Road to Omalos

by: Marilyn Jax

Published by: Beaver's Pond Press

Reviewed by Sara Porter

In Road to Omalos, Marilyn Jax gives a strong portrayal of revenge and blood in a beautiful setting. Private investigators, Claire Caswell and Gaston “Guy” Lombard are hired by a bereaved man to investigate his son’s murder. The trail leads the duo to Crete and to the home of George Zenonakis, a sociopath returning to his roots after a bloody trail. Also following Zenonakis are four vigilantes who are driven by a desire for revenge and an almost blind obedience to their leader.

The story works mostly. Claire and Guy are a memorable duo that balances each other out. With Claire’s intuition and more emotional nature contrasting with Guy’s dedication to the job and more level-headed personality, the two work well together as partners and lovers. Many of their lines chapters together have enough charm this side of a couple in a romantic comedy film.
The Cretan setting works well too. With the lovely mountains, friendly townspeople, and odd characteristics-such as putting your hand over a glass to indicate that you don’t want any more of the very powerful alcohol-give the book a real sense of time and place. The reader could almost smell the flowers and listen to the music that fills every page. If this book is a success, it wouldn’t be surprising to see increased tourism to Crete.

There are parts to the story that don’t work as well however. Zenonakis isn’t written with a lot of depth. He’s a sadistic spoiled brat who never grew up and that’s about it. The vigilante subplot starts well with four men who have different lives, but a fanatical devotion their ideals plotting, but it falls flat once the quartet hits Crete. In Crete, the four do nothing more than go from one shop owner to another using bribery and force. Certain concepts are introduced such as two men in the group disliking their leader but are just as quickly discarded.