Scott Manson, acting manager of Premier League football club, London City, is back, following his appearance in Kerr's previous novel, 'January Window', in which he investigated the murder of his predecessor in that role.

In this return fixture, Manson's team find themselves playing in Greece against Olympiacos, battling to qualify for the riches offered by the European Champions' League. Kerr is probably best known for his series of novels featuring German private eye Bernie Gunther, set before, during and after the Second World War. Those books have received considerable critical acclaim, not least because of Kerr's attention to detail. Those close observational skills are present here, too, despite the vastly different context.

London City's visit to Athens is not a happy one. Even before they fly out to Greece, the team is brought down a peg or two following defeat in its first fixture in the Premiership by newly promoted Leicester City. If the book were just being published now, there would be nothing odd about that, as Leicester currently sit on top of the Premier League, though such an eventuality would have seemed utterly implausible a year ago when the book came out. [Sorry about that, but as a Leicester fan, who is still waiting for the bubble to burst, I couldn't resist emphasising that aspect!]

Right from arrival in Athens the team finds itself plagued with misfortune. There are tensions, both racial and religious. Within the team, and the players are met with waves of resentment from the fanatical Olympiacos fans. Kerr is sensitive to prevailing context here, and on the plane Manson lectures his players about the likely response of the austerity-ridden Greeks to any of the conspicuous expenditure so often associated with Premier League footballers. All that fades into relative insignificance, however, when London City's star striker suffers what appears to be a heart attack in the opening minutes of the game. This sparks a series of events that result in the whole team being detained in Athens, unable to return to London before various investigations can be completed, though these are hampered by the plethora of strikes and industrial action being taken by different elements of the Greek authorities.

Kerr has clearly done his research (I understand that he is an avid Arsenal fan), and he offers lots of observations about the game, both in England and in Greece. He also uses the opportunity to launch a few barbs at FIFA and UEFA, the worldwide and European administrative bodies, whose ludicrous attempts to whitewash the endemic corruption certainly merit any ridicule that might be launched at them.

This was faced paced and gripping, though I found it lacked the engagement of 'January Window' - part of the appeal of that book had been the fact that it was the first decent thriller set in the world of football that I had read. Now some of the novelty has gone. ( )