The Viper's Kiss

By Paris Aristides

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1890768383
• ISBN13: 9781890768386
• Release Date: October 2001
• Publisher: Intrigue Press
• Length: 294 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 7.5" x 1.0" x 5.3"

Customer Reviews

Hard-boiled in Cyprus

I should note from the start that this is a book I picked up and read solely because it is set in Cyprus. I'm a firm believer in the ability of crime fiction to show the reader a side of a city, country, or any locale, that they will never encounter in guidebooks. And to that end, this hard-boiled tale set Limassol, in the Greek part of Cyprus, is certainly worth reading. The story follows Chrisostomos "Tommy" Zaras, a middle-aged, but tough as nails PI from Athens who is hired by a smuggler to locate a $200,000 stolen payoff for a load of whiskey. He's a completely traditional Mike Hammer type PI, a hard-drinking, womanizing bastard who takes and dishes out plenty of violence. He's the kind of character that knows that the more you treat women like dirt, the sooner they'll be back for more. He's certainly unlikeable, but no more so than any of the villains and thugs he encounters trying to find the $200,000, and that's more of the less the point. Anyone familiar with noir and hard-boiled fiction will pretty easily identify the femme fatale as the central player at the core of an exceedingly convoluted scheme. The translation from the Greek is excellent, and while the story keeps moving right along, the climax is a bit of a farcical letdown. Cyprus comes across as a kind of simmering Mediterranean backwater, where if you have enough money, you can get away with almost anything-or get killed.

A Gritty Taste of Cyprus

Having exhausted myself ready contemporary mainstream mysteries, I've been a long time looking for crime fiction that breaks the rules. I've found such a gem in Intrigue Press's new WorldKrime series (which specializes in international mystery stories, written by foriegn authors). The Viper's Kiss is a no holds barred detective stories with a complex, shifting plot and memorable characters that will stick in your head long after you finish. Greek Private Eye Chrisostomos "Tommy" Zaras is a no-nonsense, hard-drinking, womanizing hero who makes no apologies. He is hired by a whiskey smuggler to recover a lost fortune on the island of Cyprus--a place of intense racial tension, since almost half of the island has been occupied by the Turkish Military since the mid-seventies. Criminals abound in this tale, as do beautiful, seductive woman, earnest sidekicks and meddling authorities. WorldKrime thoroughly delivers on its promise of a unique mystery reading experience, as the age-old detective novel gets a refreshing new spin in this rich, absorbing mediteranean locale. I would highly recommend the Viper's Kiss to any mystery fan whose been waiting a long time to be surprised.