I’m a fan of Green’s writing. See my reviews of his Ishmael Jones series, featuring an alien dark ops agent and his alluring sidekick, Penny, in Buried Memories, The Dark Side of the Road, Very Important Corpses, Death Shall Come, Into the Thinnest of Air, Murder in the Dark, Till Sudden Death Do Us Part, Night Train to Murder, The House on Widow’s Hill and his paranormal James Bond hero in The Man With the Golden Torc. I also thoroughly enjoyed the first two books in this fantasy heist series, The Best Thing You Can Steal and A Matter of Death and Life– so I was delighted when this offering appeared on the Netgalley dashboard.
BLURB: You can find everything you’ve ever dreamed of in the strange, old magical shop known as Old Harry’s Place. The problem is, not all dreams are kind. Gideon Sable – legendary master thief, conman and well-dressed rogue – and his partner in crime Annie Anybody don’t want to be shopkeepers, but when the enigmatic Harry decides to retire, he blackmails the pair into taking the store on.
Before the grand reopening can happen, however, a menacing stranger arrives – with a rare and deadly item for them to appraise. A small piece of rock, with an unnerving aura, which ‘Smith’ claims contains the last echoes of the legendary sirens’ song. Before they can find out more, however, Smith vanishes . . . leaving only the stone. Some valuables are more trouble than they’re worth. But before Gideon and Annie can work out if they’ve been set up, the stone is stolen from its impregnable hiding place. How? And why? Gideon only knows one thing for certain: no one steals from him and gets away with it . . .
REVIEW: This paranormal heist adventure can be read as a standalone, as Green ensures his readers aren’t left floundering – but in order to be fully invested in the characters, I’d advise that you read the two previous before diving into this one. I’m a solid fan of this author, because despite writing a rather dark world full of bloodshed and violence, there is always a humorous quirkiness to the tone that ensures that said darkness never becomes overwhelming or too bleak. And given that a great deal of SFF is on the darker side, I’ve found Green’s lighter touch immensely attractive over the years.
His tendency to humour doesn’t prevent Green from delivering yet another twisty, action-packed adventure where our plucky protagonists are flung (literally, courtesy of a magical mirror) into a highly dangerous situation. I am very fond of Gideon and Annie Anybody, so once more found the pages turning more or less by themselves as they find themselves confronted by a satisfyingly obnoxious antagonist, who has the capability to do them real harm. The denouement brings the adventure to a pleasing close – although I’m not sure that ‘happily ever after’ is on the cards for everyone in Gideon’s team. There is a new addition to the gang who I think is going to wreak havoc to their rather fragile dynamic – and I’m waiting for the next book in this entertaining series to see if I’m right! Highly recommended for fans of paranormal heist adventures that don’t take themselves so seriously that you give up the will to live halfway through. While I obtained an arc of What Song the Sirens Sang from the publishers via Netgalley, the opinions I have expressed are unbiased and my own.
9/10
Brainfluff 