In the Back Seat

"...Eftychia Giannaki pleasantly surprises us with the directness and maturity of her writing. An author who seems to have studied crime fiction thoroughly before taking her first steps into writing."

"...The truth comes to the surface distorted, and Athens, in the throes of a universal crisis, is searching for a lifeline to exist once more. A spirited book with a plot that builds to a climax..."

– Nikos Kourmoulis, Ta Nea newspaper

"...An ambitious and compelling literary endeavour launched by Eftychia Giannaki with the dense and multi-layered crime novel ‘In the Back Seat’, in which she introduces us to Inspector Haris Kokkinos. It is an urban noir, combining intellectual rigour with primal instincts, which are unleashed or restrained depending on the circumstances. Undoubtedly, Eftychia Giannaki has style, and through her work she reminds us that the Greek crime fiction scene is gaining depth and diversity. ‘In the Back Seat’ weaves the city into its plot, so it is rightly considered the first book in the Athens trilogy..."

Radio interview with Eftychia Giannaki by Nikos Kourmoulis

Interview with Eftychia Giannaki by Yiannis Kafatos

Eftychia Giannaki: ‘The most difficult, but also the most adventurous part, is the one the writer faces alone’.

"...Following the techniques of the crime novel, Eftychia Giannaki masterfully sets the scene for her story and seamlessly integrates her characters into it, transcending the strict framework of any rules along the way and continuing the narrative in a more relaxed manner..."

“There is nothing more terrifying than a closed mouth.”

“Crime fiction deals with issues that concern us” A discussion prompted by the novel “In the Back Seat”

"...Yiannaki succeeds in combining crime action with a social perspective to produce a well-rounded result."

Eftychia Giannakis: We have all found ourselves in the “Back Seat” as children, and some of us will find ourselves there as suspects.

"Haris Kokkinos and the murder in Plaka." Article on the book ‘In the Back Seat’ in Proto Thema.

"...The story of Eftychia Giannaki is like a car mirror through which, at times, we look at the back seat, but at other times we look ourselves straight in the face..."

Interview with Eftychia Giannaki by Christina Drouza for iefimerida.gr

“Another surprise in this excellent novel is its final page, which opens a different window onto the world of two completely different people. Read it!”

"...Essentially, Eftychia Giannaki uses crime fiction to explore the Greek family, but also any family, where children are raised who may one day become lawbreakers or something worse. We look forward to the next instalment of her trilogy."

Among the 10 best literary books of 2016.

"...It is quite rare for a Greek female author to choose to write a crime novel …and such a successful one at that! Eftychia Giannaki has pleasantly surprised me!"

"...Although the story is set in Athens during the era of the Memoranda, the author is not concerned with the consequences of the crisis. Kokkinos, a solitary man, seeks solutions for his life, whilst the author uses crime fiction to explore the Greek family, where children are raised who may one day become lawbreakers."

"This is the first part of the Athens Trilogy. Eftychia Giannaki presents her readers with a well-written crime novel featuring a very intriguing plot and suspense."

"...With crime at its heart, Eftychia Giannaki creates a psychological portrait of a capital city in crisis, where warmth is absent from the freezing flats and human relationships, whilst on a second level the author links the archetypal motif of family secrets with the mystery itself and the personal story of Inspector Kokkinos."

– Sakis Ioannidis, Kathimerini

"...The pages of the book reveal crisis, abandonment, the long-suffering inhabitants, troubled relationships, lies, lost optimism, and buried dreams. At the same time, ‘The Back Seat’ is full of shared secrets; secrets that everyone knows but no one dares to admit to anyone. The perpetrator’s tolerance, however, gradually and over time turns everyone into his victims. In this story there are no innocents, only accomplices. And this complicity has played its own part in the current situation."

"...A surprise! A police thriller with fine writing. We didn’t know it. We discovered it, and we were very glad we did."

"...Inspector Kokkinos is sure to become our next favourite. We could describe him as the next Inspector Becca; he’ll join our collection of police novels and we’ll eagerly await his next stories. (Fortunately, the second book in the series has just been released!)"

"The author, in her debut, has made a dynamic entry into the world of crime fiction and, through her trilogy, offers her own social commentary. She also succeeds in creating a comprehensive psychological portrait of everything that concerns the public and private spheres today. Thoughts, reflections and questions about memory, the past and loss are woven together in an exceptional way within Eftychia Giannaki’s literary universe.”

"...What is certain is that we are eagerly awaiting the second book in the series so that we can confidently welcome the establishment of the new Greek police inspector, Haris Kokkinos..."

"...Athens, its neighbourhoods, its contrasts and, more broadly, the very soul of the city are conveyed through strikingly vivid, simple and precise descriptions, creating a sense of vitality for the reader and giving them the opportunity to follow the unfolding of the plot from the inside out. Athens features in the plot not as a lifeless backdrop, but as a living organism with its own pulse and personality, as an entity struggling to find its identity through the past and the bleak present of its inhabitants, as if it too were trying to stand on its own two feet, to find a solution to its own mystery, a solution to its own problems... Thus, human affairs take the shape of the city and the city becomes part of human lives..."

"...It is undoubtedly one of the best crime novels of the year. A crime novel that embodies many of the virtues of the ‘classic’ crime writers, with an exceptionally ‘muscular’ structure, without flashy tricks or superfluous descriptions...”

"...Although a debut author, Eftychia Giannaki demonstrated with her novel _In the Back Seat_ that she had been ready for some time. Inspector Haris Kokkinos (Haris, Haris and Haritos – a coincidence?) takes on a case involving a murdered director, but the matter quickly becomes more... personal. Rich prose and a social perspective in this first part of a planned trilogy."

"...‘In the Back Seat’ is a contemporary work of fiction. Truly contemporary. It gives us great hope for a new direction in Greek literature. Eftychia Giannaki is an author who truly gives us hope for books of good literature. It is one of those books you recommend."

"...The story spans 426 pages. I read them in about five hours. What am I trying to say? That it is an excellent book! On a par with, if not superior to, many much-hyped Scandinavian authors. And it is just the first by a young author. Naturally, I rushed out to buy her next book, ‘Alcyon Days’. Until I get round to reading it, I wholeheartedly recommend this one to you!"