Novel set in USA, VIETNAM and JAPAN
Thriller set mainly on ZAKYNTHOS
6th March 2024
Second Skin by Dugald Bruce-Lockhart, thriller set mainly on Zakynthos.
We first met Alistair in The Lizard, set mainly on Paros and The Lizard is set a few years after his first outing.
Alistair is currently whiling away his life in a call centre in London when he gets a call telling him that Amara, with whom he had a brief and intense fling in Greece in the late 1980s, has been in an accident and both she and her son Max, to wit HIS son, are in hospital. The call is seemingly from Amara’s father, but even more concerning is the fact he had no knowledge of the son.
He is a spontaneous guy and on a whim he decides to head for Athens to find out more. Going back to Greece is not altogether easy, as on his last visit he got into quite some trouble and spent time in Parikia Jail. This time he has hardly set foot in Greece and already there is a whiff of MI6, Mafia activities and Interpol floating around in the warm and sultry breeze.

Wikipedia
Contrary to the reports of the accident, he soon claps eyes on Amara in their family villa above Gerakas Beach on Zakynthos, who is clearly well and living with her husband, Xander, and her son, Max. Upon seeing her for the first time on this visit, he sees a vision of beauty described as a Robed Venus de Milo (well, if you remember this statue, it may be beauty incarnate but it has no arms, so it’s a bit of a curious analogy🤦♀️).
This is very much a Boy’s Own kind of romp across the Mediterranean, from Zakynthos (where it is mainly set) to Cyprus. There is much gunning and killing of car engines, chases, guns, shooting and pert observations of sexy women.
Suddenly Alistair finds himself at the heart of a kidnap operation.
The emotional journey of discovering a son about whom he knew nothing – and how he simply walks into Amara’s life again, with a quick DNA test arranged at the drop of a hat – feels far-fetched and oblivious to the inevitable concomitant and complex human emotions involved. If you want to know whether Alistair is Max’s biological father, you will have to buy the novel.
Anyway, overall this is a story of well written and seamless action, with a good sense of place.
Tina for the TripFiction Team
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