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All it took was one small item on the regional news for Kimberly Guyver and Rachel Golinski to know that their old life was catching up with them. They wondered how they'd been naive enough to htink it wouldn't. They hoped they still had a chance to leave it behind—just one more time—but within hours, Rachel's home is burning and Kimberly's young son, Riley, is missing.

DC Gary Goodhew begins to sift through their lives, and starts to uncover an unsettling picture of deceit, murder and accelerating danger. Kimberly seems distraught but also defensive and uncooperative. Is it fear and mistrust of the police that are putting her son at risk, or darker motivations?

With Riley's life in peril, Goodhew needs Kimberly to make choices, but she has to understand that the one thing she cannot afford is another mistake.

292 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2010

40 people are currently reading
380 people want to read

About the author

Alison Bruce

34 books241 followers
There is more than one author with this name

Alison Bruce was born in Surrey, United Kingdom, and now lives in Cambridge.

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5 stars
208 (23%)
4 stars
363 (40%)
3 stars
261 (28%)
2 stars
57 (6%)
1 star
15 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 96 reviews
Profile Image for Nick Davies.
1,740 reviews60 followers
October 13, 2016
This - another punt picked up from a charity shop with relatively little consideration except a brief scan of the blurb to ascertain it was a police procedural novel set in Cambridge - is a slightly hard one to review. Despite having several aspects which would perhaps annoy me elsewhere, the book left with an overall sense of having enjoyed the read.

Much of this is the balance of the writing. It's good quality language without ever being pretentious, and generally it travels through with a slower-than-usual pace, but without getting bogged down. There is a fair amount of interpersonal relationship stuff in there, and there is the usual slightly unbelievable 'last minute hero' denouement too, but in Alison Bruce's hands this doesn't end up just feeling like a cast of simpering women and heroic/anti-heroic men. The characters felt pretty real, and the complicated story to me felt believable too.

It didn't immediately impress me as someone I absolutely must rush out and read again - the plot confused me and it took a little too long to get going if I am honest - but I was intrigued enough by the bits I liked to want to keep an eye out for others in the same series.

Addendum - I also particularly liked the fact the author took the time to list ten or twelve songs which she said formed a 'soundtrack' to the writing of the novel, some of which were interesting choices and which helped me understand her a little more.
590 reviews12 followers
October 11, 2017
I struggled with the rating since I was contemplating giving it four stars but did not like it quite enough for that. She is not one of my favorite authors, but she does have some talent. I have not quite decided what to do with the Gary Goodhew series just yet. I am thinking that I will read another one eventually, but I am uncertain.

Profile Image for Thomas Stroemquist.
1,657 reviews148 followers
March 5, 2025
Enjoyed the second in the series even more than part 1. I am biased because I can't seem to get over the fact that these are set in Cambridge and in locations I know so well. Even so, there is a great cast of characters and the plot is again a bit convoluted and intricate, but ultimately quite satisfying. I really like Bruce's pacing and writing style, I'm sure to pick up the next one.
Profile Image for Richard.
2,315 reviews196 followers
November 4, 2014
A good second appearance for the logical and independent minded DC Gary Goodhew. He is a cracking detective with good interview techniques but is ability to socialise and interact with women is cringe worthy. To the point I think is or has stalked a former girlfriend and spies on his place of work. His boss Marks is no better keeping a file on the police officer, wondering what makes him tick and if he is a team player and worthy of his place on the force.
However, Marks admires Goodhew and is learning he cannot work as well keeping him in the dark and involved in the loop.
This is a carefully plotted crime mystery that alludes to events in the past but unlike other more complicate narrative that have a two converging storylines Bruce manages to leave the past to slowly bleed into the present with devastating consequences.
The Police never quite know what they are investigating as it appears both a murder and an abduction. Quite simply it ouses fear as someones secret is out and perhaps no-one is safe until the debt is paid or revenge is enacted in full. More a thriller of a ride than a police procedural but the events in the small team are key to the books success and the interactions between its members.
What I really like about Alison Bruce's writing is that it is fresh and engaging. This is a complete departure from the first book but the character development is even paced and faithful in both novels. Her subjects that crop up are thought provoking; inherited wealth, curse or blessing? Severe head injuries - assisted suicide? The care system, disfunctional parenting - able to bond with own children? Whistle blowing? Investigative journalism, stepping too far?
All these themes are only breezed past but sufficiently well introduced into the story telling to probe a response and without feeling preached to or influenced in your opinion.
Great read.
Profile Image for Clare .
851 reviews47 followers
July 7, 2016
I listened to this in audio format.

The Siren was the second book in the D.C. Gary Goodhew series. Although I enjoyed this book I enjoyed her first book Cambridge Blue more.

Kimberley Guver and Rachel Golinksy have been best friends since school. One afternoon Kimberley catches the news on TV. A body of a man is discovered in a car in the Mediterranean. The mans name is Nick her ex-boyfriend.

Kimberley and her 2 yr old Son Riley need to leave Cambridge straight away. Rachel offers to look after Riley so Kimberley can get some clothes and money together. Later Rachel's house is ablaze, Rachel is found dead in the house but Riley is not in the house.

Gary Goodhew is on 2 weeks annual leave, and on the night of the fire he has gone to the pub with old school friend Bryn who appeared in Cambridge Blue. When he hears the fire engines and police cars he follows the cars to the blaze and persuades his boss DI Marks to let him return to work.

In this book there is a new character PC Sue Gully. Gully lacks confidence and it makes her sensitive and very defensive. Goodhew's sometimes partner D.C. Kincaid tells Gully that Gary is a womanizer and a corrupt copper. Although she does not believe Kincaid entirely she does not trust Gary.

When Gully is made the Family Liaison Officer for Kimberley Guyver she cannot speak and Gary and the sparks fly. I hope she will be a love interest for Gary in the next book.
Profile Image for Julie.
1,541 reviews
December 12, 2022
The second entry in the Gary Goodhew series, this story starts with a house fire and the urgency of finding a missing child who should have been in the home but whose remains were not located. Goodhew and the Cambridge police team, who have a lot of personal and professional conflicts, are on the job trying to locate young Riley. I like the atmosphere and sense of place that the series provides, and Goodhew is a compelling character - a bit mysterious, a bit of a loner, and dogged in his pursuit of his theories, which often conflict with the plans of DCI Marks. Marks values Goodhew's work ethic and intuition but doesn't like it when he disappears on tangents of his own. I didn't figure out the identity of the murderer until the beginning of the final revealing scene. One other thing I love about this series: author Alison Bruce shares her soundtrack for each book, a playlist of the songs that kept her company while she was writing. This reminds me of the way the late, much lamented Peter Robinson incorporated a lot of music and popular music culture into his Inspector Banks books, and as a music fan, I love the intersection of music and the police procedural genre. I'm already reading the third book, The Calling.
Profile Image for Janice.
255 reviews4 followers
July 21, 2018
It took me time to get into this as I didn't know the characters. When I wasn't so tired tried again and glad I finished it. Will probably read some more in the series when I have time and needing a change of genre. Quite a complex story but enjoyed the setting.
Profile Image for Monica.
1,012 reviews39 followers
May 12, 2021
Enjoyed this one, the second in the series. Gary is an odd fellow but he keeps the plot interesting. A good mystery, solid story with an ending that wraps it all up nicely and a lead in to the next book, maybe, on something upcoming in Gary's personal life.
Profile Image for Allison Ketchell.
232 reviews8 followers
January 21, 2014
http://noranydroptoread.com/2014/01/1...

This is the second in the DC Gary Goodhew series, and I’m not inclined to pick up the first unless I get desperate for reading material. The story begins with the discovery of a car in the Mediterranean sea, containing the body of Nick. Kimberly and Rachel are shocked by the news, and it’s pretty obvious one of them is involved somehow. Goodhew gets involved when a house fire kills Rachel and Kimberly’s son disappears. Kimberly is desperate yet uncooperative. Goodhew and his partner, Kincaide, whom he dislikes, try to crack the mystery behind the fire and find Kimberly’s son. Meanwhile, there’s some drama with a female in the department who rather likes Goodhew but had a fling with Kincaide.

I’ve read better police procedurals. I just couldn’t bring myself to care about Kimberly or the department intrigue. Goodhew was fine, but didn’t stand out among British detectives. The personal drama was annoyingly intrusive. The mother of a missing child should be at least a bit sympathetic, but Kimberly got on my nerves.

Source disclosure: I received an e-galley of this title courtesy of the publisher.
Profile Image for Miratell.
45 reviews2 followers
December 10, 2017
Most of the women in this book are irrational and self destructive, which grates quite a bit, but on the other hand, most of the men (except our hero of course) are selfish bullies, so I suppose it evens out. Despite this, I really like the book - there are a lot of elements that I don't normally enjoy, like gangster type criminals and a small child in trouble, but the story is so well written and engaging that I enjoyed it despite of those things.
Profile Image for Heidi Nibbelink.
125 reviews1 follower
July 29, 2019
You had me at Cambridge, you lost me at peering through a telescope across a commons into a locked office watching someone take a file out of a filing cabinet and being able to READ THE NAME ON THE FILE! I think not. Even if the magnification was strong enough, someone's ass or elbow would have been in the way.

I'll give DC Goodhew another chance, but this was rough...
Profile Image for Sandra.
Author 12 books33 followers
January 1, 2017
3.5 rather than 4* Well-written and mostly enjoyable, especially for creation of place, but somehow - possibly the somewhat unappealing weirdness of DC Gary Goodhew - this isn't a series I'm likely to avidly pursue.
198 reviews1 follower
December 27, 2017
For me, Alison Bruce is a 'can't put the book down' author and it is because her sketches of her characters leave you really rooting for them. Gary is just the right amount of quirky and an excellent detective. The story is engaging, and kept me guessing. I recommend this series.
Profile Image for Sue Corbett.
629 reviews3 followers
December 29, 2024
Though Goodhew is an unlikely policeman, his character is engaging and it’s nice to read something set in Cambridge. Plot pretty good though a few rather unlikely occurrences. Never mind, I like him and his gran.
Profile Image for Rich.
62 reviews
February 15, 2021
Still don't know for sure who did what and why ...
Profile Image for Cathy.
808 reviews
June 16, 2021
Really loved the Cambridge setting. I liked this more than the first. But it really dragged for me.
5,870 reviews146 followers
February 12, 2019
The Siren is the second book in the DC Gary Goodhew Mystery series written by Alison Bruce and centered on Gary Goodhew, a Detective Constable in Cambridge Parkside Station.

Cambridge Detective Constable Gary Goodhew runs into a crisis while off-duty. In the midst of a pub crawl with a mate, Goodhew smells fire and rushes to the scene, only to find the flames too intense to allow him to enter the burning house where Kimberly Guyver's two-year-old son, Riley, is believed trapped, along with Rachel Golinski, the friend the boy's mother left in charge of him.

While the authorities soon discover Golinski's corpse among the building's charred wreckage, it is discovered young Riley is being held captive. The narrative has the requisite twists and stock situations, notably a dark secret Guyver and Golinski share that has somehow connected to the disappearance of a man whose corpse turns up in Spain at the book's outset.

The Siren is written rather well. Bruce writes a wonderful British police procedural mystery. It is not that hard to guess what has happened to the boy, so the main interest of the novel has to be the personal dynamics of the police colleagues rather than the slightly vague procedural aspects. However, it is Bruce's superior prose, which elevates this installment above many other British police procedural.

As a former Cantabrigian, it is wonderful to read about the city the series is based on. It brought back many happy memories about my undergraduate years and brought a bought of nostalgia when reading about certain places that I have visited.

All in all, The Siren is written rather well and is a strong continuation to what would hopefully be a wonderful series, which I plan to read in the very near future.
1,424 reviews
August 12, 2019
The disappearance of a child following a fire is the center of this installment of the DC Goodhew series. Kimberly Guyver's son Riley was staying with her friend Rachel, when Rachel's husband, Stefan Golinski, comes home and accuses of cheating. He kills her, and starts the fire. He is now on the run. At the same time Kimberly is withholding information, and gives the police the wrong photo. Years before when involved with the Newton family, and living in Spain, she had an affair with Nick. Nick was abusive, and he is stabbed and disappears. His body has now been found. Dougie Newton is not a forgiving person, and when Kimberly has kept the identity of her son from him. People thought that Riley's father was Jay Andrews, who had been Kimberly's boyfriend, has lockin-in syndrome, and whom she continues to visit regularly with Riley. Both Kimberly and Jay learned morse code so they could communicate, and he reveals much to DC Goodhew that helps solve the case. But when it is revealed that Nick died of from a beating she thinks that she is free to reveal to Dougie that Riley is Nick's son. Craig Tennison runs one of Dougie's clubs, and is in fact not her ally, but is the one responsible for all the killings, not Golinski. Kimberly has actually hidden Riley with Anita McVey, afraid of the Newton's, and it is in a daring rescue that Goodhew saves the individuals that Tennison took and left in a car on a railway crossing.

This was convoluted story and difficult to follow in places, but an intriguing one. In each of these books Goodhew is more and more complex and compelling as a character. He also gains favor in this one, as DI Marks gets more used to Goodhew and his unusual way of doing things.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Larraine.
1,057 reviews14 followers
July 25, 2020

This is the second in the series featuring DC Gary Goodhew and up and coming detective who has advanced quickly which makes him an object of envy and derision. He tends to go his own way in life and in investigations. I wish now that I had read the first one,Cambridge Blue, before this one. The truth is that I know I have a copy somewhere, but I can’t find it right now. The series started in 2008 and the most recent is from 2017. However the writer has also published two stand alone crime novels in 2018 and 2020. She also has two previously published true crime novels. She is or was a scriptwriter which make explain her well crafted style, relying less on description and more of a taut story telling style that describes the scene in detail without boring the reader.

A short regional news story is all it takes for Kimberley Guyver and Rachel Golinsky to know that the life they have made for themselves is about to be blown open. The women have been friends since they were in school and shared an adventure in Spain. They make plans to get away and Rachel takes Kimberley’s 2 year old son, Riley, with her so that Kimberley can get packed quickly. However before that can happen there is a fire in Rachel’s house and Riley has disappeared.

This is probably one of the best crime novels I’ve read this year. I’m surprised that Ms. Bruce isn’t better known to be honest. Now I find that I have a lot of catching up to do- after I find my copy of Cambridge Blue!
Profile Image for Stephen Allen.
48 reviews
June 29, 2020
All it took was one small item on the regional news for Kimberly Guyver and Rachel Golinski to know that their old life was catching up with them. They wondered how they'd been naive enough to htink it wouldn't. They hoped they still had a chance to leave it behind—just one more time—but within hours, Rachel's home is burning and Kimberly's young son, Riley, is missing.

DC Gary Goodhew begins to sift through their ...

I haven't read an Alison Bruce book before and picked this up in a local charity shop as this kind of book ticks all of my boxes.

I really enjoyed the characters, the initial plot and storyline and was going along quite nicely until I got near the end!!!!........

WARNING!!!!! SPOILER!!!!!

I got to about 60 pages out when it all started to go wrong for me.

Either I was just very tired, or the author was just churning out every cliche known to humankind. A car parked on a level crossing with a train due and a car at speed trying to get there to save the day just in the nick of time, the child obviously not in the boot, as suspected, but safe elsewhere amongst other things. And then an epilogue where Goodhew finally gets to kiss the girl. Give me strength.

I wont be reading another which is a shame but it felt that she had to wrap up the book quickly

Given 2 stars as the first 230 pages were very good.
Profile Image for John Lee.
872 reviews15 followers
May 9, 2017
My second in quick succession by this author who it took me so long to track down.
Why did a news item about the recovery of a car from a spanish lake cause so many waves in Cambridge. What or who could cause such fear?
The answer makes for an exciting story as rising star of the Cambridge Police - Gary Goodhew gets involved in a suspicious house fire.
This second book of the series sheds a bit more light on Goodhew's solitary life ( and work) style and something let slip in a quiet heart to heart at the end of the book might pointto a way that this part of the backstory may develop in future books.
I think that one of my character maps may have helped me here for although I followed the plot, I lost track of a couple of the characters and reading it as an ebook it isnt that easy to flick back through the pages to reconnject with them.
An enjoyable read with plenty of twists to keep you guessing.
Profile Image for Bodil.
329 reviews
July 2, 2023
I liked this one, the second in the series, better than the first (Cambridge Blue), but have to add that I still am a bit unsure about several points in the story. It’s a complicated story and we get slowly get to learn of the past events that is supposed to lead up to what happens now. Still, most is revealed towards very end. Although some points are a bit hard to believe!
I wouldn’t say that it is a very good story, or that the people are that interesting, but there is nothing wrong with the writing. However, whats really keep me going is the description of Cambridge (or at least which street they are moving along) and as this is a city I have got to know fairly well the last couple of years, I enjoy following this!
Profile Image for Anne Robinson.
697 reviews17 followers
June 16, 2020
I would like to give this book 3.5 stars, if that were possible. This second book in the series was better than the first one, in my opinion. It kept my attention for longer and the author was not quite so obsessed with naming every single street in Cambridge. I was held by the plot and the main characters continued to develop nicely. The ending was exciting, even though a little over the top!

I have decided to read the third book in the series straight away, so I suppose that is some kind of accolade. Our library ebook system has further books in the series and I will probably read those two, after a break.
510 reviews5 followers
October 4, 2020
A great read from the pen of Alison Bruce.
For anyone who lives or knows Cambridge the places mentioned will be familiar which makes it all the more interesting.
Keeping your attention throughout the book Alison switches your attention from one character to another leading you to a conclusion, but then switching characters.
You think you have it worked out only to find your conclusion incorrect.
A masterful piece of writing .
721 reviews
August 11, 2021
Oh what a good tangled story! I have just discovered another favourite author. Loved the characters and the twisted story, which kept me guessing right to the end. The end was a bit sudden, but I don't think it detracted from the suspense of the rest of the book. Looking forward to more DC Goodhew stories.
Profile Image for Sean Brewer.
144 reviews7 followers
August 22, 2018
The second book in the D.C. Gary Goodhew series of crime novels is a good story. However I didn’t find it as enjoyable as the first novel. I do think that these books are worth reading and enjoyable in their story telling.
Profile Image for Owen McArdle.
121 reviews1 follower
December 7, 2025
I began this book slightly trepidatiously as I couldn't remember if I'd enjoyed Cambridge Blue or not. It was a bit of a slow start and I struggled to keep track of all the characters' names and relationships, but in the end it was pretty enjoyable.
Profile Image for Liette.
587 reviews2 followers
May 19, 2017
Gary Goodhew did it again, he thought outside of the box and followed the clues to find the culprit. I can't wait to read the next installment in the series.
Profile Image for Katie Roy.
20 reviews1 follower
August 3, 2017
I found this book really confusing and I never really followed the story. Not my cup of tea.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 96 reviews

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