|
[ Home ]
[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]
For Marilyn Pickering's 23rd birthday, Jake Sommers has planned a special night. Dinner, the Opera with visiting soprano Victoria Renfrew singing the lead in La Boheme at the Washington Opera, and a proposal. Marilyn turns him down again, much to the disappointment of her parents. Then her uncle, the ambassador to Greece phones and invites her to spend some time in Athens. Marilyn jumps at the chance, since she has promised to consider his proposal of marriage, but wants time away from Jake. Spyro Roussos is Director of the Department of Sensitive Investigations of Greece. He has a loyal team, which includes his extremely handsome son, Dmitri. The new minister, Petropoulos, is a dishonest demagogue. He appoints his creature, Thanos, as deputy to Roussos. Meanwhile, Roussos is eagerly awaiting the return of his lover, Victoria Renfrew, from America. Victoria and Marilyn have met and find they are on the same plane to Athens but not in the same class. Two young men are waiting at the airport, Yorgo and Jimmy. Yorgo asks for and gets the seat next to Marilyn, but Jimmy intentionally misses the plane. On the flight to Greece, Yorgo introduces himself to the young woman and they have some conversations. In Athens, the driver sent from the Embassy seems to be missing, due to a series of accidents, and Yorgo offers to take Marilyn to her Ambassador's residence. She agrees and wakes up locked in a room in a cottage in an area far from Athens. Her captors are strangely gentlemanly. Then the story gets exciting, and there are plots within plots, all taking place with modern Athens and Greek politics weaving through it all. Eugene Aubrey Stratton has written an exciting fast paced thriller in the form of a fast moving romantic suspense novel. During the 1940s and 1950s, there were several women who wrote what is now tossed off as "romantic suspense" Mary Renault, Helen MacInnes, and Mary Stewart wrote stories that were gripping and more complex than was apparent. Their language was precise and their female protagonists managed to get out of trouble with a little help from their friends. Stratton is their successor, His prose is clear, crisp and elegant. His descriptions of people and places are excellent, as his grasp of modern Greek history. This is Stratton's 3rd novel. He has also written two scholarly works on genealogy.
Reviewed by Barbara Franchi, August 2003
[ Top ]
QUICK SEARCH:
Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]
[ Home ]
|
