Assassins of Athens

ASSASSINS OF ATHENS offers a fine Chief Inspector Kaldis novel telling of the body of a boy from one of Greece's most prominent families found in a dumpster in a terrible neighborhood, involving Andreas Kaldis in more than murder. His search for answers takes him to the seedy side of Athens nightlife and high society alike in search of answers in this gripping Greek mystery.

Chief Inspector Andreas Kaldis, head of the Athens Police Department is called in when a young man's body is found in a dumpster behind a gay bar. Soon he determins that the boy was the son of one of the richest men in Greece. The plot thickens quickly into one of intrigue at the highest levels of the Greek government involving ancient and recent Greek traditions, the nouveau riche and the old time wealthy, and the right wing against the left. This book will keep you reading until the last page as you watch this complex plot unwind. Along the way Inspector Kaldis finds a new love.

Exciting and fast moving mystery with a surprise ending to boot. A quick read because it is hard to put it down. It piqued my interest in Greece enough that I bought a DVD course on Ancient Greece [24 lectures] and learned a lot about historic stuff that was mentioned/discussed in the novel. Good companion to Murder in Mykonos, Siger's other smash novel set in Greece.

Reviewed by Irene Watson for Reader Views (10/09) Jeffrey Siger did it again! After his debuted "Murder in Mykonos," Siger follows up with "Assassins of Athens" where Chief Inspector Andreas Kaldis of the Special Crimes Division continues the lead role in solving the murder of a young boy of a prominent family in Athens that was found in a seedy neighborhood dumpster. After considering the case, Kaldis concludes the killing was done to give a message. Kaldis, usually being politically incorrect, follows clues into the Athenian criminal nightlife while uncovering more than he bargained for. The page-turning sequel brings in old Athenian societal money gods, as well as a new wanna-be as they tangle in a power struggle. Jealousy, revenge, rebellion, vengeance, and distrust reveal themselves as the investigation continues to find the message behind the mysterious and brutal murder. Mix in a little romance and sex, and you have a well-rounded, character-driven plot. Jeffrey Siger, using the Greek landscape of Athens and Mykonos, successfully weaves in characters from his previous book and effectively brings in new individuals while his main character, Kaldis, untangles the plot. Siger's writing is superb, drawing the reader's emotions into the storyline and always wanting to know what happens next. I would assume there is a third book coming into the series because the ending certainly warrants another book. It certainly was unexpected, yet one that puts a smile on the reader's face. If you like a well-written murder mystery, this is it. I can easily compare "Assassins of Athens" by Jeffrey Siger to Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code" or "Angels and Demons" and can honestly say the fast-paced excitement and drama is on the same level.

Jeffrey Siger's ASSASSINS OF ATHENS opens with the discovery of the body of a teenage male in a dumpster in one of the worst sections of Athens. Chief Inspector Andreas Kaldis of the Greek Police's Special Crimes Division, first met in MURDER IN MYKONOS, quickly realizes that this case is bigger than most. The boy is the son of Zanni Kostopoulos, one of the most influential men in the country. Kostopoulos is nouveau riche, a description that makes him anathema to the established Greek families who dominate the peak of society. He has returned from family exile in the one of the countries that had made up the Soviet bloc and, upon his return, has made a considerable fortune in Greece. Old money fears new money and the newly wealthy have little to lose in going up against the establishment. Zanni decides he needs to make the Kostopoulos name one to be reckoned with so he decides to gain control of The Athenian, the most prominent newspaper in the city. The Linardos family has controlled the paper for generations and Zanni does everything in his power to destroy the Linardos family to get what he wants. He begins by feeding other newspapers the Linardos family secrets and thinks he has won when a particularly graphic cell phone recording of Sarantis Linardos's granddaughter ends up on the web. Kostopoulos is determined to destroy the Linardos family so Sarantis, the patriarch, turns to friends to guarantee that it will be Kostopoulos who will be destroyed. This is the background to a story that brings into play wealth, position, long-held grudges, jealousy, murder, and the practices of ancient Athens, seemingly lost in time. There is kidnapping, murder, exploitation, and the willingness of people to uses whatever means money can buy to destroy an enemy. There is help from Tassos Stamatos, the homicide detective readers met in MURDER IN MYKONOS. And there is a woman who is of particular interest to Kaldis. As he investigates, Kaldis discovers that Sotiros Kostopoulos is not the first member of a prominent family to die. Other wealthy Greek families have left the country, banished as was the practice in ancient Greece. Their enemies have no respect for age so it is the young, the children, who are their target. ASSASSINS OF ATHENS is more than an alliterative title. Athens, the cradle of democracy, is being assassinated by powerful people who want a return to oligarchy, government by the few, the wealthy and powerful, to the detriment of the many. Jeffrey Siger's second book proves that MURDER IN MYKONOS was the product of a writer well-worth reading.