The Greek Icon Book Report

The Mystery of the Greek Icon

Book Report by Madison Nef

Characters

Marty

Marty is the main protagonist of the book. She is a 19 year old college graduate from America who is spunky and fast-acting. Throughout the book she proves to be very brave. She is known to love her father very much, and has lived with him since she was 15, when her mother died. When he disappears, she goes around the globe to find and rescue him.

Peter

Peter is Marty’s love interest. He is described as a tall, wiry Swedish man of about 20. He cares very much for Marty, acting almost as her ‘big brother’ in the book. He is very timid and shy, but refuses to leave her side until she finds her father. He is described to be a bit weak, and gets jealous easily, especially of Stephanos.

Stephanos “Steve”

Steve is a Greek man of about 22. He is the older brother of Vicki, and is described as a tall, muscular man. His hobby is traveling to different parts of Greece and being a photographer. He is very useful in the book, and is shown to have a slight crush on Marty. He is loyal to his friends, and drives them wherever they need to go in Greece.

Vicki

Vicki is a young girl of about 20, a tour guide in Greece. Marty and Peter meet her while taking a tour of Greece, looking for information about the icon that Marty has. She is very friendly with them as they keep coming back to her business, and finally invites them over for dinner. She proves useful to them, as she can provide them with good information about the area.

Bart

While Bart doesn’t have much dialogue in the story, he is the center of the plot. He is kidnapped by a gang smuggling icons that belong to museums out of the country, and when he goes after them, he gets drugged and is taken prisoner. He is shown to love and care for his daughter very much, and he is also shown to be a very thoughtful man.

Dr. Nigrita

Nigrita is the main antagonist of the book. He is the head of the smuggling gang that kidnaps Bart and smuggles icons out of Greece. He is known for wearing black suits and driving a grey Mercedes.

Setting

The story takes place in different parts of Greece. The main part of the book takes place in the Meteora, where the most famous monasteries are.  It is described as very rocky and hilly, with beautiful sunrises and sunsets as the sun peeks over the mountains in the morning. There are many ravines in the area where the story is. Greece is also known for its beautiful blue bays and wonderful ocean scenery. Marty and Peter often eat at quaint little sidewalk restaurants with great view of the ocean.

Plot

The story starts with Marty at college, celebrating her 19^th birthday with her friends. She receives a package from her dad, and opens it, mentioning that this is the first time he has ever missed her birthday. However, good news does not come in her present. The letter says that her father is in Sweden, sick with leukemia. He tells her in the letter, “take care of the little one”, implying the small Greek icon he sent to her as a gift.

In the letter, he uses their code name for help, “two Bart”. Marty, assuming he is in trouble, heads out to Sweden immediately to stay with a family friend’s family. When she arrives, she meets the Miller family, and Peter, the eldest son. She greets them, and then immediately goes to the hospital to see her father.

However, at the hospital, she is told by the clerk that he is better and checked out with some ‘friends’ two days ago, leaving no forwarding address. Upon inquiring if he is better, the man laughs and tells her of course, otherwise the doctors would not have let him leave.

When she goes home, she discovers another letter from Bart, saying that he is following a trail through Athens. Marty says that she must go immediately, but Peter insists she stay an extra day, and then he will go with her.

The next day they set out to Athens, Greece, and when they arrive they go to their hotel. The next morning, they take a tour about Greece, searching for information on Marty’s icon. She is sure it has some connection to her father’s disappearance, but she is not sure what. Their tour guide is a kind young girl named Vicki, who is most useful.

After taking her tour a few times, Vicki comes over to them and asks them over for dinner. When they go over to her house that night, they meet Steve, a traveling photographer and Vicki’s older brother. They learn from her mother that the icon comes from a place called the Meteora, a place where all the famous monasteries are. Upon seeing the icon, Vicki and her family are almost positive that it is not a re-production because of the fine detail in it.

Steve offers to drive them to the Meteora the next day, if they are interested in going. They accept, and then head back. At the hotel, a message waits for them, and it is from Bart. He says, this is much more than where the torch starts…and then breaks off the phone call. Putting two and two together, Peter and Marty figure that he is in Olympia, where the first Olympic games were.

When Steve arrives to take them to the Meteora, they beg him to take them to Olympia instead. He consents, saying that it is the same distance in the other direction anyway, and they set off. When they reach Olympia, they tour the stands, and when they do, they see 10 men in black suits exiting in single file. Marty is convinced that these aren’t your typical tourists, and she learns that they always ask for night passes from the old woman at the ticket stand.

As she is leaving, Peter runs back to get her and tells her to follow him. They go back to an old tunnel under the stadium, where he shows her a message he has found in the daylight. On the wall of the tunnel, there is a scribbling that says one word: B A R t.

The B on the message is very clear, but the rest of the letters are sort of dragged off, as if he was walking and writing. Marty is horrified when she see the writing come off when she touches it, and automatically thinks it is blood. Peter recognizes the smell, however, and says that it is just ash from the torch, and that if someone looked, they could find it in the tunnels because the caretakers swept it out so that the next torch could be lit.

At this point, Marty starts freaking out and is sure he has been kidnapped. They see him being dragged into a car by 3 men in black suits as they exit the stands. Marty automatically wants to go after him, but Peter holds her back and says he overheard the name of the lead man, and that he has the license plate number of the Mercedes that he was put in.

Next, they go to the monastery and ask the nuns there about the icon. They agree that it is an original, and say that they recall seeing it somewhere before. It turns out that the painting on the icon is of St. Nikolas, whose monastery was shut down when the Nazis invaded. They say that the icon is probably very rare, and probably came from the ruins of the monastery.

 As they walk out, discussing the icon, they are cornered by a man in a black suit. Recognizing him as one of the men from the gang, they dodge onto Vicki’s tour bus and ride with the group until the next stop. She playfully scolds them for not being part of her group, but allows them to ride and stick with the group through the next stop.

At the next stop, the group heads into a Greek museum that is run by a monk. Upon seeing the icon, the monk gets excited and says he wishes to show it to the high priest. Marty is about to say yes, but Vicki warns her that it could take hours to get it looked at. She declines, but the monk says that it looks very similar to an icon they had been expecting for their collection.

After the museum, Peter and Marty discuss the icon and figure out that Bart has discovered a smuggling operation, and has been kidnapped because of his knowledge. They figure that the icon needed to be saved, so Bart sent it to Marty. They see the Mercedes with her father in it zoom by, and make an attempt to follow it by cab. Finally, it stops at a small cottage. Marty wants to go in and save her father, but Peter stops her.

They go to a local inn and call Steve, telling him they need backup. They know that there is at least 2 men in the cottage, guarding Bart, and that the leader, Dr. Nigrita, has gone to get more people. Steve arrives, and they tell him of their situation. He agrees that they should get the police involved, so he calls them. However, they dismiss him for being drunk because of the time.

Steve, dismayed at his failed attempt, tells them his plan to rescue Bart with help from his cousins, who live nearby to the cottage. He calls the police again, begging them to listen, and finally they agree to come.

Steve’s cousins are shepherds, and they only understand their goats. There are 4 of them. That night, they gather their goats and surround the house. The goats act as a distraction so that Marty can slip in through the back window of the cottage and rescue her father. When the two men go outside to see what the ruckus is, they are rounded up by the police.

Bart is in bad condition when he is out of the house. The drug effects are just starting to wear off, and he gives Marty a hug and asks for water. He is taken automatically to the hospital by Marty and Peter.

Once he is better, he explains that their hunch was correct. His bank that he worked at had been involved in the scam, and one of his friends was involved. When he heard about the operation, he decided to track it down to its base and shut it down. He managed to recover one icon, and realizing it wasn’t safe, send it to Marty.

However, he was captured by the gang and drugged. He was then dragged from city to city, with vague memories of trees and men spooning soup into his mouth. He said that for the short period of time he was conscious, he came to know the leader of the gang as Dr. Nigrita. Also, he said they meant to kill him by dropping him into a deep ravine.

With his help, the rest of the gang is tracked down and captured, and many of the icons are returned to their rightful owners and/or homes. Marty, though sad to let go of her icon, gives it to the monk museum where it belongs. She is just happy to have her Dad back.

The book ends with this closing paragraph, No Copyright Intended, all rights go to Mary Tyson Pickering.

“Belted into my high-backed seat, I felt the big plane rise smoothly into the clear Greek skies. Below, Athens sprawled across its hills like a humped mural of some make-believe city, but I barely noticed. My senses were numb with the emotions of the past half-hour. Bart had promised he’d be home for my graduation. “The conference in Vienna will be over,” he said, smiling, “and nothing in the world can keep me away- not even kidnappers!”

Then Peter had gathered me into his arms and whispered, “Til next fall, Marty! I’m coming to your country then-“ and he named the very college Bart had helped me choose. There was nothing brotherly about the kiss that followed and, in a happy daze, I’d joined the line of boarding passengers.

Now I unwrapped the little package Peter had pushed into my hand. Without looking, I knew what it contained. An icon. Inside would be the painted pictures- of whom, it didn’t matter. Just the feel of the smooth wooden covers was enough, that and the memory of his parting kiss.”

I personally really enjoyed the story.             It was a good mystery, and it kept me intrigued until the final page.  I hope you enjoyed this report, as I worked VERY hard on it.