Siren of the Waters

By Michael Genelin

Jana entered the Czechoslovak police force as young woman, married an actor, and became a mother. The Communist regime destroyed her husband, their love for one another, and her daughter’s respect for her. But she has never stopped being a seeker of justice.

Now, she has risen to the rank of commander in the Slovak police force and is based in the capital, Bratislava, a crossroads of central Europe. She liaises with colleagues across the continent to track a master criminal whose crimes include extortion, murder, kidnapping, and the operation of a vast human trafficking network.

This investigation takes her from Kiev in Ukraine to the headquarters of the European Community in Strasbourg, France; from Vienna to Nice during the Carnival, as she searches for a ruthless killer and the beautiful young Russian woman he is determined to either capture or destroy.


From the Trade Paperback edition.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Jul 1, 2008
• ISBN: 9781569477403

Michael Genelin

Michael Genelin is a graduate of UCLA and UCLA Law. He has served as a consultant for the US State Department and USAID in Central Europe, Africa, Asia, and Haiti, and he is the author of the Jana Matinova series.

Reviews for Siren of the Waters

[cathyskye · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I looked forward to reading Siren of the Waters with a great deal of anticipation. It takes place in a part of Europe I know little about and deals a bit with the old Communist regime. Unfortunately the book has some problems that kept me from truly enjoying it.For all the amazing cities that the book takes place in, the settings are rather ordinary and never come to life. And in speaking of coming to life, Jana is the only fully-fleshed character in the entire story. The rest of the characters are two-dimensional at best. The story of Siren of the Waters depends heavily on Jana's backstory in Communist Slovakia, but it doesn't really advance the current investigation. When I finished reading this mystery, I had no real feel for where the series is headed and no real interest in the characters. I doubt very much that I'll be visiting Jana Matinova again.

[condorena · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

In the first book in Michael Genelin’s new series begins as Jana Matinova examines the site of a car crash that killed seven people. Most of them are prostitutes from Eastern Europe.

Jana Matinova entered the Czechoslovak police force as a young woman, married an actor who eventually became an enemy of the state. The regime destroyed her husband, their love for one another, and her daughter's respect for her.
She has a very good reputation and is sent to liaise with colleagues across Europe as they track the mastermind of an international criminal operation involved in, among other crimes, human trafficking.

Her investigation takes her from Ukraine to Strasbourg, from Vienna to Nice, in a hunt for a ruthless killer and the beautiful young Russian woman he is determined either to capture or destroy.

The plot is complex but easy to follow. The personalities are very well drawn, as are the localities. Michael Genelin shows that he knows Europe well. While Slovakia calls itself capitalist, the country hasn’t fully shed its communist tendencies as is seen in the careful way Matinova treads while doing her work.

This story was compelling up to the final page. Fortunately has two other books in this series.

[fordbarbara · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

first by author, but excellent story. Fast paced, good characters, interesting story. Could have had stronger backgrounds on some of the secondary charactors but probably will get better with practice.