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THE SIRENA QUEST
by Michael A. Kahn
Poisoned Pen, January 2015
288 pages
$14.95
ISBN: 1464203520


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

Those who enjoy following along with the clues to a good mystery are likely to be disappointed with this latest novel by Michael Kahn. It's more a feel-good story about college roommates reuniting after twenty years apart than it is about locating their college's missing statue. Indeed, the missing item is located about half-way through the book, with not much suspense made of the clues that lead them to her.

Sirena, the legendary college sculpture, has been hidden away for years after having served for many more as the center of college pranks by classes for decades. When a billionaire alumnus offers a reward, the hunt is on.

He's putting up $25 million, $23 million to go to the school's endowment fund, and $2million to whoever finds Sirena. Yet, the tale is more about what has happened to four former roommates in the intervening years. While they all have ended up in successful positions as we meet them, they've each had their own share of tragedy and pain, which has colored their respective lives and, in part, kept them from much contact with each other.

The quest for Sirena has brought them together and reestablished their bonds and, in some cases, pointed them in new directions. There's a lot of reviewing of milestones and reminiscing about the "good old days" of college life. In fact, this novel could easily be termed the masculine version of "chick lit." While that's all well and good, it's not what most readers expect (or want) when it comes to a mystery novel. Perhaps this book has simply been assigned to the wrong genre.

§ Christine Zibas is a freelance writer and former director of publications for a Chicago nonprofit.

Reviewed by Christine Zibas, January 2015

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