Baby Blue

""This is a tasty gulp-down thriller where there are more plot-twists than courses in a hot and spicy Greek meze."" --CrimeTime ""Equal parts intense action, clever detection, and a compelling survival story."" --Booklist ""Koutsakis makes his English-language debut with an intriguing crime novel. American film noir shaped Stratos's view of life, and Koutsakis effectively translates that half-lit, morally ambiguous milieu to seedy modern-day Athens. Noir fans will look forward to the next installment."" --Publishers Weekly ""With a narrator on the wrong side of the law who admires film noir, this dark novel will attract fans of international crime fiction with an edge. Admirers of Lawrence Block's Hit Man series may also want to try this book about a killer with a conscience."" --Library Journal ""It's hard to resist this hero, a freelance killer who describes himself as ""a kind of social worker, except I get properly paid."" -- --Kirkus The streets of Athens prove as mean as those of Raymond Chandler's L.A. in Koutsakis's brilliant second noir featuring Stratos Gazis...While the plotting matches James Ellroy's best work, Koutsakis does a better job of making the twists flow organically from the characters. PUBLISHERS WEEKLY Like Jeff Lindsay's Dexter Morgan and Andrew Vachss' Burke, Athenian ""problem solver"" Stratos Gazis kills only those he feels deserve execution. An absorbing entry in this must-read hard-boiled series, which offers thoughtful characterization and a noir take on Athens' postcrisis underbelly. BOOKLIST