• The Messenger of Athens

  • By: Anne Zouroudi
  • Narrated by: Sean Barrett
  • Length: 8 hrs and 51 mins
  • 3.9 out of 5 stars (7 ratings)

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The Messenger of Athens  By  cover art

The Messenger of Athens

By: Anne Zouroudi
Narrated by: Sean Barrett
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Publisher's summary

When the battered body of a young woman is discovered on a remote Greek island, the local police are quick to dismiss her death as an accident. Then a stranger arrives, uninvited, from Athens, announcing his intention to investigate further. His methods are unorthodox, and he brings his own mystery into the web of dark secrets and lies. Who has sent him, on whose authority is he acting. And how does he know of dramas played out decades ago?

©2007 Anne Zouroudi (P)2014 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"This powerfully atmospheric mystery embraces Mediterranean passion, mythic meddling and patriarchal persecution. First-time novelist Anne Zouroudi proves a natural at the dark arts of writing Euro-crime." ( Independent)

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    4 out of 5 stars

Worthwhile and compelling, but tragic


Once the tourists have left and summer is over on a small, desolate, Greek island life is grim and miserable. The men are rough and dour, working to make some kind of living from the land or sea. The women are used, repressed and submissive. Despite contact with the tourist trade in the summer the islanders are still bound by harsh traditional and restrictive social standards and have no tolerance for anyone wanting to change or progress. Both men and women indulge in continual criticism and malicious gossip. The narrator perfectly captures both atmosphere and characters.

An authoritative stranger arrives on the island and, despite active opposition by the locals, determines to find who is responsible for the death of a young woman. As we gradually discover this may not necessarily be any one person and through flashbacks in time we gradually see her story unfold, intertwined with those of other islanders. The stranger , who calls himself "Hermes", never explains where he comes from and never claims to be a detective. He at least adds some light relief with his thoughts and comments and he is someone we can actually like. We are left to speculate whether he may have truly been "Messenger of the Gods".

In this dreary claustrophobic environment with no prospect of any improvement or enjoyment in life I was surprised they hadn't all jumped off the cliffs. For the first two hours I nearly scrapped this book, but had to find out what happened, so kept on listening and was very glad I did.

I appreciated, rather than enjoyed, this unusual and interesting story, Its descriptive writing helps you visualise the island clearly and even begin tounderstand the sad people. You feel completely drawn close to observe the whole tragedy from outside, right through to a strangely satisfying ending.




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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

The messenger of Athens

Great detective novel on a Greek island. Become involved in the life of the small island and their culture. Exciting and with interesting character development. Zouroudi is easy to listen to and a most enjoyable audio book.

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