key humans (starting with the Pharaoh Khufu) receive special powers to aid in the task of protection. But a rebel faction, the Dark Specters, spend millennia obsessively scheming against humanity. Finally, in the early 20th century, a Nazi officer, manipulated by Dark Specters, removes the eternal power source of the long-buried beacon, an uncanny metallic ellipse with a Tolkien-like Ring-of-Power influence over anyone in its vicinity. Finding and returning the missing talisman to its proper node are the responsibilities the Powers That Be (PTB), a super-secret extra-governmental agency made up of elite humans, a few benevolent aliens, and androids. In 2044, with time running out before an alien invasion, the PTB recruits Rachel Alexander Haig, descendant of a key human bloodline, newly wedded to Owen Haig, an adventurous banker fond of quoting Indiana Jones and other escapist-fantasy Hollywood properties. Action and peril follow the sexy, young, game-for-anything couple throughout an itinerary of North African deserts and antiquities. Despite the apocalyptic danger and violence, the tone throughout is glib and flippant, sometimes getting a little too arch and twee for its own good (“Am I ready for my close-up?” asks a character in 1944, paraphrasing a famous movie line not to be uttered until 1950). Epic mayhem and grisly gore co-exist uneasily with comical slang (such as “noggin” and “skedaddle”), but one can’t say it isn’t the proverbial roller-coaster ride. In an introduction, the author states that the materials’ roots lay in a gag comic strip he did based on paranormal conspiracies and Area 51 mythology. The book includes an actual bibliography of sources for all of the conspiratorial and archaeological references.

A flighty, serio-comic excavation of SF tropes and doomsday conspiracies.