A riveting thriller about a damaged undercover detective navigating a web of politicians, drug lords, missing persons, and his own flawed department, perfect for readers of Tana French, Don Winslow and Dennis Lehane. Infiltrating the inner circle of enigmatic criminal Zain Carver is dangerous enough. Pulling it off while also rescuing Isabelle Rossiter, a runaway politician’s daughter, from … politician’s daughter, from Zain’s influence? Impossible. That’s why Aidan Waits is the perfect man for the job. Disgraced, emotionally damaged, and despised by his superiors. In other words, completely expendable.
But Aidan is a born survivor. And as he works his way deep into Zain’s shadowy world, he finds that nothing is as it seems. Zain is a mesmerizing, Gatsby-esque figure who lures young women into his orbit—women who have a bad habit of turning up dead. But is Zain really responsible? And will Isabelle be next?
Before long, Aidan finds himself in over his head, cut loose by his superiors, and dangerously attracted to the wrong woman. How can he save the girl if he can’t even save himself?
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Razor-sharp urban noir…very special indeed.
Predictable
Not much of a book. Don’t recommend!
This book kept me on the edge of my seat and I couldn’t wait to see what new wrinkle he’d come up with but I didn’t want it to end either. Now to read more of his books! Great writing, interesting characters and a terrific anti-hero in Aidan.
Waste of my reading time and $
Down and out cop goes down, down down!
Knox does a swell job creating loathsome alleys just askew of the designer-lit party pads peopled by pretty-young-things in thrall to the shady but sexy, druggy but dreamy misanthropes famous for luring daughters away from their daddies.
He writes a damn sight better than *that* line as well!
Sirens is a nice tight romp through the underbelly that surely exists and occurs on the regular across all social and economic strata wherever one finds those who want to ‘get away’ stumbling into predators only too happy to provide the pathway.
Knox excels in making the honeytrap visible from both sides down while unpeeling every layer of the sinister rot in a page-burning fury that twists a hairpin mangle before leaving one gasping.
Sirens, a tale of a disgraced detective, leads us much further into the underground world than most would want to go. In that respect, Sirens was fascinating. However, the characters weren’t very likeable – my favorite character most of the book was the villain. That turned out to be misguided.
Although I enjoyed Sirens overall, I would only give three stars. It took awhile to capture my attention. There were some unique characters, which was greatly appreciated – such as Bug, who likes colorful wigs, scaring people, and ruining lives. The reader never really knew what Bug would do next. It kept things interesting.
Detective Waits himself was … aggravating. He kept doing stupid things and then being surprised by the consequences. Waits was always lying about something, it seemed, and I just wanted to reach through the pages and smack some sense into him.
The plot was well done but seemed sort of unfinished. There wasn’t a cliffhanger or anything, but more information would have been nice. I can’t give examples without spoilers, but I wanted to know what happened to the various characters instead of simply hearing that they were never seen again.
I would recommend this book to those who are fascinated with the underground.
Disclaimer: I received this book for free from Blogging for Books in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.
This debut novel by Joseph Knox had the potential to be a gritty and gripping crime thriller complete with an anti-hero and criminal underground, which is what drew me to in the beginning. The story is dark and full of police corruption, drugs, and danger. All of this combined should have made for a hard to put down tale that kept the pages turning. Sadly, that was not the case for this reader. The story does have a noir feel and there are numerous colorful characters introduced, which could have garnered interest if not for the drawn out pacing. The chapters are very short – as in one or two pages each – and many of them end quite abruptly, which felt more distracting than anything else. Some chapters were devoted solely to setting a scene with the next chapter getting on with whatever was happening in the story. While these short chapters do give the impression of making progress, there are over one hundred of them, and for me, the end of a chapter was just one more excuse to set this one aside for later. The author does have talent for setting a scene, so much so that Aiden Waits could very well work wonderfully on film, but the book just didn’t work for me. I prefer my thrillers to have that edge of your seat, what’s gonna happen next element and that was missing here. So, try as I might, I was never able to become engaged with any of the characters or the story as a whole. Technically, there is absolutely nothing wrong with the writing, the words are all there, but for whatever reason, those words didn’t make me feel. Whatever that something is that makes a reader care about the characters and their lives is missing here and without that, it’s just a whole lot of words on paper.
Sirens | Literary noir at its best.
Sirens by Joseph Knox is a wonder, finely created and highly satisfying.
Hard-boiled police detective Aiden Waits takes the architype to new lows by unapologetically revealing his many self-destructive flaws which include booze, drugs, femmes fatales, and a propensity for violence. The first-person point of view drills into his cynical psyche with such depth, clarity, and devastating honesty that readers may find themselves identifying with Waits, being Waits.
Whispers from his past and hints at lingering guilt may be the keys to understanding Waits, his drives, his motives, his morals. Orphaned as a child, he made a loving sacrifice that haunts him, hinting that the motive behind his urge to save “fallen women” may be an unconscious quest for redemption.
As a police officer, Waits worked the night shift. Mixing with the denizens of darkness on a regular basis over many years might very well cause a blurring of boundaries, a desensitization to unhealthy behavior, which in this case, makes Waits the perfect person to delve into the night on a secret, treacherous task from which he may never return.
When Waites lets his unbending code of justice force him to remove evidence from police custody, he is caught. With the threat of serious punitive action directed against him, he is forced to consider a dangerous undercover operation. He accepts the task and dives into a universe of violence and corruption.
Waits must rescue Isabelle Rossiter, daughter of a high-placed politician. She has run away from home and is consorting with a powerful drug lord, Zain Carver. Waits manages to worm his way into Carver’s orbit.
Knox creates a dark, perverse world cursed with the ubiquitous elements that drag down the weak and unfortunate in every citiy, in every country. The story takes place in Manchester, England, but the author leaves out just enough detail to make the readers believe that the story might take place in their very own city.
The plot is an original, complex maze of twists and turns, a landmine, confounded with clues, deceptions, and red herrings that compete to prevent Waits from completing his mission. It moves forward relentlessly, and near the end, Knox jacks it up to a break-neck speed. True to the nature of the genre, characters are murdered, poisoned, or disappear. However, Waits persists. He takes beatings, breaks bones, gets dragged to interrogation in handcuffs. However, he persists. He’s on a mission, and he would rather die than deny his code of ethics or delete his sense of humor.
The characters are real, gritty, vicious, secretive, deceptive, and just what it takes to populate the dangerous side of town. They are clearly drawn and true to their station in life. The police are no better. They are just as corrupt as the drug dealers.
Perhaps the most notable element of Sirens is the author’s masterful use of language, his delicious prose, exquisite detail. He is all show and no tell. His brilliant use of metaphors and his sensitive depictions of the sad lives of people who have lost their way, seduced by addiction, money, and sin.
It is obvious that Knox took great time and care when writing this marvelous novel. It’s the only way to create perfection.
Take a tour of the wild side and experience the dark underbelly of the city. Let Waits be your eyes and ears. You will not be sorry.
Readers will no doubt lust after a sequel in hopes of seeing Waits face his own demons and come to terms with his past.
Sirens is a highly recommended read.