I WOULD really like to be able to hate Tara Moss. The former model, is not only beautiful, but has also destroyed the 'all models are dumb' adage by becoming an excellent author.
The Australian-Canadian has already published four successful novels, and now, the release of Siren brings the public another polished action thriller with beloved character, Mak Vanderwall.
Moss, according to her press release, does all her research herself, including being set on fire by a special effects company, being choked unconscious and even going so far as to earn her Private Investigator licence.
All things which must have come in handy when writing Siren. Her character, Mak, is somewhat auto-biographical. Mak is also a former model, who is half Canadian and half Australian, has brains and has moved on to a new, more interesting, career. And they both ride motorcycles, of course.
In Siren, the story begun in previous novels – Fetish, Split, Covet and Hit – continues as Mak returns to Sydney after an abortive attempt to settle down with her, now former, lover.
Setting these novels in Australia, could have been a bad decision. After all, the English-language reading public is generally from north America and the United Kingdom. It's a simple question of numbers.
Still, the Australiana of Siren adds an exoticism to what could have been a more run of the mill cops 'n' robbers thriller if set in the US or the UK.
What may be lacking in familiarity is made up for in action and the assumption of general themes – the rich and powerful are all bastards, no matter where they come from and the 'little guy' is always lucky to escape with his life.
So, Mak returns to Sydney with unfinished business between herself and the powerful Cavanagh family, the ones who set a hitman on her the last time she was by the sea.
But she's actually there to track down a missing boy. Although 19 and clearly independent, his widowed mother has hired Mak to track him down. A job that Mak feels a little conflicted about.
And so the reader is taken on a ride as Mak tries to find the boy, who may or may not, have left voluntarily and who may or may not have run away to join the circus.
Moss includes some interesting European theatre history in Siren with the return of the historical Grand Guignol 'Theatre of Fear' which has been resurrected in France and is touring Australia.
Siren is actually a book of many strands. There's the on-going story of Mak, her loves and fears, her tendency to get into trouble and her on-again, off-again lovers.
There is the story of the missing boy; the members of the theatre group and their own oddly sinister history. And weaving through it all is the story of the hitman – what is going on with Luther Hand?
Luckily Moss is a good, solid writer. The reader does not become confused by the various strands of the story; Siren's plot holds together surprisingly well, despite the multiple story lines.
There is enough action in Siren to justify calling it a thriller, yet the development of Mak as a character pulls the book out of the 'airport novel' realm that it could so easily have fallen into.
You do not have to have read the previous novels – enough back story is sprinkled through Siren to keep the reader in the loop – however, if you haven't, why not start at the beginning and read them all?
So, I would love to hate Moss; beautiful, clever and clearly a decent writer. Oh well, I'll just have to suffer from the green-eyed demon and wait for the next novel. Hopefully that one will be rubbish.
Siren by Tara Moss is published by Harper Collins and is available from good book stores and online.