What Song the Sirens Sang, by Simon R. Green (Severn House)
Simon R. Green’s supernatural mysteries and adventures are
always a delight, and What Song the Sirens Sang proves a worthy addition
to the adventures of legendary master thief Gideon Sable. Actually, Gideon Sable
isn’t a person, it’s an office that has been taken over (AKA stolen) by a
nameless and infinitely resourceful narrator.
“The original Gideon Sable was a legendary master thief, who
specialized in stealing the kind of things that others couldn’t. Like a ghost’s
clothes, a photo of the true love you never found and jewels from the crown of
the man who would be king.”
At the end of the last episode, Gideon and his
partner-in-crime sweetheart, chameleon Annie Anybody, have defeated the most
evil man in the world with the help of their team, have acquired (i.e., gotten
coerced into taking on) the truly bizarre magical shop known as Old Harry's
Place, and have set about replenishing its contents in the forlorn hope that
once everything is up and running, they’ll get to enjoy lives of their own. One
of the articles of merchandise that arrives on their doorstop is a small stone
from the cavern of the sirens (as in “the” sirens from The Odyssey). The
last song of the sirens, said to drive whoever hears it to insanity, still
resonates in the stone, making it as unique and valuable as it is deadly. All
that remains is for someone to figure out how to unlock the song.
Before Gideon and Annie can properly secure the stone, it
goes missing and they’re off to gather up another team and track it down. Their
team begins with their old ally, The Damned, a man who killed two angels (one
from Above, one from Below) and fashioned their halos into armor. Now he joins
Gideon and Annie in search of his kidnapped wife, switch artist par excellence,
who is now in the clutches of the stone collector, a shadowy figure named
Coldheart. They’re joined by a lady werewolf with an unerring tracker sense and
an unexpected crush on The Damned.
As in earlier Gideon Sable supernatural heist thrillers,
nothing is as it seems and nobody can be entirely trusted (except Annie, who
isn’t Nobody, she’s Anybody). The prose is delicious, the characters terrifying
but lovable, and the “long con” disguised as a plot has so many twists and
turns, it’s auditioning for a Los Angeles highway.
Prepare to be vastly entertained, but beware: the series is
addictive.
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