DEGENERATE, REGENERATE: The Sequel to Fairytales Don’t Come True and the 2nd Volume of the Criminal Conversation trilogy

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A policeman, as punishment for perceived insubordination to his senior officer, is banished to a remote Greek island and takes up his position as the village constable. It is a small village, near death, and the only crime is a decades-old, unsolved suspicious death. Oh, and a missing cat! There is a beautiful classical vibe to this book. It could be due to the fact that it is set in a sleepy Greek village but I think the classical air comes from the author's writing style. Especially the dialogue but also the theme of the novel. Lieutenant Stephanos Stephanidou has upset a senior officer and because of this he is shipped off to a small town with an ageing population, decaying buildings and zero crime rate.

In this book, the second of the Criminal Conversations trilogy, Laura Lyndhurst transports us to a greek island, an isolated and forgotten place where life drifts on as it has done for centuries. Stephanos Stephanidou, a police officer is posted there, after challenging a superior officer and succumbs to depression, believing his career and hopes of marriage are over. When he meets an ascetic hermit, initially named as Kadi, he slowly begins to believe in a new future as the old man relates a tale of betrayal and lost love. Stephanos Stephanidou is bored, depressed and almost contemplating suicide until he meets an old hermit living in the ruins of an old house. The pair strike up a conversation that leads to the hermit telling Stephanos his life story, which becomes the basis of the novel. When Stephanos Stephanidous reputation as an honest police detective puts him on the wrong side of a superior, he earns a posting on a small Greek island where crime is non-existent. With nothing to do, he starts looking into an old cold case involving the apparent suicide of a young woman and the simultaneous disappearance of a young man. He happens upon Kadi, one of the main characters in the past drama, an old man now with little time to live and a burden to unload.I came into Degenerate, Regenerate straight after finishing Fairytales Don't Come True, and found that the second book in this series is as fascinating and impactful as the first. I loved the ties to the first book which are far from obvious but subtlety introduced. Stephanos feels his career and life is over that is until he stumbles across a cold case and an old recluse, living in squalid conditions. The old man has a story to tell, and the officer is eager to listen as he feels the two are linked.

I was born and grew up in North London, England, but was unable to attend university when young due to family financial circumstances. Instead, I worked at various occupations, including dental nurse, laboratory assistant and shop assistant. In Kadi, as in all great, literary heroes/anti-heroes, Ms Lyndhurst has created a multi-faceted character. Having read the first in the trilogy, Fairytales Don’t Come True, I already had mixed feelings about the man and his motives. As he recounts his story, it becomes clear that he is capable of cruelty, of a single-minded misogny and yet can show real tenderness. Is the occasional tenderness and his remorse for the past enough to redeem him in the eyes of his God and those of the reader” I think everyone will have a differing opinion of him. At times, he reminded of Mr. Rochester, who I loved to hate as a teenager. The bare-bones were still there—the smell and taste of different Greek foods, the topography—the hill and the spectacular view over the sea, the warm summer sun. But the buildings and the people were dilapidated and decrepit. When you go through the layers in this modern day Greek tragedy, you will find the themes of confession, penance and even resurrection. I won't say who or why or what because that would be a spoiler. No monumental explosions or rip-roaring car chases, but another good thinker that saw me abandon my own desk for the duration of the read.

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Policeman Stephanidou went out to a small Greek Island to solve s cold case. A lone man living the lifestyle of a hermit, who's wife had died in mysterious circumstances gave his life story in an attempt to quell the rumours and set the record straight.