••𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰••
The Siren by Katherine St. John
Pub Date: May 4, 2021

Thank you @netgalley and @grandcentralpub for my ARC in return for an honest review!

••𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬••
So let me start by saying I have not read The Lion's Den by @thekatstjohn so I went in pretty blindly as a new reader to her work. I loved all the elements this book was made up of. It felt like binge-watching a new series you just found out about and was left with never wanting it to end!

It gives you all the Caribbean vaca vibes but with a feel-good murder investigation, what is better than that?? And I say feel good for all of my crime junkies out there!

There are multiple POVs & timelines which when things shift around, turn & unravel boy does it ever deliver one heck of a downward satisfying spiral. It's more of a slow build with a ton of characters but you won't want to put it down and you will finish it pretty quickly!

This summer scandal took me by surprise and I absolutely loved it. It's the perfect beach read. I hope everyone picks this up on May 4th!!

Reading this book is like peeling an onion, so layered with plot twists that there isn’t s dull moment. This was a happy surprise for me as I moved deeper into the complex plot. None of the characters (except one) are presented in a superficial , hackneyed manner. The characters slowly morph into deeper, more likable people.

The group is assembled on Caribbean island to shoot a film. They have been gathered by the machinations of an evil predator. St. John has combined many recent stories to create a true villain. Slowly, the reader learns the backstories of each character, explaining why they are all there.

Bringing a sense of urgency to the novel is the impending hurricane, which pushes the plot along and engages the reader. This story moves quickly and is very readable.

Thank you Netgalley for this exciting novel.

The Siren features a bunch of shallow, self-absorbed movie stars and cast on a secluded Caribbean Island set.

There’s bikini romping, sandy sexy time, and then a hurricane that strands everyone in isolation with a killer. 😌
*dun dun duuuunnn*

This is a fun, beachy thriller - perfect for summer and sunbathing. If you enjoy watching reality TV but kinda always wish there was a surprise who-dunnit murder mystery twist involved in those shows, then this is the book for you.

It’s told from multiple perspectives and all comes together quite well in the end. It will have you flying through the pages as it nears the climax and big reveal.

Although this isn’t the usual type of book I go for, I found it wildly entertaining and hard to put down. Now I’m interested in getting the author’s previous beach read thriller, The Lion’s Den.

Thank you @netgalley for providing this delicious guilty pleasure read in exchange for an honest review.

If you love Hollywood drama tabloids with a side of mystery and scandal, be sure to get your copy when it hits the shelves on May 4th.

Trigger Warning: drug abuse, sexual assault, repulsive actors

Part of the reason this novel was fun for me is that it’s about the movie industry. For some reason I think all the behind-the-scenes stuff that goes into making a movie fascinating.

It’s told from the point of view of three different women and goes back and forth in time. Stella has been acting since she was a kid, but she had some substance abuse issues and a very public breakdown that utterly derailed her career and finances. Taylor is a young producer who got screwed over by men on her last job, so she really needs this movie, The Siren, to help her turn her career around. Felicity is Stella’s new assistant, who seems extremely helpful, but has some ulterior motives for her interest in Stella and her ex-husband, the huge movie star Cole Powers, who was the one who got Stella hired for this low-budget movie filmed in the Bahamas.

There is a little bit of romance to go with the mystery.

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book, which RELEASES MAY 4, 2021.

I reviewed this for Mystery Scene Magazine for their Summer Edition please refer to it for my complete review

Katherine St. John does it again!

If anyone feared that St. John would have a sophomore slump after her meteoric debut The Lion’s Den, you should be happy to know that that’s not the case with The Siren.

Weaving multiple POVs and multiple timelines, with the ticking timebomb of a threatening hurricane, the bulk of THE SIREN takes place on a movie set shooting in the Caribbean. Which means lots of sun, bikinis and sex. Oh, and murder.

This is a fantastic thriller and the climax moves at breakneck pace. I could not put it down once I hit those final 100 pages.

If anything, THE SIREN proves that Katherine St. John isn’t just a talented storyteller — she’s a master of the art.

Review also posted at: https://bonkersforthebooks.wordpress.com

Q: What do you get when you mix a bunch of people on a Caribbean island, scandals, secrets, sex, and an impending hurricane? A: A highly unputdownable and juicy “5-star stunner” of a thriller!

THE SETUP: Things on St. Genesius, a Caribbean island, are about to become much more exciting when a film crew arrives to shoot a major Hollywood film. Superstar Cole Powers owns the island. His son, Jackson, wrote the film and will be directing it. Cole is financing it, and may have his own reasons for doing so.

Add Stella Rivers to the mix. She’s Cole’s ex-wife, and once had a dazzling film career herself. After some very public mishaps and a problem with alcohol, she NEEDS this film to work so she can regain ground.

Throw in Felicity - Stella’s assistant (who may have secrets of her own), Madison - the young (ahem) “actress”/social media influencer who will be starring in the film with Cole and Stella, and Taylor - The film’s producer who has a couple secrets of her own.

As filming begins and a hurricane brews and moves towards the island, deep-seated secrets and deceptions are revealed, and scandals come to light that may cause more damage than the impending storm.

I loved this book from first word to last. Each character has a phenomenal backstory that just oozes with intrigue and tension. The use of three POVs works splendidly in keeping the tension moving from one person to the next. An interesting thing is that I guessed almost all of the twists. Part of me wonders if they were even supposed to be twists. Regardless, did that put a damper on my enjoyment? NOT ONE BIT.

Everything comes to a head in the last 20%, and there were plenty of surprises in store. I had no idea how everything would come together and wrap up, and I had an absolute blast.

It’s juicy, highly addictive escapism that also touches on some very darks subjects (TW: Rape, substance abuse). I loved author Katherine St. John’s debut, The Lion’s Den, and couldn’t wait to get my hands on this one. It did not disappoint. Highly recommended by moi.

Sincere thank you to Ivy at Grand Central Publishing, who graciously sent me an ARC.

This book is set to be published 5/4/21.

I loved The Lion’s Den so I was very excited and had hopes for The Siren by Katherine St. John. I liked this book, which was light and suspenseful. An engaging read, the pages flew as I got more into the story and loved the setting the cast. Its fun to get a glimpse of movie-making within the pages of this story.

Check it out:

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.

This book is like a frothy soap opera told from the perspectives of three characters, and I couldn’t put it down. It’s suspense and twisty but so much fun!

Coming out on May 4.