"...the plot of 'The Fiend of Athens' [O Demônio/Maníaco de Atenas]
concerned a mild-mannered Athenian accountant with horn-rimmed glasses
who is walking to work one morning when he sees his own picture on the
front page of a newspaper, with the headline FIEND OF ATHENS STILL AT
LARGE [Demônio/Maníaco de Atenas ainda à solta]. Athenians in the street
immediately start pointing at him and chasing him, and he's on the
brink of being apprehended when he's rescued by a gang of terrorists
or criminals who mistake him for their fiendish leader. The gang has a
bold plan to do something like blow up the Parthenon, and the hero keeps
trying to explain to them that he's just a mild-mannered accountant,
not the Fiend, but the gang is so counting on his help, and the rest of
the city is so intent on killing him, that there finally comes an
amazing moment when he whips off his glasses 'and becomes their fearless
leader' - the Fiend of Athens! He says, 'OK, men, this is how the plan
is going to work'."
Jonathan Franzen (1959-). Freedom (2010). New York: Picador, 2010, p. 121-2
