With a dog you know where you stand. With a cat all you know is where you can't sit. [p. 44]
Kat Makris is twenty-eight, single and lives in Portland with her Greek father: she's just about to tell him that she's moving out when he disappears -- and before Kat can do more than panic, she too is abducted by persons unknown.
Kat's dad used to tell her stories about a monstrous creature known as Baboulas, known all over Greece for theft and murder and silencing the opposition. 'There were only two ways to escape Baboulas, the way he told it: death or the Witness Protection Program—and the second one was kind of iffy.' Now Kat, whisked away to Greece and confronted with a plethora of relatives that she's never met, discovers that Baboulas is not at all mythical, but horribly real: and she is going to have to face Baboulas or give up on her beloved father.
That makes this novel sound very grim, which is far from the case. There is romance, humour -- a great deal of humour, some of it not wholly appropriate to circumstances -- and a great deal of good food. (I snacked so much while reading this!) Kat is somewhat prone to leaping in where angels, and her unangelic family, fear to tread: I mean, obviously you march up to the local crime lord to demand information on your father's whereabouts, yes? (The correct answer is 'no'.) But she is constantly witty, surprisingly sensible when she needs to be, and resilient.
A light, uplifting, enjoyable read -- though be warned, there is more story to come (eight book series!), and only a few sub-plots are wrapped up in this volume, which is currently free on Kindle UK.
No comments:
Post a Comment