Kent Weeks and his wife come across as enthusiastic, dedicated and eager to introduce the general public to the pleasures of Egyptology in this account of the first few years of his investigations at KV5. As can be seen from the biographical information he provides in this work he has devoted most of his life to investigating the Valley of the Kings. That is why it is a pity that this work comes across as jumbled and a little superficial. Accounts of the dig are interspersed so frequently with accounts of the lives of various pharaohs, of the problems the Weeks face from lackadaisical Egyptian officials, the eccentricity of the local laborers, and so on, that it is very difficult to keep track of what the team is finding in KV5 and its historical significance. (I would guess that this format was forced on Professor Weeks by a commercially minded publisher, presumably in the belief that the average layman reader is not willing to plod through several hundred pages of architectural accounts.)

Another problem with this work: although the discovery of KV5 is the most important discovery in the Valley of the Kings since the discovery of King Tut's tomb, the actual material found in the tomb is probably not particularly exciting for readers who are not dedicated Egyptologists. Most of the discoveries consist of minute brick and porcelain fragments which poor Mrs. Weeks is charged with cataloguing. For the layman Egyptologist I would recommend instead the classic by Howard Carter, The Discovery of the Tomb of Tutankhamen, also available from Amazon.com This is a truly exciting account of the discovery of Tut's tomb which was packed with fantastic treasures.<BR