Stevie Duveen

THE SIREN'S STING is the second Stevie Duveen novel from Miranda Darling, following on from THE TROIKA DOLLS.

These books are thrillers, featuring Stevie who works as a risk assessor in the personal / company protection game.  Starting off much where the first book ended, Stevie has been assigned to mind a temperamental opera star travelling on a luxury cruise near Somalia when pirates strike.  Helping drive off this attack, there's something a little odd about how easily the pirates withdraw.  But there's not a lot of time to consider that until later, as Stevie undertakes her next job - working on a threat assessment for the young son of her bosses ex Clémence Krok and her now husband Vaughan.

Stevie has very little trouble posing as a jet-setting party girl friend of Clémence, cruising around on the Krok's luxury yacht, surrounded by a suitably threatening cast of arms dealers, aristocrats and billionaires.  To say nothing of love interest Henning and his very glamorous mother.

Needless to say there's going to be a connection between all this luxurious sailing around, Krok's mercenary army and arms dealing, the pirates and just about everybody in this circle, even including the glamorous opera star and the Greek billionaire she picks up on the original voyage.

THE SIREN'S STING takes what was originally more than just a tad of James Bond type scenarios and settings in the first book and slathers that on plus some.  There's glorious women, sinister men, arms-dealing, money, diamonds, luxury yachts, fancy speedboats and all sorts of elaborate machinery and gadgets.  There is a plot as well, and whilst there doesn't seem to be quite as much action from Stevie as there was in the first book she's not above a bit of combat, and her own life is under real threat at a few points.  There's also an interesting twist with another female character who starts out being one of the villains and comes across to the good side just when she's needed.

It really has to be remembered that both of these books are thrillers - they are entertaining, slightly frenetic, often borderline unbelievable and fast paced.  The plot in THE SIREN'S STING is made up of quite a few elements, which you know are going to come together (it's a thriller after all!) but there's some nice twists and turns along the way.  There's a sprinkle of romantic tension, there's a fair bit of sightseeing around glamorous locations and there is a particularly big twist at the end, telegraphing book 3 in the series.  Undoubtedly there's some aspects of this ending that are a risky undertaking for an author.  It's either going to excite some readers with the possibility of what's to come, or disappoint other readers who hate that sort of "and in our next episode" closing.

Either way, I really liked the first book in this series (THE TROIKA DOLLS).  In THE SIREN'S STING Stevie did feel a little more subdued, but really, for a reader like me who wouldn't recognise a "Brand" if she fell over it, who breaks out in an allergic reaction at all that "socialite" stuff and gags at the sight of too much romantic twaddle, I was hugely entertained and happy to spend some time with Stevie Duveen.  As far as I'm concerned - bring on the third book.

THE TROIKA DOLLS is the first novel from new Australian Writer Miranda Darling, and it's a really really interesting debut for a number of reasons.

Stevie Duveen is (according to the blurb) "A new kind of heroine for a new kind of world".  To be honest I'm not sure I know what that means - but I do agree that Stevie's a very good sort of a heroine.  Emotionally and physically fragile, tiny, gorgeous, brilliant, gifted in seven languages and all sorts of combat, Stevie is a strategic analyst working for an organisation that guards, protects and assesses threats to all sorts of clients - from Hollywood celebrities through to political representatives all over the world.  Needless to say there's quite a bit of potential for Stevie to be just that bit annoying.  Personally I find constant references to female characters "looks" annoying, to say the least, but in THE TROIKA DOLLS, Darling manages to pull off an excellent balancing act.  Whilst you're left in very little doubt as to Stevie's physical assets, you're also left in no doubt as to her frailties as well.  And even that can be more than a bit annoying - but Stevie's longing for the man who broke her heart is used cleverly.  Her physical beauty is balanced against her physical prowess, her mental anguish at the break-up of her relationship balanced against her mental acuity.

THE TROIKA DOLLS sees Stevie defy her much admired boss and ignore the chance for a period of rest and recuperation, heading instead for Russia to help Henning, old friend only, as far as she's concerned anyway.  She's going to help assess the level of security risk to the head of the Russian Central Bank, but, Valery Kozkov, politician, bank regulator and fearless crusader against corruption, and friend of Henning's has a bigger problem - his teenage daughter has disappeared.

As is the case with all thrillers, there are aspects of this plot that need a little unquestioning acceptance.  Fortunately you're kept from wondering too hard as the pace of the book charges along, keeping you focused on the present, rather than peaking back at the past.  Stevie moves through the landscape of Russia, London and Zurich with great aplomb, and some nice touches of humour, as well as pathos as her own back story is fleshed out.  Henning is a wonderful side-kick to Stevie, solid and dependable and present, balancing (there's that word again!) Stevie's slightly more wispy persona.  This isn't just a two person show though, there is a great cast of supporting characters including Stevie's boss, colleagues and the Russian's - villains and victims.

Final events in THE TROIKA DOLLS take place in a remote health-spa in rural Switzerland, nicely isolated, beautifully luxurious, oddly an apt setting for a bit of Russian gangster lurking and the odd gun-battle.  Sure there are a few odd elements to the plot when you sit down and think about it hard, but I really liked the idea that Stevie and Henning were equals in so much of the battle, that Stevie might have been beautiful, and fragile and all the rest of it, but she's also resourceful, tough and capable.  A touch of romance didn't go astray either and I finished the book hoping that Miranda Darling is already writing the next one in the series.  The thriller world needs more female characters like Stevie Duveen.