What the River Knows: Secrets of the Nile, Book 1

Inez and her family are Bolivian and Argentinian, living in Buenos Aires. Most of the supporting characters are Latino or Egyptian. Most of the book takes place in Egypt, where the author weaves Arabic words, phrases, and cultural practices into the narrative. The author writes it in a way that is culturally relevant and respectful. Author Isabel Ibañez is the daughter of Bolivian immigrants and dreamed as a little girl of becoming an Egyptologist. Whitford, the other main character, is a White British man who frequently expresses his disapproval of British and French colonialism and control over other countries.

A major plot thread is about the illegal artifact trade, which puts main characters in major peril. Characters are kidnapped, beaten, trapped in a tomb, cut with knives, and held hostage. Guns are used to threaten and shoot a crocodile and people, in self-defense and to murder -- a character is shot in the arm, and a few characters are shot in the head. Two scenes are very quick and not graphically described, the other is briefly described in some detail: a main character's beloved relative is murdered, blood and bone splatters across the main character's face, and the relative collapses in a pool of blood, their face unrecognizable. A character twice destroys items around him when he becomes enraged.

Main characters kiss a few times, sometimes passionately, and a character touches another's breast through clothing and it's implied that they desire to have sex, but they do not. A character goes to a brothel, but tells the woman to stop undressing because he's only there to gather information. A mention of an affair.

Occasional strong language used in surprise, frustration, or as insults, includes "hell," "damn," and "bastards," a few uses each of "f--k" and "s--t," and once, "bitch."

Whit drinks alcohol from a flask regularly in the beginning of the novel, implying he may be an alcoholic. He offers Inez a glass of brandy, she takes a sip and says she doesn't like it. Inez and her younger cousin, Elvira, drink champagne on New Year's Eve and become tipsy. Whit does not drink alcohol for most of the novel, but drinks enough whiskey to be drunk at the end.