The Lost Cult

The Lost Cult is a novel by E. E. Knight.

Back Cover Blurb
While on a mission for the CIA to recover stolen Iraqi artifacts, Lara Croft narrowly escapes death - only to be thrown headlong into her next action-packed adventure.

After destroying years of his research on the ancient Mene cult, archaeologist Professor Frys is murdered by an unknown assassin. Lara Croft knows her colleague must have stumbled upon a dangerous secret - and someone took his life to ensure it would remain in the shadows. So Lara jets to the mysterious cloud forests of eastern Peru, home of the Mene ruins, and makes a shocking discovery: A group is attempting to revive the sinister cult and its mind-controlling ways. One of the followers is Lara's former friend and failed protege, Tomb Raider Ajay - and she is determined to see Lara silenced... permanently. But Lara, never one to run from a challenge, has other plans.

Characters

 * Lara Croft
 * Alex Frys
 * Alison Harfleur
 * Nils Bjorkstrom
 * Heather Rourke
 * Tejo Kunai
 * Lancaster Urdmann
 * Stephen Frys
 * Shanks
 * Mishez
 * Li Yuan
 * Winston

Locations

 * England
 * Peru

References to the Games

 * Werner Von Croy is mentioned to be a colleague of Stephen Frys, he appears in Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation, Tomb Raider: Chronicles and Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness, as well as earlier novels in the Del Rey series.
 * Paris, the Monstrum, and The Cabal are also mentioned in reference to The Angel of Darkness. Lara's appearance on the cover is also taken from that game.
 * Angkor Wat is mentioned to be the place where Lara discovered her trademark backpack in The Last Revelation. The Times was also mentioned, which appeared as a downloadable level in that game.
 * Lara mentions having spent her summers in Greece, Italy and Egypt. It is unclear if Lara is referring to the events of Tomb Raider and Tomb Raider II. Atlantis is also referenced. Peru is also mentioned, again unclear.
 * Lara mentions her plane crash in the Himalayas, and her father, Lord Henshingly Croft, who disowned her prior to the events of Tomb Raider. She also mentions the Earl of Farringdon, whose proposal she rejected after the plane crash, resulting in her father's disownment.
 * Larson and Pierre Dupont are mentioned as Lara and Alison were too late to a location to discover that an artefact had been already taken by the two. This would have taken place prior to their deaths in Tomb Raider.
 * Lara is told that she has left bodies in every continent save Antarctica. Lara implies about her having left bodies there too, a reference to Tomb Raider III.
 * Croft Manor's cellar is said to have dated back to the English Civil War. Lara's grandfather converted it into a bomb shelter and it received many updates since then. The mosaics in Lara's swimming pool were based on a drawing by her mother.
 * Lara received a gift, a samovar, from the Russian government for sorting out Sergei Mikhailov when searching for the Spear of Destiny. This is in reference to Tomb Raider: Chronicles.
 * First class aeroplane attendant Mishez tended to Lara's knee bruises on the way back from the Nevada Desert.
 * A monk from the Barkhang Monastery informed army officer Li Yuan of events in Tibet during Tomb Raider II. This caught the attention of journalist Heather Rourke.
 * Marco Bartoli, the antagonist of Tomb Raider II, is spoken of by Lara as being a thief and a smuggler.
 * It is implied that Shanks dropped Lara off at the Great Wall of China in Tomb Raider II.

Trivia

 * For the 25th Anniversary, Crystal Dynamics was granted permission from Del Rey to release this novel, along with The Amulet of Power and The Man of Bronze, for free on Apple Books and other e-reader platforms.