The Page 69 Test: "At Any Cost"

Jeffrey Siger is an American living on the Aegean Greek island of Mykonos. A former Wall Street lawyer, he gave up his career as a name partner in his own

New York City law firm to write the international best-selling, award recognized Chief Inspector Andreas Kaldis series of mystery thrillers telling more than just a fast-paced story. The New York Times described his novels as “thoughtful police procedurals set in picturesque but not untroubled Greek locales” and named him as Greece’s thriller novelist of record.

Siger applied the Page 69 Test to his latest Chief Inspector Andreas Kaldis mystery thriller, At Any Cost, and reported the following:

Here is page 69, plus a dozen words in brackets from preceding page:
[“I sensed he didn’t want to alarm me with what he thought] might be the most chilling scenario. It’s an academic thing not to guess but wait for the facts. That’s why he wants to see Syros.”

“When do you think he’ll come to Athens?”

Andreas shrugged. “The tickets are on us as an engagement present, but Anna has school obligations, and Jack has a business to run. They might not be able to change their plans. Besides, Jack’s given me enough leads to likely keep us busy until he gets here as planned.”

“Get some sleep.”

Andreas leaned over and turned off the lamp on his nightstand. “Good suggestion, because it looks as if my real time life, starting first thing tomorrow morning, will be all about figuring out how to kick some big time international digital butt back to the stone age.”

#

New York City’s East Village has hidden treasures that more likely than not survived gentrification efforts by two simple means. One, they delivered desired and appreciated services, and two, there’s no landlord to boot them out in favor of higher paying tenants, or to sell out to a developer. A prime example was the oldest continuously operating Italian restaurant in Manhattan.

The massive mound of white candle wax at the back of the restaurant’s rear dining room, close by a pair of ever-swinging kitchen doors, has been growing (and getting shaved back to manageable proportions) since 1908. Its tin ceilings, tiled floors, and walls adorned in frescoes of rustic Italian scenes, frame a white-linen-tablecloth candlelit intimacy that’s launched many a memorable evening, and continues to draw crowds of loyal clientele packing its simple bar while patiently waiting for a table.

That early 20th-century, Roaring-‘20s ambience has made this East 12th Street restaurant a popular setting for memorably dramatic scenes in some of America’s best known gangster films and TV series. But its celebrity was not why Jack had picked it for dinner with Anna. He found its southern Italian cooking and reasonable prices hard to beat elsewhere in the city.

They sat at a corner table by the kitchen, facing toward the front room. A waiter swiftly brought menus and what remained of the half carafe of red wine they’d ordered at the bar.

Jack ordered the restaurant’s famed garlic bread and house salad to share.

Once the waiter left, he said, “I had a wonderful talk with your uncle this afternoon.”
Page 69 of At Any Cost captures the essence of what differentiates this 13th novel in my Chief Inspector Andreas Kaldis series from its brethren. It introduces new core characters, existential technological threats, and a US locale in a supporting role. The scene opens with Andreas confiding in his wife, Lila, his take on a just concluded telephone call to New York with his niece Anna’s fiancé, Jack.

Jack is an expert on all things metaverse, and Andreas sensed his future nephew trying not to alarm him over a threat to world order posed by a consortium of powerful, wealthy and ruthless autocratic nations seeking to establish a European beachhead on the Greek Cycladic island of Syros in the coming battle for metaverse dominance. Page 69 concludes with Jack and Anna having dinner close by where she attends university in New York City’s East Village, as Jack’s about to share with her his concerns over what’s confronting her uncle and explain why Andreas wants him on Syros ASAP.

Here’s a bit more of the story line:

In the aftermath of Greece’s horrendous wildfires that claimed three unidentified victims, Kaldis and his engaging cast of characters find themselves immersed in a fast-paced, mystery-thriller confronting the ethical, political, and societal challenges of a race for metaverse dominance.

Syros, the Grande Dame of the Cyclades, once served as the commercial and shipyard center for the region, but the rush of tourism bringing unimaginable prosperity to Cycladic islands such as Mykonos and Santorini largely passed it by.

Syros’ desire to resurrect its glorious past without sacrificing its soul to tourism is offered precisely that in a proposal it must immediately accept or mourn what could have been…be it a deal with the devil or not.

It falls to Andreas and his team to connect the seemingly unrelated dots and corral the ambitions of those willing to stop at nothing to assure the success of the consortium’s plans for Syros and beyond. Not even Andreas’ family is safe.