Within the first few pages of this book you'll be asked to suspend your disbelief in spades! Easy to do if you're aware that you're reading science fiction, or fantasy but less easy if you're reading about present day Greece with characters who look like those that live on your street.
Persevere. It's actually quite entertaining, in a strange and rather disturbed kind of way!
Dr Norman Wilfred is travelling to Skios to deliver a lecture at a world renowned institution. Oliver Fox is travelling to the same place to spend a few days in a borrowed villa with a girl he's met only once. There is a confusion at the baggage carousel and Oliver decides that he would quite like to be Dr Wilfred, just for a while. What ensues is chaos and farce.
The girl Oliver has arranged to meet arrives, but can't find him because he isn't where he's supposed to be. Dr Wilfred isn't where he's supposed to be, either, but is under the impression that he is. Then Oliver's long term girlfriend arrives, intent on trying to patch up the argument they'd had. Will these two meet up and put 2 and 2 together? What about the boyfriend of the girl Oliver arranged to meet at the villa? Has he believed her tale of visiting a friend in Switzerland, who is something to do with ski-ing? Who is this girlfriend and, if she's in the skiing business, why is she, too, confused about where she is when she takes a telephone call from her friend? And that's not all………….take a deep breath and read on.
There is, of course, a deep meaning behind all this. Why is it that we are willing to believe what we see if it's presented in a way that encourages and allows us to do so? Are we afraid of asking questions or even denying what's in front of us; are we worried about appearing foolish is we're wrong? Ponder and read.
If you're a fan of humour and farce, written by a master of tempo, plot and laughter, this is one for you. I wasn't too sure at the beginning but I'm really glad I persevered. I needed a laugh and boy, did I get several.
"Skios" is published by Faber and the iSBN number is 978-0-571-28145-9
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