This is the book that can not win.

The first half is taken mostly by the family feuds and Christina's major love interests. Some of the friends and aquaintences that mean most to her, even though this period, are mere ghosts in this part of the book, mentioned like passing ships in the night. (pardon the pun)

In the second, it turns to her quest to fill the hole in her life and some of the crazy and outrageous things she did in the pursuit of her (understandably) mixed-up interpretation of sex and love; as what came over to me a result of her desire to be wanted and valued. Some of those ghosts do start to come a little more to the foreground, but I feel that other people who were important in her life, are relegated to very slim places. Given the recent nature of the events with regard to the publication date, this may have been necessary to win the co-operation of some of them.

The fickle finger of fate has decided that I have never set foot on Greek soil, but many years ago I spent a little time in some ex-pat Greek communities and; this is strange to tell, but I am a quarter Greek and it seems that once they know Greek blood is somewhere in your veins, a fresh degree of warmth appears from nowhere and I have been treated as if a long lost cousin by people who had never met me before. There are behaviours attributed to Greek people that are difficult to explain, but nevertheless hold a solid ring of truth; like some men holding to their mothers, etc. I can also confirm that Greek blood, even when watered down a little, can still be quite unstable. It is liable to volatile explosion and after-burn at such a furious rate, that few would believe until they had seen it for themselves.

The result of my personal experiences, is that what is written here of Onassis and the family rings true. I believe every word of what Wright has written. Wright has done a superb job of taking the various accounts of the people with whom he talked, and the research he had to undertake, and turned all that in to a flowing story. Perhaps one of the saddest ever to be told. He has included enough statement of doubt, where conflict exists in the research, to make me believe him when he has written with surety.

Those that stand the most to benefit from reading this, are the one percent. It is a stark demonstration that we are not invulnerable, that you can not buy love and that if immortality is the goal, then the closest that can be achieved is to do the right thing by society. It is the names of those that sacrificed, who society and the history books will remember most keenly and favourably. For those who use their wealth to fund an extravagant lifestyle; a book such as this, awaits their memory.

It was a hard book for me to read; both from the wanton extravagances and wastefulness on the part of Christina, and also the predatory, ruthless way that she and her fortune were taken advantage of. This account does serve as a haunting, harrowing tale of all the pain that money can, indeed, buy. There were references in there like being, "bearded," and, "in his cups," which I had to look up, but mostly the book was very accessible.

The story itself has not ended, as her daughter is making her own splash. I have read it reported, that there is a legal argument and wrangling over the ownership of Skorpios and also a battle for the trust half of the Onassis estate; although for various reasons this likely does not make the press in anywhere near the quantities that Christina's exploits ever did, even if those reports are true.

I found the book a heavy read, more for the subject matter than the writing style; with a light sprinkling of terms that I feel belong to an era decades earlier than the 1991 publishing date. It also felt that much was missing; but that if it were fleshed out to account for all the important people who would justly hold a position within its pages, then it might become the envy of many a boat anchor.

Wright has nevertheless appeared to have done diligent and no doubt politically difficult work, in bringing this story to paper. ( )