Strangers in company (by Jane Aiken Hodge)

(Amazon UK link)

I’ve been reading some of my books by Jane Aiken Hodge over the past few months. She wrote some historical novels, which were very well researched (if a tad too political for my tastes, at times). She also wrote some contemporary fiction, mostly light thrillers. One of this latter category is ‘Strangers in company’ which I last read in 2008. Unsurprisingly, I couldn’t remember anything about it. 

Marian Frenche is the main character in this book. It was published in the mid-1970s, so that’s the era in which it’s set. Marian, who is in her late thirties, has taken on an unusual job: she’s going to be chaperoning a young woman called Stella on a Greek coach tour. She’s paid very well for this, and she needs the money: her eighteen-year-old twins have left home, travelling to live with their father in the United States. And his financial support has stopped. 

I’m not quite sure why so much is made of the twins and the fact that their father is quite famous: other than missing them desperately at times, they don’t have much relevance to the plot, and we never meet them. But their absence sets the scene for an intelligent motherly woman who needs a job and is willing to try almost anything. Stella is known to be moody, and Marian is told not to let her get too close to any other members of their tour party.

Much of the story takes place in Greece, in hotels and on the coach. Inevitably they do get to know several members of the group, which is led by a rather worried man called David. He has taken on the responsibility at the last minute; he is quite knowledgeable, but has no experience of being a tour coordinator. There’s a local guide called Mike who is charming and regularly talks about Greek myths and history, but strictly avoids politics. 

Marian sometimes feels as if she’s being watched, but she mostly brushes it off as paranoia. Her doctor thought she was being silly, and prescribed tranquilisers to help her sleep. And while this sense of being watched could have felt a bit tense, I found it quite hard to relate to anyone in the novel. I thought Marian probably was being watched, but was pretty sure she would be all right in the end…

The coach party appears to be somewhat cursed with bad luck.  Going through a cave, one of the women falls and can’t be saved. There are rock-falls around Marian when she’s out with others, and a couple of near tragedies as well as another person losing their life. But the tour has to go on, although Marian begins to wonder whether she is in fact being targetted. She doesn’t have any rational idea about why that might be the case, however.

Meanwhile she’s become quite friendly with a classics professor who can tell plenty of stories about Greek legends and heroes. He seems a likeable person. But by about half-way through the book it’s hard to know who can and can’t be trusted. Most of the tour group are somewhat caricatured. They include: a short-sighted and clinging mother with a 16-year-old son who longs to have some freedom; several young teachers; two middle-aged spinsters who keep insisting they have separate rooms; a honeymoon couple who seem to be very mismatched.

It’s quite a cleverly written story, and the eventual denouement is quite surprising - I don’t think there were any hints that could have suggested what was coming. And even when Marian learns what’s been happening, she still doesn’t know who (if anyone) she can trust.  The writing is good and the pace just right to keep my interest. 

There's an action-packed finale with more surprises and revelations, and it all ends quite neatly, if a tad abruptly. There’s even a low-key romantic thread alongside the tension. I quite enjoyed reading it again, but expect that in another decade or so I will have completely forgotten it again.

Recommended if you like this kind of 1970s light thriller.

Review copyright 2026 Sue's Book Reviews