Sirens
A Novel
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4.0 • 25 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
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 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?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
British author Knox's impressive debut plunges the reader into the darkest corners of Manchester's druggy club scene. When David Rossiter, a powerful politician, seeks help tracking down his wayward 17-year-old daughter, Isabelle, now in the orbit of drug kingpin Zain Carver, the police brass select Det. Aidan Waits, a disgraced undercover officer caught tampering with evidence, as the man for the job. Waits must go after Carver and the corrupt officers who keep him in business with little support and only the merest hope of professional and personal redemption. Waits's youth makes his being so hard-boiled a bit implausible, but Knox sets a dizzying pace and convincingly evokes the murky, unbalanced atmosphere of an empire built around drugs and money with vivid prose. As Waits, himself a drug user, peels back the layers of old cases and past loyalties, the stakes rise for him and several young women in the middle of Manchester's nightlife maelstrom. The hard-hitting action builds to a bleak, wrenching conclusion because, of course, not everyone can be saved. Agents: Antony Topping and Dan Lazar, Writers House.
Customer Reviews
UK Noir At Its Finest
A book with sections named after old Joy Division albums couldn’t be anything but gritty, after all the post-punk group’s most famous song is titled ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’. I just wasn’t expecting Sirens by Joseph Knox to be such an unrelenting, riveting tale, full of flawed characters, including the main guy Aiden Waits, a troubled police detective on an undercover job investigating a drug lord, Zain Carver. His case becomes more tense and complicated when asked to keep his eye on the teenage daughter of a prominent politician who has come under Carver’s sway. This is UK Noir at its finest, dark and real, with some of the most finely drawn and unforgettable characters, especially Bug. I couldn’t stop thinking about this book. I gave it a 5, however given some of the bleak realizations, I know this book is not for everyone.