The Ikon: A Greek Island Thriller

Rating:
Summary: Page Turner set in the Greek Isles
Review: I started and finished "The Ikon" during a flight from Phoenix to New Orleans--approximately 2 hours and 45 minutes worth of fast reading. For sure, this novel, set on Mykonos, Tinos and Athens is definitely a page turner of the first degree--it kept my interest from start to finish.
However, please do not expect a great novel of espionage or psychological suspense of the Robert Ludlum, Thomas Harris or Mary Higgins Clark genre. Instead, enjoy the somewhat nefarious exploits of Garth Hanson, a down-on-his-luck artist/art dealer/foil champion with a healthy grain of salt. Hanson accepts the proposition of a blackmailer to fly to the Greek Island of Tinos to observe and copy a famous ikon revered for its healing properties. As Hanson has been a frequent guest of famed Greek hospitality, living on and off on the island of Mykonos, he gladly takes on this bit of dubious employment and exuberantly rejoins his hard-drinking womanizing Irish friend and fellow schemer, Eugene. The wild side of Mykonos is adequately framed by author Van Haas, he describes the night club scenes with enough realism to recapture moments of my own stay on the island. The action of his characters move the story along at a fast pace which leaves little to be desired regarding any character development. The reader gets the sense that Hanson has experienced some deep religious breach, but, it is not adequately persued by the author. It matters naught, I don't think this novel was meant to answer any of the age old questions pondered by philosophers. Its meant to entertain, and that's what it does. There are plenty of leggy women, drinking bouts, sex scenes, and adventurous brawling to satisfy anyone just looking for a few hours of escape. Unfortunately one of the biggest problems I had with this novel was the bad translation and editing. The switch in tenses is confusing as are the frequent mispellings. I was also disappointed that the author never persued Hanson's fencing abilities later on during the action sequences. Why go through the desription of the beginning match if such adroit skills are left behind in California? Go figure.