Customer Reviews

Matala: A Novel

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The unpredictability of human nature is Holden's trump card in this small but potent tale of a young girl's initiation into the sophisticated corruption of a world where opportunists gather around a potential victim like sharks circling a flailing swimmer. When Darcy Arlen breaks from her boring European tour while in Rome, she intends only to briefly escape into the "real" city, to sample off-tour reality. It is entirely by chance and the fickleness of fate that Darcy encounters the prematurely world-weary Will, an American on the downside of an offbeat adventure far from home. Finding the young man eerily familiar, Darcy strikes up a conversation, the two drawn into a seductive relationship that begins with dinner (Will hasn't eaten for two days) and segues into an unexpected detour for Darcy, who bolts her tour for the exciting unknown beside her new friend.

What Darcy doesn't realize, but soon learns, is that Will is not alone, attached for the last two years of his wandering to Justine, an older, more jaded traveler, a natural con who has been schooling Will in the fine art of fleecing the innocent to support an unpredictable lifestyle, fencing credit cards, indulging in other petty crimes when expedience demands. The relationship between Will and Justine is unusual, to say the least, peripatetic lovers and thieves grown weary of the game by the time Darcy presents herself, too ripe and full of promise to be ignored. Taking advantage of the nineteen-year-old, well-heeled young woman proves remarkably easy, irresistible, in fact. When Justine makes arrangements to deliver a package to far-away Crete, Darcy is surprisingly accommodating, financing the journey and happily accompanying her two new friends.

The unpredictable element in this short, shocking tale of treachery and deceit is Darcy, perched on the edge of discontent the afternoon she meets the handsome stranger, her indulgent parents sufficiently distant to allow a margin of rebelliousness. Her eye on Will, Darcy indulges Justine's need to control the situation, soon becoming a worthy and unexpected adversary. As the package moves closer to its destination, the balance of power subtly shifts, the trio enacting their own small drama from bar to bedroom, largely oblivious to the criminal element that infects each city they visit. At the end of the line, the devil demands his due, Darcy, Justine and Will confronted with the price of their reckless odyssey. Sharp-witted and exotic, Holden's novel provides the dark thrills of the forbidden, a knife's edge of danger creating a precarious balance of impulse, abandon and greed. Luan Gaines/ 2007.

Craig Holden is, indeed, a gifted author. From page one this story is captivating and keeps you interested through till the end. The story and characters are somewhat unusual, which is characteristic of his novels and what I like most about them. I would highly recommend Matala!

According to mythology, Zeus raped the princess Europa on the small island of Matala, so it is the ideal setting for Holden's dark, erotic, noir-thriller. Filled with tough, cynical characters, Matala is a short, crisp read that demonstrates the sharp contrast between the haves and have nots. The line between sensuality and violence often blurs, melding the two into a shapeless, symbolic raping of innocence that changes both the con and the mark at the very core of their being.

A combination graduation-birthday gift from her parents, this six week, guided tour of all the famous European sites was a painfully boring journey for Darcy Arlene. A napping chaperon provided the perfect opportunity to sneak away from the Hotel Abitazione and experience the "real city." Walking through Rome she makes her way onto a bridge, spanning the Tiber, where she encounters an attractive young man who seems oddly familiar. An innocent introduction, leads to dinner, where the two continue to talk like old friends. Will invites Darcy to meet him for drinks at a wine bar in Olympic Village, but is convinced she's blowing him off when she insists on returning to the hotel to face her chaperon and freshen up.

Appearing innocent and completely out of her element Darcy makes her way to the wine bar where she meets Will and is unceremoniously introduced to his older traveling companion of two years, Justine. After several rounds, Darcy explains she has to be up early to catch a train to Florence - the next stop on the tour schedule, but is easily convinced to stay for one more drink. The next morning, still a bit dazed and confused, she realizes she has missed the train and has been separated from both the tour group and all her cash. Her new friends comfort her, offering to travel with her to Florence, provided she pay their way, of course.

Justine was, by all accounts the web-weaver, setting up the marks, utilizing her vast network of underground contacts, she was a master manipulator and a sadist by nature. But she knew her ex-husband, Maurice held the key to the big-scam. And although she hated the very thought of working for Maurice, the chance to settle debts and make some real cash was too tempting and she reluctantly agreed. The job was pretty straight-forward, but not without risk...deliver a package to Matala by Christmas. When pushed for more information, Maurice simply stated, "a special gift for one who has everything."

Finally free of chaperons, routines and the stifling constraints thereof, the excitement of the unknown, the dangers that could await her, delighted her beyond anything she had ever known. Darcy fancied herself streetwise, the mere thought of stealing awakened carnal urges deep within her that seemed to electrify her entire body. She knows there's something fishy going on between Justine and Will - things don't quite add up - she's more than willing to play along because she finds the thrill of the con so appealing. Justine and Will had survived in a state of codependency, now with the addition of a third angle, what had once seemed a benevolent need to dominate and control, felt very wrong. Will realized he was changing, but so too were Justine and Darcy. What follows is a series of double deals and cutthroat betrayals that keep the reader on the edge, searching for answers.

How this three-way plays itself out is Holden's trump card, which he skillfully holds close to the vest. The tension builds as the story hurdles toward the moment all the players and pawns in this high stakes game face off in a final showdown. Struggling with the contours and mysteries of ideals and self discovery each character is laid bare for all to see at the conclusion.

What begins with a spoiled little rich girl touring Europe, down shifts into a fast paced romp through the half-dens and hostels, courtesy of a couple of well seasoned grifters. As the three match wits and one up each other in an increasingly dangerous game of cat and mouse, the roles of con and mark blur.

Chock-full of deceit, debauchery and dark desires, Matala is best suited for a mature reader. The characters are well developed and delivered with razor sharp precision. The plot is well crafted and presented in stages which adds depth and dimension to the story. Although all the threads are neatly tied together at the conclusion, it feels forced and contrived, as if the story simply ran out of steam and was hurriedly wrapped up. However, with Holden's exceptionally ability to craft compelling and complex characters I look forward to his next novel with great anticipation.

Approach this thin volume with caution: its spare prose and storybook opening (sweet college girl on a dream vacation to the art and architecture capitols of Europe) belie a den of figurative snakes. We learn very quickly that the trio portrayed here are duplicitous, cunning, and hungry takers. What makes them so interesting is that they are also naive, vulnerable, and a lot closer to our own humanity than their secrets and lies would have us believe (or comfortably contemplate). Holden is a new author to me and this twisting narrative, with its stunning trek across Europe and its surprising climax in Crete, its amoral characters, and its twisting, turning, and always surprising plotline, will ensure I read more of this author's work. Matala is the darkest of flowers, with a cloying scent that paradoxically attracts and repels. Highly recommended.

A celebration of pagan amoralism, Craig Holden's latest book isn't for readers in search of a novel with redeeming social qualities. It's steamy, sensual, explicit--definitely adult fare.

Darcy Arlen, 19, a spoiled American rich kid, is traveling on a whirlwind tour of Europe. One night, bored with the ancient ruins and dusty museums, she slips away from her hotel. On a bridge over the Tiber, Darcy meets Will, a young man who intrigues her with the possibility of exciting adventures.

Will introduces Darcy to Justine, an older woman with a domineering personality. Then a shady figure named Maurice entices the three into smuggling a mysterious package into Greece. This dangerous mission is complicated by deceit, betrayal, and sado-masochistic, dominant/submissive relationships.

Holden's erotic tale follows our menage a trois across Europe, from Rome, Venice, and Athens to the exotic environs of Matala, an ancient city on the southern coast of Crete.

If you enjoy a dark, brooding plot set in exotic locales, "Matala: A Novel of Deceit" may be your cup of tea. It's certainly a trip off the beaten path.

This novel may offend some readers and is therefore not recommended for a general audience.

Even though the cover description telegraphs one of the novels twists, the pacing, the characters and the subsequent spins make this another Holden novel in the nasty noir tradition. This is noir with the sex not only left in, but in your face. There is no wondering why the hapless male is obsessed with the femme fatale in Holden's noirs.

The noir tradition of pulp fiction was written with the idea of hooking the reader with page turning virtuosity. The hooks are placed early, the plotting is fast and the prose is smooth and usually, the books are short, somewhere between novella and novel length. Matala has all of these elements in place.

Will is a former college student who fell in with a woman twice his age in a bar one night and ended learning the art of the short con on a journey that covered first the United States and then expatriate Europe. But things have reached a nadir and Justine is disconnected and Will hasn't eaten in two days when he meets Darcy, a rich young girl on a package tour of the great European cities. Will and Justine immediately determine to fleece her to get out of their slump. But Darcy wants to be fleeced, wants to escape her tour, no matter what it costs her.

Thus begins a journey across Italy and Greece that ends in the village of Matala and sends all three players to a journey's end none expected. All this needs is a lurid, day-glow cover and a price tag proclaiming 50 cents and the reader is back in the mid-century pulp tradition. Recommended for an escapist afternoon.

I have now read every thing published by Craig Holden. This book, with its tight prose, tighter characters, and swirling plot, does not disappoint. Like all Holden books, it is not like the other ones before except in the need of each main character to find some redemptive innocence in the impossible circumstances in which Holden draws them.

Like all of his books, it is tough. There is no room for flinching. You can't look away. You can only hold on and wait.

Matala is a sharp, quick little novella, the type of story you can easily devour in a couple of hours. It's the story of a teenage girl on a whirlwind trip to Europe who falls in with a couple of grifters. The story really gets interesting when it turns out that the teen girl isn't as innocent as she seems.

While this was a nice read, I had a few complaints with it. First, why rush the story? The plot and characters could have been fleshed out to make this a true novel. I'm not sure why it wasn't, since novellas are awfully hard to publish these days. I was also disappointed by the lack of local color and flavor. The book starts out in Rome, then goes to Venice, and ends up in Greece. These are the settings authors dream of. There are so many opportunities for rich, detailed descriptions of these wonderful places. Instead, each city is given a scant sentence or two and the fascinating backdrop plays virtually no part in the story. With the main emphasis being on dialogue and character development, and with most of the scenes taking place indoors, this book could have taken place in Texas, or Florida, or Canada. One other problem that fits into the geographical theme; the book appears to take place in the present day, yet at one point the characters travel through Yugoslavia, which hasn't existed since 2003. Since the book was written in 2006 or 2007, this is a pretty big flaw.

If you ignore these points, Matala is a quick and interesting read filled with greed, lust, and mystery.

Strong characters, a tight plot, and very nice twist. What more can you ask for?

Thirty years as a psychotherapist taught me a lot, but only a few constants. One was that wherever you find sadism you will find masochism. Not something particularly original, both Freud and Hegal emphasized the ubiquity of sadomasochism in the human emotional repertoire: the master needs the slave and vice versa. Sadomasochism drives many relationships and is an ingredient of our love of horror stories and thrillers.

An illustration is Craig Holden's sixth novel, "Matala." Holden has been labeled a writer of "literary thrillers," a tag perhaps deserved for his first three novels (beautifully written police procedurals, one of which, "The River Sorrow," received glowing praise from Michael Ondaatji, one of our finest literary novelists). But with his fourth endeavor, "The Jazz Bird" (an historical novel about a murder in Ohio in the twenties), Holden moved in a more purely literary direction. Curiously enough, that move coincided with his interest in the protean shades of sadomasochism, where impulse and perversity dictate whether cat becomes mouse, or mouse becomes lion-tamer.

His next novel, "The Narcissist's Daughter," about a young man who, when his affair with his employer's wife ends badly, seduces her 17 year old daughter (an act of revenge that is avenged from the grave), established Holden as a master of the twist as well as an adept investigator of the human psyche. With "Matala," however, Holden catapults his exploration of sadomasochism into diabolical heights.
For a high school graduation present Darcey Arlen's parents have sent her to Italy. Bored and adventurous, she ventures alone into Rome only to encounter what she thinks is a familiar face from high school. "Call me Will," the young man says when she approaches him. We soon discover that 22 year old Will is one half of an international grifter team. The other half, Justine, an older woman with whom Will is having a torrid, maybe even incestuous, affair is an expert in the pleasure of pain. The tension is immense: The little lamb has wandered into the Wolves' den but, in Holden's hands, Darcey Arlen becomes the victim from hell. This little lamb likes her wolf with fava beans and a good Chianti.

This predator/prey relationship seesaws across Europe, from Rome to Venice, finally culminating in Matala, a village on Crete: a thrilling ride, but not only thrilling. The parallels with Durrell and De Sade, both of whom wrote novels entitled "Justine" that explored sadomasochism, are both obvious and pleasurable. So is Holden's literary technique: he allows the reader to live inside the psyche of his characters by presenting each chapter from a different point of view. When he wants to deliver an intimate portrait, he employs the first person, but in doing so, he exposes that character's vulnerabilities. When he wants to present a more reliable account, he writes in the third person. Holden's switching narrators and points of view is seamless: the novel folds in around itself like an expertly crafted literary quilt.
We keep reading "Matala" not only because we want to see the next twist in a plot full of twists, but because in Darcey, Will, and Justine, Holden has written three complex characters about whom we care deeply, even if ambivalently.

The ending is tricky. Some may find it abrupt, others, however, may decide that in ending the book as he does, Holden provides the reader with an experience close to that endured, engendered, feared, and perversely enjoyed by his characters.

Is "Matala" a thriller? It certainly is a page turner, but one whose tightly written 180 pages offers the reader an unforgettable literary experience. Please, Mr. Holden, give us more. It hurts so good!