Short Book Reviews: Stealing a Human/Alien Hybrid Ghost

 Not of This World, by Simon R. Green (Severn House)

Gideon Sable--master thief, con artist, and self-proclaimed vigilante--faces a challenge he can't resist: to break into the British Area 51 and steal a ghost. Not just any ghost, but a hybrid between a human astronaut and an alien utterly bent on destruction. Although Gideon suspects the motives and veracity of his would-be client, he gathers his crew, lured with the promise of being able to walk off with whatever ultra-secret, ultra-valuable gadgets they can lay their hands on. His crew includes The Damned, armored by the haloes of two dead angels; Switch-It Sally, who can switch out just about anything; a werewolf; and Annie Anybody, capable of fully embodying an array of personas (in this case, Melody Mead, Girl Adventurer). Of course, nothing goes as planned, and this volume is, like its predecessors, jam-packed with plot twists, treachery, and revelations.

Gideon and his crew have come a long way since he first convinced them to join up with him, progressing through suspicion and animosity to grudging respect and, now, the bonds of family. In the last episode, The Damned and Switch-It Sally not only fell in love but also informally adopted the young werewolf. Gideon himself has gone from being a nameless man who inherited a legend to the emotional glue and super-planner brains holding it all together. In this sense, the book is as much about loyalty and family as it is about the present adventure. This gives a supernatural spy/con-man romp satisfying depth. I hope there will be many more books in the series.

Short Book Reviews: A Legendary Master Thief on the Trail of the Sirens' Stone

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.