Amid the current debates between creationists and Darwinists surrounding the origins of the human race, James Alexander, in his first novel, The Feathered Serpent, hypothesises an answer that defies scientific or faith solutions.

This page-turning adventure that takes the reader across three continents begins sedately enough when Professor Henry Williams, a semi-retired anthropologist from Exeter, receives an ancient Egyptian manuscript. This, in turn, leads to him receiving another manuscript, a Mayan Codex. Here the mystery begins - and so does the danger.

He enlists his trusty assistant, Dr Piers Anderson, to accompany him on a mission to solve the mystery. What they discover confounds everything that we believe about the origins of civilisation. In essence, the Earth had been visited by reptilian aliens - "shape shifters" who could transform their appearance in any way - millions of years ago. They were benevolent, interbred with the early inhabitants of Earth, and brought knowledge to our planet. However one, Typhon, turned nasty, remained on Earth, plans to conquer it with the aid of his henchmen, The League of Horus, who are in hot pursuit of our heroes, and will stop at nothing in order to thwart their plans.

If all this seems rather sinister, it is told not without humour. Williams and Anderson might recall that other fictional anthropologist, Indiana Jones, but are really more reminiscent of Phileas Fogg and Passepartout in Around the World in Eighty Days. Their demeanour is quintessentially English, showing stiff upper lips in the face of adversity, and quipping wryly á la James Bond, even when death is on the cards.

Another Bondian reminder is provided in the characters of the psychopathic Mr Smith and Mr Jones, their chief pursuers, who recall the equally off-beat assassin duo, Mr Wint and Mr Kidd, in Diamonds Are Forever.

David Icke and his ilk, who believe in the existence of "shape shifters", might take some of this story seriously, and, as is common in novels today, we can find parallels with the current world situation. But, essentially, The Feathered Serpent is a rip-roaring yarn in the best tradition of adventure fiction.