I have been waiting for the sequel to The Amulet for what seems like a long time now. It was well worth the wait although I liked The Sirens so much I zipped through it in one day, and now I'm waiting for the next one again! The Sirens lists for $12.99 and is undiscounted on Amazon, although it is available for free shipping if you order > $25 worth of stuff (Easy enough to do! Just order The Amulet, which was a smashing good read). Publisher is Black Death Books; it is a high quality trade paperback with no editing flaws; no typos caught my eye. The excellent cover art is only credited to KHP Studios. Page count was 240 with text starting on page 5, pretty generous for the genre.

For those unlucky sods who missed the first novel, Derek Adams lives and works as a private investigator (and drinks and has the occasional punch up) in the seamy areas of Glasgow. He tried his hand as a newspaperman for a few weeks after the events in The Amulet, but is now back to doing what he does best. You don't need to read The Amulet to enjoy this book, although it helps, as events which are only alluded to are still having emotional repercussions for the characters weeks later. Derek has just hired his best mate, Doug, as a computer researcher and gets a new and potentially lucrative client. Jessoe Malcom is an elderly woman, just widowed, and is now using her maiden name again. She want Derek to go to Skye to track down her son, John Mason, who she wants to be at the funeral. Being a yank, I had to look all this up. Skye is in the Hebrides, and is the second largest island in all of Scotland, west and north of Glasgow (and not far from Norway, Iceland and Skalbard, important for reasons that become clear only later in the novel. Skye was under Norse rule for about 300 years, up to the mid 1200s, so many people there probably have Viking antecedents...or other antecendents...). Apparently John had a modestly successful professional career and chucked it all to move to Skye. On the way to Skye, Derek picks up an old acquaintence, reporter Jim Morton, who is investigating some weird happenings rumored about the locale. Derek tries to start nosing about an inn called the Auld Kelpie but is given a distinctly chilly reception. It turns out the three locals there are also Masons, John's cousins and the barmaid Irene is the wife of one of the cousins. Something distinctly odd is going on, and it seems that the pub was well named. Without giving too much away, John was called by a Kelpie to sire her children and is under her spell. He wants to go to the funeral in Glasgow, and Irene wants to help him, but the three cousins are keeping him close to the pub with force and booze. Derek manages to smuggle him out. Alas maybe he should have thought about the changeling from the sea and what strange power she holds over John. As the excitement really gets going we meet two Glasgow police officers, Jock McCall, who has the size and temper of an ape, and Betty Mulholland, his partner. When events spin out of control we also meet a nameless janitor who happens to have a glass eye and a trenchant sense of humor. It seems there is a curse on the Mason family that may date back to ancient Norse times...

I really enjoyed this book. I have had mixed feelings about some of Mr. Meikle's work. I did not like Island Life much at all, and The Havenhome from High Seas Chtulhu did nothing for me. On the other hand, The Amulet was a terrific success. The Sirens is a worthy successor and has me hooked on to the Midnight Eye Files for the duration. Compared to The Amulet I found the plot a bit more scattershot, mostly filler in Glasgow between the critically important parts in Skye. There was a lot of back story delivered in flashbacks, maybe too many times. And you know what? I didn't care a bit! It was so well written, the characters were so completely realized and the dialogue so good with so much snap, I just sat back and enjoyed the ride. Again I was completely won over, and Mr. Meikle's familiarity with the nether reaches of Glasgow made it all come to life vividly. Action scenes were breathless, there was not a hint of sentimentality and the pain suffered by everyone was fully believable. Best of all was the Norse background, which gradually and compellingly unfolded through the course of the story. This matches the best uses of old Norse myths in any novel I'm familiar with. I have fondness for The Roaring Trumpet of Fletcher Pratt and L. Sprague deCamp, and of course I really liked American Gods by Neil Gaimen; The Sirens stands proudly alongside these books. One obvious association is presented with delightful understatement by Mr. Meikle; I'll say no more for fear of spoiling the book for you. For mythos fans there is a very brief mention of the Necronomicon, at least making me hope Derek Adams will again wander back into my favorite genre at some point.

There is nothing not to like in The Sirens; it is well worth a read for fans of occult detectives and mythology influenced fiction everywhere, and for people who just want a good book to get lost in for a few hours. More please, Mr. Meikle. Maybe I'd better read The Watchers Trilogy. ( )