Perhaps it was coincidence--or perhaps Camilla Haven unintentionally invoked the gods that afternoon in the crowded Athens café when she wrote to a friend: "Nothing ever happens to me..."

But a few hours later--and by happenings extraordinary indeed--Camilla was in Delphi, in the company of Simon Lester, a most charming, but quietly determined, Englishman--and in the middle of a nightmare beyond her wildest dreams.

In his words, Simon had come to Delphi to "appease the shade" of his brother Michael, killed some fourteen years earlier on Parnassus. From a curiously excited letter Michael had written before his death, Simon believed his brother had stumbled upon something of great importance, something undoubtedly hidden in the craggy reaches of the mountainside, near the site of his death.

And then Simon and Camilla learned they were not alone in their search, that Michael's death was still remembered by others in whom brooding passion and unresolved conflict still raged...

Smooth, polished prose combined with relentless pace leads to a last terrifying moment on the slopes of Parnassus where, high above the majestic serenity of Delphi, love and hatred meet in a climax as violent and shattering as any wrought by the avenging furies thousands of years ago.