The novel is based on the true story of the Germans Herman Duft and Hans Basenaouer, both 31 years old, who arrived in Greece in the spring of 1969, stating that come for tourism and business, but over the next forty days committed five robberies and six heinous murders. Despite the mobilization, the police authorities of the Greek military dictatorship -minded, especially, the suppression of any dissident activity- was unable to reach the tracks of the two killers. At the same time, the regime refused to make ​​public the facts so as not to disturb the climate of “law and order” that had carefully propagandized.

So when finally the details of the acts of the perpetrators became known, the “innocent” until then public opinion in Greece was dumbfounded˙ the actions of two Germans, the first and most “productive” to date serial killers in Greece was definitely changed  the concept of Greek people on crime. At the same time, the case put to the test the Greek-German relations and rekindled the debate in Germany about the necessity or not of the death penalty.

For the writing of this novel Yannis Ragos surveyed a year to all available sources. Based on this material, he reconstructed the history with the accuracy of a documentary and the intensity of a drama, while exploring the climate of the era of dictatorship when the whole country “smelled like blood”.

It is a valuable experience for those who were not yet born that spring, but also for older readers who have almost forgotten the colors and fragrances of the spring of 1969; a time which, alas, smelled of blood and insanity.           TITINA DANELLI, Rizospastis

Yannis Rangos skillfully reconstructs that period. At the same time, he investigates the criminal behavior of the two men which is not only related to the thirst for money, but is also linked to their past and their mentality.         PHILIPPOS PHILIPPOU, Diavazo Literary Journal

Kastaniotis, 2019, 304 P.