The Revenge in the Silent Tomb is book 1 of the Race Against Time series written by J. J. Fortune.
Plot summary
The book opened at a Saturday, 2:47pm, with a New York teen Stephen Lane, and his uncle Richard Duffy, in a car chase over the Saharan desert in Al-Karesh, a fictional country in North Africa. They were pursued by gunmen. The chase ended with Richard Duffy about to be knifed by one of their pursuers. This was followed by a flashback to a recent past, specifically, Friday 9:00pm in New York, which showed that the two, despite being closely related, have actually just met just a couple of month before, despite Stephen's stamp collection being filled with stamps his uncle sent from all over the world. Stephen Lane was a typical teenager who liked nothing more than to watch videos of old movies and action movies, in the comfort of his home. His movie-marathon hobby was interrupted when his mother's younger brother, Richard, moved into the family's four-storey brownstone on East 61st Street, New York, one day. Richard was described as retired engineer, despite the fact he was only in his thirties. He was thought to be boring by his nephew. Richard was left in charge of Stephen when the latter's parents had to go away for the weekend. Shortly after their departure, Richard received summons from his past and announced he had to make a long trip... to the Sahara desert in Africa. Instead of making alternative arrangements that could prove awkward to explain later, Richard decided to bring Stephen along and revealed during the trip that he was no mere engineer. Richard invited Stephen to meet Jack Hartford, the lead actor of The Caves of Gold, an action movie which Stephen was planning to watch on video the whole weekend. Knowing Jack Hartford was in Africa shooting The Deep, Dark Secret, Stephen accepted, thinking it was a joke. It was revealed that Richard had a secret past as an adventurer/mercenary. Jack Hartford was one of his old friends and needed his help. Richard was not one to say no, especially when a beautiful woman like Lorelei Blake was involved. During the journey, Richard passed a Kronom K-D2 watch to Stephen, telling him it was a very special computer-watch. Amidst an action movie set in the Sahara, Jack Hartford was accused of murdering Ian Stone, a stuntman. Richard was brought in to help clear Jack's name. Richard and Jack had previously worked together to capture a notorious bandit chief name Ali Ben Kir. As Richard refused to take credit and disappeared, Jack got the credit and was noticed by Hollywood film makers, who signed him as a star. Ian Stone did not take his fellow stuntman's rise to fame well. There was trouble between the star and the stuntman during the filming, and when Ian was killed, Jack became the prime suspect. To better investigate the case, the uncle-nephew duo agreed to be part of the cast to help complete filming the movie, with Richard replacing Jack in some scenes not involving close-ups. The chase became complicated when Jack was kidnapped and brought to an old tomb which served as Ali Ben Kir's previous headquarters. The eponymous series title was due to the time limit the duo had to solve the case and be back before Stephen's parents discover they had been absent.
Non-recurring Characters
Jack Hartford, action movie star, taught flying by Richard before becoming big.
Lorelei Blake, stuntwoman/actress on the movie set.
Yusef, Ali Ben Kir's henchman, also known as the Twisted Man. He was responsible for replacing the scorpions in the pit scene with real venomous scorpions.
Matty, a New York policeman encountered by the duo due to their unorthodox return to New York.
