The latest novel by author Edward J. McFadden III begins with a compelling quote from the Egyptian Book of the Dead—“Your roar shakes the earth, but I am steadfast. O Lizard-Headed One, I call upon Ra, and your voice is silenced.”

Instead of starting with a quote from this famous funerary text, McFadden could easily have pinched a sentence from Erich von Däniken’s infamous effort Chariots of the Gods?—“It is clear that we were visited in prehistoric times by beings from outer space.”

The Jackal’s Gate was more or less a novelized version of Däniken’s fringe archaeological theory. Like Chariots of the Gods?, it presented historical mysteries as evidence for extraterrestrial influence. If you like pseudoscience coupled with aliens and dinosaurs, you’ll probably enjoy this book.  

Arthur Malone, a middle-aged community college professor, was willing to do anything to find his missing daughter—even if it meant traveling back in time 225 million years to the Triassic Period. 

He and his five colleagues made the leap through time while exploring the Valley Temple of Khafre in Egypt. “An amorphous light appeared in the darkness above them,” wrote McFadden. “The cosmos blinked, its infinite expanse contracting to the fragile span of a heartbeat.” Very nice. Leigh Brackett could not have said it any better. 

The Triassic Period was an interesting era in prehistory. It was a time of evolutionary experimentation when dinosaurs and mammals coexisted. Dinosaurs, in particular, were smaller and not as dominant as they would eventually become. 

Malone believed that his daughter Linsey and her PhD thesis advisor Dr. Fariday were also in the “dinosaur domain.” He wanted to “rescue” her, but secretly feared that she wanted to stay in the Triassic Period permanently. For a couple of moments, the author toyed with themes famously explored in The Searchers, the genre-busting movie from 1956. In my opinion, these ideas should have been emphasized more throughout the novel. 

But mostly, The Jackal’s Gate is an isekai adventure set in a strange but not totally unfamiliar world. Millions of years ago, the flat desert terrain of the Giza Plateau was a dense forest interspersed with jagged, upheaved land. And, of course, there were dinosaurs aplenty: Pterosaurs, Kannemeyeria, Sinoconodon, Herrerasaurus, Plateosaurus, Coelophysis, Trucidocynodon and Eoraptor (one of the earliest known dinosaurs). There were also small groups of time-traveling humans who were stranded in the Triassic Period. Some of these people had turned feral, while others were trying their best to build safe communities.

After many trials, prehistoric and otherwise, Malone and his daughter were finally reunited. In the process, they discovered first-hand that Erich von Däniken was right all along—an alien race (which McFadden calls the Toro Ki’) was indeed manipulating Earth’s evolution. Like Chariots of the Gods? claimed, the Mayans, the Egyptians and other ancient cultures had all benefited from the innovative knowledge provided by these advanced beings. 

[ The Jackal’s Gate / By Edward J. McFadden III / First Printing: February 2026 / ISBN: 9781923663114 ]