My first read of 2026, and I really enjoyed it! This book is written by indie author Hazel Longuet and published in 2018, my partner bought the series for me as a Christmas present due my love of history and egyptology being my introduction to ancient history as a child. “House of Scarabs” is a book that reminds me a little bit of the 1999 film The Mummy with Brendan Fraser, which I still love to watch on repeat!

I’ve found the story to be totally engaging, exciting and just a touch emotional. Before I get into it, as always, spoilers ahead! Continue at your own risk!

This story follows three characters who are inexplicably connected to each other, although I’m still not entirely sure what that connection is, I’m sure I’ll find out in the next couple of books! Anyways, the first two characters we are introduced to is Ellie and Ben. Ellie is a ferocious linguist teacher hailing from Egypt with a deep seated distrust of men since her divorce from her husband a few years previously, I have to say I loved her character although her hard headedness can get quite frustrating in certain situations. Ben is a rather charming egyptologist and archaeologist from the USA who has achieved a fellowship in Egypt, problem is when he applied for it he claimed to be fluent in Arabic, which he isn’t. So, he’s paid an exorbitant amount for one-on-one lessons with Ellie to become fluent in Arabic within four months before heading to Egypt, during which time Ellie has tried everything to get rid of him due to her current hatred of men. They meet our third character when they are leaving a bookshop, at which time their fates for the remainder of the book are intwined. Gerhard is an elderly German man, who grew up in Peru and came to England when his wife fell ill but unfortunately passed away. He set up the bookshop in her memory and had stayed in the area ever since. He’s a bit like that loveable grandfather character, so sweet and caring that you just fall in love with his character. You find out later that Ellie and Gerhard have some connection to Egypt, however Gerhard’s connection is not so clear as his parents refused to tell him anything of his familial heritage but he holds a watch that has clear connections to Egypt, which was left to him as a family heirloom. Ben, is a complete mystery, we have no idea what his connection to Egypt is apart from his chosen occupation, but if the other two characters are any indication, Ben must have some kind of familial connection to Egypt, we just don’t know what it is.

As the story goes on, we find out that Ellie, Ben and Gerhard are chosen representatives of three Egyptian Gods: Sobek (crocodile), Khepri (scarab) and Bastet (cat). They are forced to stay in proximity to each other or face their own personal terrors, which I personally found a touch confronting on Ellie’s behalf, even though it was in no way explicit the description of poor Ellie’s horror certainly gave the scene that effect. After experiencing visions and conducting research, the trio decide to travel to places that are linked to their gods in an attempt to put an end to their apparent prison, however there is an organisation out there who are determined to stop them by any means necessary, and it turns out that they have been trying to keep these particular bloodlines separate for centuries but now that they have come together the group has resorted to killing them. There are several attempts throughout the book to kill our characters, and unfortunately there are collateral damage that really tug at the heartstrings, as well as a few twists and turns that show just how long the group had been keeping an eye these bloodlines, including a few betrayals that really surprised me and broke my heart.

The book takes us travelling through England and then Egypt, culminating in the characters taking steps to understand what is happening to them, revealing truths about their pasts and the motivation behind the group’s need to kill them all. It was adventurous, captivating and enlightening, especially since the story tells you more about Egypts history, cultural customs and mythology which is what started my love for history in the first place.

If you do decide to read this book, there is a prequel to read before the second book, which from my understanding (as I have not read it yet) provides context for the events that happened in “House of Scarabs” but you must read it after the first book. The prequel is “Genesis” and the second book is “House of Resurrection”.

Enjoy your reading!