What a brilliant start to a story! The odd thing was that the beginning felt like a different style completely from the rest of the book, the beginning feels like an action thriller, the rest of the book is far more thoughtful and slow moving up until the end, which again moves briskly and concisely to a rattlingly good conclusion.

Ian is down on his luck. He has been involved in an episode in his previous employment where his good intentions ended up getting him into all kinds of trouble in the Panama branch of his family business. Ian is resentful anyway, he bitterly resents that he has been cut out of his father’s will, he took some of the money he had access to and now his half siblings are after it. He has come to the Greek island of Patmos to hook up with his friend Charlie, they have been friends since childhood and he hopes that Charlie will give him a job and help him out. What he discovers though is that Charlie is not all that he seems. Shortly after Ian arrives, Charlie disappears, leaving no trace of a clue about where he might be. Now all the people in Charlie’s life, all of those with vested interests are looking for him or very pointedly not looking for him.

It is an interesting cast of characters, a cleverly constructed novel with clues being given gradually to what might be happening to Charlie but plenty of red herrings. It moves a bit slowly, there is a bit too much pondering and not quite enough doing and as a consequence it took me longer to read it than I expected. Overall it is a decent book.

Thanks Netgalley for giving me access to this book.