Temenos Siren_s

Young Sirena was physically abused by her father and sexually exploited by her boyfriend. When she refused to make more pornos she was heartlessly abandoned.

Alone in the world and with not much to be proud of, she fixates on her high school project: the polished and mounted bones of a frog she had dissected in class. The remains of this unfortunate creature were transformed by her own skill into something that would always remain exactly as she fashioned it, and could never, ever hurt her or leave her.

Years pass. Sirena becomes a stripper and currently plies her trade at Silky Femmes, a low-class dive (one of many on the strip).

The author, Mary Ann Mitchell, skillfully weaves our attention into the daily routines that comprise Sirena's world and awakens our interest in the human drama that unfolds around her. Despite the living hell these characters inhabit, they remain real people who we may not exactly identify with but can certainly understand:

Silk, the short, sleazy and obese owner of the strip-club that bears his name, a greedy opportunist.

Ross, the ex-con who nurses a secret love for Sirena. He's everyone's big brother in Silky Femmes. For his own dark reasons he wants to stay out of trouble (and out of sight).

Chrissie, Silk's aging girlfriend who is slowly losing her charms and may soon lose her place in his affection.

Trayce, who wandered into Silk's when she had nowhere else to go and somehow never left.

Beau, the pot-smoking bouncer who is much more than he seems.

Esmeralda, who has just recently come of age...

Sirena hunts and is hunted in turn. She transforms those who would treat her like an object into useful one-of-a-kind household objects for her bungalo by the beach. Bedframes, tables, chairs... all made from the bones of those who've spilled their seed into Sirena.

On her trail, a quirky private eye and a corrupt cop with a sex addiction. Sirena's private tragedy threatens to engulf her world and all in it.

And know, O reader that some evils are untouched by death, and souls trapped in Hell are still capable of redemption...

Siren's Call is and isn't a timeless mythic tale. It is and isn't a book about a supernatural terror that must be destroyed. It is and isn't a dark fantasy. Mary Ann Mitchell's book is a story about fallible people making the best decisions they can in a dark and dreary world that's only a short drive away from anywhere we live. It is the dark journey into this reality that makes this book truly worth reading, and heeding. For the demons and drives that plague the protagonists in Siren's Call remind us of their very real presence whenever we flip open a newspaper or turn on the TV.

Review by Hercules Invictus