A Breeze Across The Aegean

After his wife’s death, Nicholas has lost the energy to live and fallen into a dark hole. When he takes a holiday on the Greek Island of Rhodes, the incredible happens. He meets a woman who immediately sparks something in him. They are on the ferry to Halki and agree to meet in the afternoon before taking the ferry back to Rhodes. Yet, Alessandra does not show up. Nicholas is disappointed but apparently, she did not feel the same as he did during their brief encounter. Back in England, he goes on with his life when one evening, he sees a report about a young woman gone missing – Alessandra. Could he have been the last person to see her alive? He contacts the police and the parents before he resolves to return to Greece and to have a look himself since no one seems to be really preoccupied. He cannot simply do nothing when the one person who brought back his will to live has gone missing. It does not take long for him to be sure that there is much more behind Alessandra’s disappearance than just a woman who decided to start a new life and cut all former strings.

Robert Cole’s debut novel is a mixture of suspenseful crime and interesting dive into ancient history. Nicholas’ search for Alessandra is strongly linked to the past of the Greek islands, old trade routes between Europe and the Middle East as well as modern trade – which is rather of the illegal kind. Stolen goods of inestimable value, belonging to the world heritage which in the turmoil of wars fall into the hands of shady businessmen. Some of the history is well known, a lot was also new to me and I found it wonderfully integrated into the thrilling search for the young archaeologist.

Strongest is certainly the atmosphere of the islands which offer such a long and great history which finds its place in the novel. Even though Nicholas is a bit naive at times and irresponsible at others, I found this characters quite charming to follow. He cleverly understands the evidence and draws the right conclusions leading step by step him closer to Alessandra and some very dangerous dubious men.

Not an absolutely thrilling psychological mystery, but rather an entertaining, yet nevertheless enthralling, trip into history.

This one of the most stunning books I have read. The setting, the writing, and the characters, all amazing. A great mystery story that keeps you gripped till the last page.

This stunning debut novel by Robert Cole reads like a Graham Greene classic. It certainly have me as much pleasure to read.
The evocative atmosphere of the beautiful islands in the Dodecanese archipelago are a perfect backdrop to a thriller that allows the author to explore deeper issues. International politics, espionage, the looting of ancient artefacts all form part of the fabric of the novel.
The characters are drawn with honesty and integrity. The author's love of his subject matter permeates every single page.

I absolutely love the psychological thriller about a missing woman. It’s mostly a first person narrative about a man who meets a mysterious woman who disappears. The backdrop is the Mediterranean. I highly recommend this book I really enjoyed it

Taking a sabbatical from work after the loss of his wife and child, and now on holiday in Rhodes, Nicholas decides to explore some of the surrounding islands. He starts by taking the ferry to the tiny island of Halki. On the same ferry is a lady called Alessandra who is also taking a trip to the island to catch up with her good friend. Nicolas and Alessandra meet and they find that they get on well together so they arrange to meet again on the return journey back to Rhodes. She is very knowledgeable about the history of the Dodecanese island group, the largest of which is Rhodes. Alessandra also offers to show Nicholas around the Old Town of Rhodes. She works at the museum on Rhodes and is a frequent visitor to several of the cluster of islands and is currently carrying out active on-site research there.
On the outgoing trip to Halki they find that they become fiends very easily. Alessandra has moved to Rhodes from her home in the UK and is fluent also in Greek. It will be nice for Nicholas to have a guide and some company. For the first time in a couple of years, Nicolas has something to look forward to. He looks out for Alessandra on the return ferry to Rhodes, but alas she is nowhere to be seen. He makes the rendezvous for the Old Town exploration but again she does not show up. He is so disappointed. Soon his holiday is over and he is on the plane back home to the UK.
After a good few months back at home he hears that Alessandra has been reported as missing. Could this be the reason for her being unable to make contact with him both in Halki and back in Rhodes? He feels compelled to return to Rhodes because, after all, the dates coincide with his holiday and he may even have been the person with the last sighting of her. Back in Rhodes once more, hoping he can move the police investigation on, he is shocked to learn the police have hit a brick wall and their investigation has been scaled down. This is when he makes the decision to initiate his own investigations and in so doing he puts himself in the spotlight of villains who threaten him in no uncertain terms that people will get hurt if he does not stop muddying the waters and stirring up trouble for these master criminals. He has no option but to book a flight home straight away. But will he be able to adhere to his word. Not a bit of it!
‘A Breeze Across the Aegean’ is Robert Cole’s exciting and assured debut novel. Here he has created a sizzling novel about organised crime, kidnapping and physical coercion. It is masterfully written and the storyboard is alive with action, thrill and spills and twists and turns. The settings are vividly lyrical and the characterisation well developed with diverse and interesting characters. I thought Nicholas was very brave and gentlemanly to come to the rescue of Alessandra, the stunningly attractive and friendly black haired historian. I thought the ending was excellent and nail-bitingly electrifying. I liked that some of the characters were unreliable participants, keeping secrets and not being what they wanted you to believe they were. This twist was totally unexpected but in the end it turned out to be discretionary and you could understand why.
I received a complimentary copy of this novel from publisher Troubador Publishing Ltd through my membership of NetGalley and I would like to thank them for my copy, sent out to me in return for an honest review. I really enjoyed this novel and award it a well-deserved 4.5*. I recommend it as a very good read and I shall look forward to a second novel from this author.

This is a nice mystery, with interesting characters and a rich background. I found the history the most engaging part.

Reeling from a tremendous loss our hero ventures out to new places and has a 'cute' meet with an interesting and attractive woman. But when she doesn't show for a later date, he moves on. When he discovers she has going missing, he decides to see if he can figure out what happened.
In the course of this, we learn some really fascinating things about early history.
We also learn about the business of history and how far some will go to assert their hold on it.
The romance is a little cloying, but I guess that is the price we pay for the other good writing.

It's a good story, some characters that are interesting and in a fantastic setting. I would hope this could be the start of a series.

After quite a slow start, this novel seemed to have a fairly rushed conclusion. Interesting story, but although I am a avid traveller of the Greek isles this is not an attention holder for myself

Thanks to Netgalley and Troubador Publishing for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Nicholas is a widower from the UK that is on vacation on Rhodes, a Greek isle. While ferrying to nearby Halki, he meets a British woman, Alessandra, who is living on Rhodes and they agree to meet for a drink before catching the afternoon ferry back, but she never shows. Then once back in the UK, he learns she has gone missing, and feeling he had a connection with her, he takes a sabbatical from work and begins searching for her.

3.5 stars.

I requested this one because my much anticipated trip to the Greek isles was cancelled thanks to COVID and I am counting the minutes until I can rebook. I was basically pulled in by the setting more than the synopsis. So, I enjoyed the scenery and the things I learned about the region, but as a mystery, it was just ok. I felt like we knew what was going on too early and then it was just watching it play out. There was somewhat of a surprise near the end, but it didn't really change the outcome. It was a decent book but not really twisty/turn-y enough for me.

Lately I've been attracted to books in faraway places, probably because I can't travel myself. So this book about a British widower who travels to Rhodes for a holiday appealed to me. A chance meeting with a museum employee on a ferry leads him to investigate the mystery of her disappearance. Clearly there are some very powerful people involved, and it's very dangerous for him to delve into this. But he's drawn by some sort of connection he felt with her. The plot is very engaging and I think this might make a very interesting film. Descriptions of the scenery and the archaeology of the Colossus of Rhodes add to the interest of the book.

Nicholas Adams has been grieving from the loss of his wife and baby when he decides to take a leave of absence and go to the isle of Rhodes. On the ferry to another nearby island he meets a researcher, Alessandra, who works for the ministry of culture. They seem to connect and agree to meet later. However, she does not show up and Nicholas goes home to England. Some time later her face is on the tv and Nicholas learns she has gone missing. He decides to go back to Rhodes and find her. He meets several shady characters and another lovely woman and learns about the illegal trade in antiquities through papers left by Alessandra. An interesting part of this book is that the reader discovers Alessandra through her parents and co-workers. The main characters do not meet again until the later part of the book. The history of the Colossus of Rhodes and the quest for any part of it remains a mystery. The descriptions of the various islands made me want to travel there. I received a digital copy of this book for a honest review.

This was an easy read, an ideal beach read.

I read it in the cold brisk winter but Robert Cole did such an excellent job of getting me to daydream about being in Rhodes myself! Rhodes is where the story primarily takes place. I feel like Robert Cole truly captured the essence of Rhodes in this novel and did so effortlessly.

I don’t care for authors who are unnecessarily “wordy” and Robert Cole provided a perfect amount of details to set the stage for this story and the characters in it. The main characters were memorable and now I REALLY want to go to Greece, or just any beach.

I wasn’t so sure about where the ending was headed, because after the climax things seemed to fall flat, BUT it worked out and the ending was satisfying.

I recommend reading this book and would read more novels by this author.

This is a great blend of compelling characters, engaging dialogue and a beautiful setting.

I particularly enjoyed the descriptions of artefacts and the processes around discovery and handling. A very unusual aspect which added a lot of interest.

I was certainly entertained but people looking for thrills and complex plot twists might be left wanting more.