James Axton

James Axton is the central protagonist of the novel and its narrator. Everything is told from his point-of-view. James is a risk analyst for the Northeast Group. As such, he is based in Athens and does risk assessments in Turkey, India, and the Middle East. A former writer, he was recruited to this position by George Rowser. He accepted the job to be close to his son Tap and his estranged wife Kathryn, who works on an archeological dig on the Greek island of Kouros.

When the novel begins, James is part of a group of American friends in Athens, most of them international envoys for American businesses. He considers himself separate from his surroundings; he hasn't even been to the Acropolis. One day, the body of a mental defective is found bludgeoned to death in Kouros. Owen Brademas, the sullen leader of Kathyn's dig, thinks it...