The old guard wishing for the return of the right-wing military dictatorship; anarchists and communists trying to promote a people's revolution: two brands of thugs serving the purpose of corrupt Greek politicians, led by a national hero who secretly manipulates all of them.

This is the world of Jeffrey Siger, a most compelling author who was born and raised in Pittsburgh before making the fascinating island of Mykonos his home.

The body of the 16-year-old son of one of Greece's wealthiest businessmen is found behind a gay bar in one of Athens' seediest neighborhoods. The boy wasn't gay. The act was retribution aimed at the father.

It might be the work of a rich newspaper magnate, to whom the father has waged previous mischief, or it may be something far more complex -- "ostrakizmos," a word close to our "ostracism," which in ancient Greek implied exile for antisocial or unpatriotic acts.

It was announced to the culprit by the presentation of his name on a pottery shard. For those who didn't accept the ostracism, the penalty was death.

And it turns out that several prominent Athenians have recently left the country without a trace.

Police inspector Andreas Kaldis makes the connection after finding a shard with the name of the murdered boy's father, who sends his remaining family away but holes himself up in his vacation home on Mykonos.

In the process, he finds himself falling in love with a beautiful woman who offers to help him, whether he wants her help or not, and whether he can trust her.

Siger is a superb writer. His prose is terse, his plot fast-moving and sprinkled with surprises.

Best of all, he creates the atmosphere of modern Greece in vivid, believable detail, from the magnificence of its antiquities to the decadence of its power bearers and the squalor of its slums.

-- By Robert Croan, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

For every avid reader, some characters linger after a book is finished.

For me, one of those characters is Vincent Cappadora, a secondary but extremely important one in Jacquelyn Mitchard's 1996 mega­seller, "The Deep End of the Ocean." In that book, Vincent's little brother Ben is kidnapped at 3, then returns to the family at 12, forever changed.

Mitchard makes Vincent the central character of "No Time to Wave Goodbye," which revisits the Cappadoras 13 years after Ben's return. Vincent, Ben and sister Kerry have become young adults, and their mother, Beth, has achieved a sense of peace and safety.

The family gathers for the premiere of budding filmmaker Vincent's documentary, which shares the name of the book. Beth watches in horror, as she realizes the film tells the stories of five families whose children also disappeared but did not return.

Yet, the family throws its support behind the formerly ne'er-do-well Vincent, whose film is nominated for an Oscar. But tragedy strikes, throwing the family back into the miasma of grief they thought they'd left behind.

As with "Deep End," Mitchard gorgeously combines piercing psychological insight with one heck of a suspense story. I read the last 150 pages in one breathless sitting.

If you haven't read "Deep End," go there first. If you have, be prepared to once more be completely immersed in the Cappadora family with "No Time to Wave Goodbye."

-- By Joy Tipping, the Dallas Morning News

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