I’m a keen reader of non-fiction including authors such as Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, which provided an early warning of the coming environmental crisis; Samuel Huntingdon’s The Clash of Civilisations and the Remaking of World Order; and The Gnostic Gospels by Elaine Pagels, including an analysis of hidden Christian texts such as the Gospels of Thomas and Mary Magdalene, challenging long-held dogma of the place of women in Christ’s circle and throwing a new light on Mary’s relationship with the Christ.
To be honest, I don’t read many thrillers, because I am wary of unwittingly using other authors’ ideas. The Omega Scroll – a lost biblical scroll hidden in the deserts of Qumran for over 2,000 years contains a terrible warning for humankind (much of which appears to be coming to fruition!) had similarities to Dan Brown‘s The Da Vinci Code – but as I hadn’t read Brown, it was coincidental. In a similar vein, I am told that Daniel Silva and I write on remarkably similar themes and even choose similar locations (his The English Girl is part set on Corsica, as is The Alexandria Connection). This too is coincidental – I haven’t read his books although given our similar but separate thoughts, perhaps one day we should meet.
In my novels, I draw on my time in the military (including as Head Defence Planner for Security at the Sydney Olympics) and my degrees in science and theology to address some of the critical issues facing the world today. The Omega Scroll, The Beijing Conspiracy, The Maya Codex, The Inca Prophecy and The Alexandria Connection, whilst set in fast-moving worlds of Curtis O’Connor and the CIA (along with his attractive and highly intelligent archaeologist accomplice, Aleta Weizman), have warnings embedded. Bike chases in the Alps, diving for hidden artefacts in Lake Como in Italy and Lake Atitlán in Guatemala, and perilous journeys into the jungles of the Amazon are just some of the settings for what we face today: biological terrorism and what might happen if the deadly Ebola virus and the more prevalent smallpox virus are combined; the reality of what is happening at the heavy water reactor and the production of the Iranian nuclear bomb; and closure of the Strait of Hormuz cutting off a major maritime oil trade route, to cite just three.
The Alexandria Connection was, in part, inspired by my research into The Bilderberg Group. Until relatively recently, little was known about the secretive annual meetings of the world’s wealthiest CEOs, royalty and political elite. The participants are household names: David Rockefeller, Henry Kissinger, Queen Beatrix, Tony Blair, to name but a few who have attended the heavily guarded meetings. Conspiracy theories abound on the real reason for these gatherings, but whatever the purpose of the Bilderbergers, Alexandria’s Pharos Group contains some of the world’s most powerful individuals and their aim is very clear: nothing less than a New World Order. According to Oxfam, 85 people in the world share a combined wealth of $1.7 trillion – equal to the combined wealth of the poorest half of the world’s population – 3.5 billion people. Sheldon Crowley, a member of Pharos and the world’s wealthiest industrialist, controls massive coal mines; an oil multinational that dwarfs Exxon-Mobil, BP and Royal Dutch Shell combined; Brazilian timber mills in the Amazon; and a huge arms conglomerate, from which the latest top secret generation of missiles are mysteriously turning up in Afghanistan. O’Connor is tasked with getting into Afghanistan’s notorious Korengal Valley to find out why. The critical Strait of Hormuz – through which 45% of the world’s maritime oil trade flows from one of the world’s largest oil refineries, Saudi Arabia’s Ras Tenura – is under threat. My research took me into the jungles of the Amazon, where O’Connor has also been tasked with investigating whether or not the missiles are being shipped amongst the timber gained from Crowley’s illegal logging of one of the world’s greatest wildernesses.
My research also took me to the pyramids of Giza and Alexandria where O’Connor’s ‘partner-in-crime’, the acclaimed international archaeologist, Aleta Weizman, is searching for an ancient papyrus. The papyrus, said to be authored by Euclid, the father of geometry, might finally reveal the true purpose of the Great Pyramid of Giza and a long forgotten source of energy. But when thieves break into Cairo’s Museum of Antiquities and make off with the priceless mask of Tutankhamun, the threads surrounding the missiles, the mask and the papyrus start to lead back to the Pharos Group, and Aleta’s life and that of O’Connor are placed in very real danger.
I hope this novel is as enjoyable to read as it was to write.
The Alexandria Connection
by Adrian d’Hage
A New World Order is upon us . . .
In the shifting desert sands of Egypt, rumours abound of a lost papyrus that will reveal the true purpose of the Pyramids of Giza. Could these ancient monoliths be the source of a new kind of energy, one that comes at no cost to the planet? CIA agent Curtis O’Connor and archaeologist Aleta Weizman are determined to find out.
Close by, a shadowy and powerful group known as Pharos meets in Alexandria, its membership a closely guarded secret. Its first order of business: to orchestrate chaos on international financial markets with a series of spectacular terrorist attacks on the world’s fossil-fuel supplies.
And in Cairo, amid the anarchy of Tahrir Square, thieves have broken into the famed Museum of Antiquities and stolen one of the world’s priceless artifacts: the mask of Tutankhamun. Is the audacious theft linked to the Pharos Group?
Nimbly weaving politics, history and science through a rip-roaring plot, from Afghanistan to Washington, Sydney to London, The Alexandria Connection is a spectacular and stylish ride.
About the Author
Adrian d’Hagé was educated at North Sydney Boys High School and the Royal Military College Duntroon (Applied Science). Graduating into the Intelligence Corps, he served as a platoon commander in Vietnam, where he was awarded the Military Cross. His military service included command of an infantry battalion, director of joint operations and head of defence public relations. In 1994 Adrian was made a Member of the Order of Australia. In his last appointment, he headed defence planning for counter terrorism security for the Sydney Olympics, including security against chemical, biological and nuclear threats.
Adrian holds an honours degree in theology, entering as a committed Christian but graduating ‘with no fixed religion’. In 2009 he completed a Bachelor of Applied Science (Dean’s Award) in oenology or wine chemistry at Charles Sturt University, and he has successfully sat the Austrian Government exams for ski instructor, ‘Schilehrer Anwärter’. He is presently a research scholar, tutor and part-time lecturer at the Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies (Middle East and Central Asia) at ANU. His doctorate is entitled ‘The Influence of Religion on US Foreign Policy in the Middle East’.
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