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November 1973. Professor Periklis Harvatis, working alone and late into the night on and important archaeological dig, unearths a magnificent golden vase upon which the enigmatic images of a long-lost second Odessey are engraved, showing the mystery of Ulysses' final voyage. But in the bleak chamber where he finds it he sees something so frightening that less than seven hours later, a broken man, he is dead... but not before he has ensured the safety of the vase.
Ten years on, and a series of violently gruesome deaths connected to the rape and murder during the student protests in Athens of a beautiful Greek woman, on the same night as Professor Harvatis's discovery, is perplexing the authorities. Each atrocity is accomplished by a dire quotation from the ancient sources, exposing an ingeniously cruel mind.
Who is behind these murders? How are these two events connected? And what is the significance of the age-old prophecy of the Odessey?
After conquering the ancient world with his bestselling novels of antiquity, Valerio Manfredi has written a page-turning modern thriller with an ancient twist.
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Review by: goldfishstar (Natalie)
Dated: 25th of September, 2006
I started this book with trepidation in my heart...
Having read another of this author's books and finding it a little dry and history lesson orientated, I was dubious about how this one would go.
However, I was pleasantly surprised...
The book flowed nicely, mixing the historical aspects - both ancient and more recent - with a well paced story.
Despite the blurb on the back of the book, it wasn't a huge mystery to figure out who was committing the murders and why...
The biggest mystery was why the enigmatic figure 'Admiral Bogdanos' was involved on both sides of the story - helping both the killer and the police!
With the very human side of each of the characters shown in this story, and the inhuman desire to seek revenge showcased so well, the author has created a much more readable style of writing...
BEWARE the huge amount of historical references though - if you don't have a basic knowledge of ancient Greek mythology, you may get a little lost...
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