The Eternal Sphinxman, written by J.E. Jones, is a hard-to-put-down mystery/thriller set in southern Louisiana. The plot did remind me just a bit of And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie, but the story, complete with a crazed, psychotic killer, does not take place on an island from which there is no escape. Instead, a lot of it takes place at a fictional college in the beautiful state of Louisiana.
Before I even began reading the book, I had to find out the meaning of eternal sphinxman. I had never heard the term before. The term has to do with fraternities. Eternal sphinxsmen are pledges that failed to measure up to the organization’s standards – or were forced to by fraternity members – because they weren’t mentally or physically strong enough to endure the degradation involved in pledging.
You know a crime has been committed when you read the opening of the book. A group of young people are trying to ensure that their crime will never be found out. What has happened?
A young man, Napoleon, was killed during a ritual. He had been called to meet with those in the Nu Psi Nu fraternity to answer a question for them. The main members of the fraternity – Lamar, Darryl, Percy, Greg, Quincy, D’Andre – really didn’t like what he had to say. Still, they didn’t intend to kill him. Or did they?
Seven years later, it is time to pay for what was done. Has Napoleon come back from the dead to wreak vengeance on those who took his life away? One by one, people begin die, and it seems as though Napoleon has come back from the dead. Or did he really die as they all thought he did?
The fantastic murder mystery focuses on murder, of course, and it also focuses on hazing by Greek organizations on college campuses. Should hazing be allowed? Or should it be banned? Now, there is a lot going on with the members of the fraternity involved with Napoleon’s death. There is even a lot for the reader to discover about this victim.
Mr. Jones did a great job writing this book. I usually figure out the identity of the killer long before his or her identity is revealed, but not this time. I was successfully misled, then disappointed when I discovered that the author had fooled me. I was kept guessing right up until the identity of the real murderer was revealed.
If you would like to purchase a copy of this book to add to your library, I have included an Amazon link below. The first link is for an book you can hold in your hands, the second link is for a Kindle book.
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