Title: A Siren’s Call
Author: Tim B Wolfe
Publisher: Author Reputation Press
ISBN: 13 979-8885148061
Pages: 317
Genre: Fiction
Reviewed by: Dan MacIntosh
Hollywood Book Reviews
Tim Wolfe’s novel, A Siren’s Call, is primarily about the power of love. Love can overcome nearly every obstacle. Furthermore, when two people are meant for each other, nothing can stop them from partnering together. Sure, it’s a crime story, but we learn from this tale how even criminals have hearts with strong romantic sides.
The love story centers around Daniel and an inexperienced lover who is smart, talented and innocent, and Tess, who has been a thief for most of her life. You wouldn’t expect people with such differing backgrounds and lifestyles to find common ground together but love often has its own agenda. These two meet when Tess seduces Daniel in order to distract him from a crime she and her sister Tanya are engaged in at the museum where Daniel works as a security guard. This encounter creates a lusty fire which cannot be extinguished.
Wolfe does a good job balancing the book’s love story (and sex story, to be more specific) with the action of various characters’ criminal pursuits. He also does well in exploring these characters’ inner conflicts. Daniel, who has always done the right thing, gives Tess more liberty and access to his job site than he ought to have, while Tess finds herself falling in love with someone who should only have been her ‘mark’ in a scheme, but turns out to be so much more.
Both Daniel and Tess also must overcome hurts and hangups from their pasts in order to make their relationship work. Tess has more baggage than Daniel, but both grow emotionally as the story goes on. Tess must overcome the recent loss of her mother, as well as the guilt over her chosen lifestyle in order to fully give herself to Daniel. Daniel, on the other hand, must come to grips with believing such a hot girl actually likes him, and eventually, loves him. He must also accept he can learn to be a good lover to the more experienced lover in Tess, when he has little to no romantic experience himself. They each come from different sides of that romantic spectrum, but still find a way to make it work in the beautiful middle.
For Tess, Daniel is the true love she’s been waiting her whole life to meet. As a lifetime criminal, where the people in her ‘business’ have learned to never trust anyone, finding someone she can both love and trust is a bit of an eye-opener for Tess. This is a big, strange trip for her to take. Of course, she must also admit to Daniel what she does for a living, which is a huge act of seeking trust. Will he still love and accept her, even when he learns that she steals from rich people for a living? Then again, Daniel is left to wonder if Tess will be patient with Daniel while he fumbles around in the bedroom.
There is plenty of action in this book, which will keep the reader engaged. However, nothing that happens to these characters leaves the reader in doubt that it will all work out in the end. Daniel and Tess are clearly meant to be together, Wolfe strongly implies this from the outset, so it’s not so much a story about ‘what’ happens, as it is one about ‘how’ it happens. We love the stark contrast between a cynical, criminal world and hot, unbridled love. Yes, true love can survive and even thrive in a culture that seemingly exists without a whole lot of love. There are, indeed, good hearts still beating – even in these darkest of places. When the siren calls, nothing can ever stop love from answering that call.