The Book:
The Siren by Katherine St. John
Published May 4, 2021 by Grand Central Publishing
Date read:
The Characters:
Taylor
Felicity
Stella
Buy it on Bookshop.org | Amazon
The Plot (from Goodreads):
In the midst of a sizzling hot summer, some of Hollywood’s most notorious faces are assembled on the idyllic Caribbean island of St. Genesius to film The Siren, starring dangerously handsome megastar Cole Power playing opposite his ex-wife, Stella Rivers. The surefire blockbuster promises to entice audiences with its sultry storyline and intimately connected cast.
Three very different women arrive on set, each with her own motive. Stella, an infamously unstable actress, is struggling to reclaim the career she lost in the wake of multiple, very public breakdowns. Taylor, a fledgling producer, is anxious to work on a film she hopes will turn her career around after her last job ended in scandal. And Felicity, Stella’s mysterious new assistant, harbors designs of her own that threaten to upend everyone’s plans.
With a hurricane brewing offshore, each woman finds herself trapped on the island, united against a common enemy. But as deceptions come to light, misplaced trust may prove more perilous than the storm itself.
The Twist:
Felicity’s mother Iris was killed by Cole and Stella. Felicity was there that night, but doesn’t know exactly what happened. She just knows that Cole was paying Iris to sleep with him. She’s made it her life’s mission to find out, and finagled her way onto the set to get the truth out of Cole, Stella, or Jackson.
Iris and Stella were lovers, behind Cole’s back. They were working on a plan to get him to leave Stella without Stella getting hurt in the process.
Stella confesses to Felicity that she used to love Iris, and that she had come home to find her unconscious from heroin.
Felicity tells Jackson who she really is, and he tells her what he remembers about her mom. He isn’t mad at her for lying.
The Ending:
Jackson and Felicity kill Cole and make it look like he died in the hurricane. Felicity, Stella, and Taylor all cover for each other and become close friends.
The Review:
Thank you to Grand Central Publishing for this gifted copy of The Siren.
This was my first novel by Katherine St. John, but I know I need to get my hands on The Lion’s Den asap! The Siren is a cross between a sunny vacation read and a dark thriller, and I loved it. The setting transformed perfectly with the plot, going from dream Caribbean island to a raging hurricane.
The book opens on a movie set, and we see a lot of the behind-the-scenes of filming the movie as the plot of the book is set up. I thought this was a really interesting setting, and it made even the “slow” parts of the book fly by.
The author did an incredible job of making me side with initially unlikeable characters. In the beginning, Stella is a high maintenance movie star and Felicity is clearly a dubious character, both somewhat unlikable. By the end of the book, I absolutely loved all the women (except Madison) and how they came together to support each other.
I thought the tabloid articles inserted throughout the story did a great job of emphasizing the plot and giving the public’s perception of the characters, and served as the perfect epilogue.
Overall, this is a perfect summer thriller that definitely needs to make its way into your beach bag!
1 Comment