The Golden Orphans by Gary Raymond

Snappy!

Genres: Literary Thriller
Published: 30th June, 2018
Goodreads
Series: N/A
Rating: 4

Within the dark heart of an abandoned city, on an island once torn by betrayal and war, lies a terrible secret…
Francis Benthem is a successful artist; he’s created a new life on an island in the sun. He works all night, painting the dreams of his mysterious Russian benefactor, Illy Prostakov. He writes letters to old friends and students back in cold, far away London. But now Francis Benthem is found dead. The funeral is planned and his old friend from art school arrives to finish what Benthem had started. The painting of dreams on a faraway island. But you can also paint nightmares and Illy has secrets of his own that are not ready for the light. Of promises made and broken, betrayal and murder…

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Call me oblivious, but I didn’t realize from the blurb that this story will take place in Cyprus. Sure and island with an abandoned city sounds fab, isn’t it? So when the penny dropped, I did a little happy dance because I watched a documentary about Famagusta (a.k.a. the abandoned city) recently, and next April my friend and I are actually going to visit Cyprus.

The Golden Orphans is a short, but vicious thriller set on this beautiful island. Francis, the famous painter, is already dead when the story starts, and it’s just as well, because we are dropped into the action right away. Our unnamed protagonist attends the funeral, where five minutes in some Russian mafia types arrive. It’s not until one of them makes our guy an offer that he starts contemplating their presence and secretive life style.

After a slow start, the pace ramps up as Mr. Protagonist escapes danger, discovers long buried secrets and uncovers lies, while the whole ghost city looms in the background like a stink cloud.

In spite of the short length, Gary Raymond manage to pack some vivid descriptions, a great cast of characters and some borderline nail-biting-inducing action (I don’t bite my nails, but if you are chewer, watch out) in this story.

Who is Gary Raymond?Gary Raymond is a novelist, critic, editor and broadcaster. He is the presenter of BBC Radio Wales’, The Review Show, and is one of the founding editors of Wales Arts Review. He is the author of two novels, The Golden Orphans (Parthian, 2018) and For Those Who Come After (Parthian, 2015). He is a widely published critic and cultural commentator.

Where can you find him?
Twitter | Facebook | Amazon

Where can you buy the book?
Amazon US | Amazon UK | Waterstones | Book Depository | NOOK | Kobo