FORMAT: PAPERBACK / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
What would you get if you gender-swapped Indiana Jones and gave him a Mancunian makeover? The answer is Captain Samantha Moxley, the star of author Dan Hanks’ debut novel Captain Moxley and the Embers of the Empire.
In 1952, ex-Spitfire pilot Moxley is drawn into a quest for the greatest archaeological find in history: the fabled Hall of Records. The result is a loving throwback to old-fashioned pulp fiction adventures; full of danger, monsters, mysticism and Nazi-punching action. Hopping from New York to Paris to Egypt, the book rolls along at break-neck pace, reading like a novelisation of a hit movie you never saw.
What makes it more than just slavish pastiche, though, is that Hanks has thoroughly brought this type of story into 2020. Moxley is a true post-colonial hero, frowning on western tomb-raiders thieving indigenous treasures. There’s also no demonising of foreign cultures here, as the villains of the piece are the US government, hoping to access age-old powers for their own ends.
The complex relationship between Moxley and her younger sister, archaeologist Jess, is also one of the book’s best strengths, with the two women rarely seeing eye to eye but having a familial bond all the same. Their dynamic is at the heart of the story, and Hanks clearly has ideas for how to develop things between them in future instalments.
If you’re looking for some thrills, spills and old-school escapism, then hop into the cockpit with Captain Moxley and let her take you for a ride.
