The Greeks Have a Word for It – Barry Unsworth

Two passengers arrive by ship and take the same cab to Athens. A Greek returning to the site of childhood horror and an English rogue on the make, not very lovable but by no means meanspirited, just skint.
 
After that, as their individual progress is related, Mitsos and Kennedy’s paths cross more than once but not significantly and neither do their lives reflect each other, so the dual plot structure doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. Unsworth also indulges in the literary sin of letting his enthusiasm for a place have the reader traipsing around the Athens scenery more than is called for. 
 
You kind of know what the ending’s going to be and I knew I wasn’t going to like it (but that’s just me).
 
Still, it’s a decent enough read, even if it doesn’t hold a candle to his fantabulous Morality Play, and Unsworth is a dab hand at ironic humour. I enjoyed Kennedy’s willingness, at once carefree and rash, not to hold back in his brazen plain-speaking, especially with the pompous, self-serving Jennings.