Beware the White Bull

This intriguing, political thriller takes place during the brutal reign of the Greek military junta (1967-1974), a dangerous time for an American journalist and his wife to enter Greece; but Stephen and Julia do just that -- he to find and rescue a 'disappeared' journalist buddy; she to fulfill an archeologist's dream to dig on Crete. Then, all sorts of bad things begin to happen: Stephen, a foreign newsman in defiance of the dictator's edict himself becomes one of the disappeared, sadistically tortured and abandoned in a remote island prison; terror continues to reign over a muffled, shackled nation; a dastardly village spy betrays his people; and Julia's star-crossed love affair meets a tragic end.

This contemporary novel's unaffected, simple prose enhances the pleasure of reading while seamlessly mingling fiction and fact harmoniously as the political realities of '67 are brought into focus: the Greek Colonels' coup that literally shut down democracy overnight; the dictator's brutal, unencumbered seven-year reign over an inherently democratic nation; the long complicity of the U.S.; and the world's disregard of the cruel consequences thrust on a freedom-loving people. And as the story takes place on an ancient soil where the line between myth and reality often blurs, an ancient tale becomes a fitting symbol for the novel's theme: a magnificent White Bull leaps out of the sea, couples with woman, and the dreadful Minotaur is born.