- Paperback: 304 pages
- Publisher: Vintage; New edition edition (4 Aug 2005)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0099464624
- ISBN-13: 978-0099464624
- Product Dimensions: 19.8 x 12.8 x 2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 248,715 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Book Description
The first in a new series of Harvill thrillers, set in Greece and centred round the grumpy but irresistible figure of Inspector Costas Haritos.
Product Description
Costas Haritos, a CID chief in central Athens, is uncomfortably married, aggressive and pessimistic, and only manages to relax when he is at home reading his English dictionaries. A veteran of the force, he is only now coming to terms with the pervasive corruption in public and private life since the fall of the military dictatorship and the advent of democratic government.
When an Albanian couple is found brutally slaughtered, it looks like an open and shut crime of passion. But when Yanna, a TV journalist investigating the same case, is murdered in a broadcasting studio just before going on air, Haritos begins to think he's missing something crucial in this seemingly simple case. Why was she so interested in whether the police had found evidence of the presence of children at the Albanians' home? When Yanna's successor at the TV station is also murdered, Haritos finds himself sucked ever deeper into the grubby world of the Greek media and the shadowy underworld of international child trafficking.
(20041021)
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Readers should be aware, as I was not, that The Late-Night News and Deadline in Athens are one and the same book. I think one is a European edition and the other American. It doesn't help when Amazon puts them together as a double book deal.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I read this book in greek and liked it a lot. As an Athenian and living abroad, I must say this book smells of Athens!
The writing style and the character of Haritos are exactly like Athens and its inhabitants are today. It was a very nice thing to have a police mystery book as well as one that describes athenian reality. I have not read the english translation but I bet it will not have the same effect. In my opinion it is very difficult for an outsider to identify with such a greek character and for people who know Greece only as the land of sun, sea and antiquity, the everyday life of Athens, with dirt, strange weather, traffic jams might be a dissapointment. However, it is a faithfull depiction. The humor also is quite particular in some points and it takes an extremely perceptive translator to covey this in another language. Haritos is very convincing as a 50-60 year old greek man. I cannot say much about his policeman side but it binds well with what people face up to at work everyday.
I recommend it at least to the greek audience or to those who have lived for a little while in Athens.
The writing style and the character of Haritos are exactly like Athens and its inhabitants are today. It was a very nice thing to have a police mystery book as well as one that describes athenian reality. I have not read the english translation but I bet it will not have the same effect. In my opinion it is very difficult for an outsider to identify with such a greek character and for people who know Greece only as the land of sun, sea and antiquity, the everyday life of Athens, with dirt, strange weather, traffic jams might be a dissapointment. However, it is a faithfull depiction. The humor also is quite particular in some points and it takes an extremely perceptive translator to covey this in another language. Haritos is very convincing as a 50-60 year old greek man. I cannot say much about his policeman side but it binds well with what people face up to at work everyday.
I recommend it at least to the greek audience or to those who have lived for a little while in Athens.
15 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I'm a huge fan of crime novels from the other countries, so it was with great eagerness that I picked up this first book of a Greek trilogy featuring Costas Haritos, a middle-aged homicide detective. Set in Athens around 1993, the story features an incredibly complicated mystery which kicks off with the apparently motiveless murder of a young Albanian couple. There's a lot of material jammed into the plot, which touches upon the omnipresence of Albanians in Greece, the role of the investigative media, a bundle of mysterious letters, a trio of secret love affairs, a child-smuggling plot which may or may not tie into the murders, the legacy of the fascist era, a pedophile recently released from jail, the dissolution of the Soviet Bloc, and the ability of the powerful to protect one another.
Throughout the book, Inspector Haritos is constantly being called into his superior's office in order to grovel to one bigwig after another. He's a likable character precisely because he's not very good at playing people off each other, instead he's a more traditional cranky copper with a taste for unhealthy food and a secret informant. What little glimpses are given into his personal life aren't too pleasant. He lives with his TV-addicted wife, endures her whining requests for spending money and her fake orgasms, wishing for nothing more than a little peace and quiet to retreat into dictionaries (every fictional detective has to have a little quirk). His investigation proceeds through all the usual pitfalls and wrong turns before arriving at a shocker of an ending.
As a window into Greece, it has to be said that the book doesn't offer much of a new perspective. Athens is a glum and rainy place, and the traffic is horrendous (anytime Haritos goes anywhere, his exact route is tiresomely detailed and we are told how long it takes). Greek marriage is an unfulfilling, occasionally nasty enterprise sprinkled with unexpected tender moments, and the child is the main source of joy. The Greeks hate Albanians. Powerful media moguls and industrialists act swiftly and with cunning to insulate themselves from any imputation of wrongdoing (as it is everywhere). The media is a dog-eat-dog world (as it is everywhere). There are little glimpses here and there of how the fascist and communist struggles of the postwar era still resonate, but just a taste. On the whole, it's worth reading if one has a particular interest in Greece or international mysteries, but others will probably find it too convoluted and plodding for their tastes.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Deftly plotted detective novel
Inspector Haritos is a late entry into the now well-stocked gallery of detectives, at odds with their superiors and with less than comfortable home lives. Read more
Published 13 months ago by Mondoro
Beware buyer - different titles, same novel
Deadline in Athens (Inspector Costas Haritos Mysteries)I know someone has already said 'caveat emptor' but I'm repeating it. Read more
Published on 2 Dec 2009 by S. BADDELEY
The Late-night News, Petros Markaris
I have to say, like another reviewer I was a little disappointed with this book. Having been able to gorge myself on superb translated crime fiction, I was bound to come upon one I... Read more
Published on 19 Jun 2005 by RachelWalker
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