It’s a murder plot that’s barely conceivable as a work of fiction, only that this crime-thriller is a real-life story and every bit as intriguing. It is a story that many in the Greek community will be familiar with already, and possibly fixated by. It is told through the eyes of the central character Chris Soteriou, a well-to-do Greek Cypriot, who incredibly survived a brutal stabbing at the hand of his wife’s lover.
Love you to Death takes us back to the night where events unfolded, at the popular Greek eatery Alpha Ouzeri on cosmopolitan Brunswick Street. It’s a Greek party with all the trimmings. Chris is celebrating his 44th birthday, a surprise gathering organised by his loving and seemingly attentive wife Vicky, who continually promises her unsuspecting husband this is the night he will get lucky. He is expecting a perfect end to his night, unaware he is stepping towards his planned murder.
He describes the moment he was confronted by his attacker, grabbed from behind by his jacket collar and brutally stabbed seven times, the attack beginning with a cold blade drawn across his throat, then several deep stab wounds to his chest and abdomen. The events are recounted as a surreal horror movie, only that Chris never expects to wake up. He then takes us through the moment where he was convinced he was about to slip away from consciousness forever and the warm voice of a stranger, a passing doctor, calling him back. And this is where his nightmare begins.
The book is a gripping read, and startling in detail, as chilling incidents of this morbid crime are revealed. It is literally a page-turner. Author Megan Norris does a remarkable job of navigating through the landscape of friends, family and neighbours all caught up in this tangled modern Greek tragedy and gives us an inside account of the once tightly held street community where Chris and Vicky and their twins lived in Watsonia North. It traverses through neighbourly BBQs, family arguments and the troubled relationship between Chris and his in-laws.
The neighbours also feature heavily as almost de-facto family members and some even become quite crucial to the police case, as one watchful neighbour in particular is able to provide police with photos, exact dates and times that Vicky’s lover Ari Dimitrakis was in the area, and his apparently strange stalking behaviour.
We are told that Vicky was obsessed with the psychological thriller Perfect Stranger the narrative which is centred on an extra-marital affair and murder plot, and she is depicted as a ruthless, avaricious professional housewife obsessed with her body and looks. Her parental skills are also questioned.
But it’s the courtroom melodrama which really brings the sordid details of this crime to life, and Megan Norris walks us through each scenario as the defence teams for Vicky Soteriou and Ari Dimitrakis run a compelling case that captured the attention of national media. The only thing missing from the storyline is hearing from Vicky herself. The only time we hear her side of the story is in the police interview and it appears there are few friends on the ground willing to speak on her behalf in the book.
The only friend mentioned in any detail is Katina Heaslip, who Vicky appears to have convinced at one point that Ari carried out the stabbing against Chris as an act of revenge. Needless to say, that friendship, like Vicky’s marriage, unravelled permanently once the truth was revealed about Vicky’s double life.
If you want the nitty-gritty details about this case, this book won’t disappoint you. I’ll be amazed if it doesn’t enrage you in parts. It’s sad and tragic and unfortunately it’s all too real.
*The story, to coincide with the book launch, was aired on Seven’s Sunday Night program.