I finished After the Siren and immediately wanted to hand it to every friend I have who loves a good sports romance.
Darcy Green’s novel follows Theo Bestavros, an AFL player chasing redemption after a career setback, and Jake Cunningham, a teammate carefully protecting a public image that leaves no room for the truth about his sexuality.
Forced into shared training sessions, the two go from mutual needling to genuine friendship, and then into something neither of them planned for. The tension that carries the book isn’t manufactured. It’s Jake’s fear of coming out publicly running headlong into Theo’s need to protect the comeback he’s fighting for, and Green lets that conflict breathe rather than rushing to resolve it.
What struck me most is how beautifully Australian the whole thing feels. The AFL setting isn’t wallpaper, it’s the engine of the plot, and Green writes the sport with the kind of specificity that only comes from someone who actually loves it.
That grounding in something so unmistakably local, paired with a genuinely tender queer love story, is a combination Australian romance hasn’t had nearly enough of.
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The romance itself is the reason to pick this one up. Theo and Jake’s dynamic moves from prickly banter to real vulnerability in a way that feels earned rather than rushed, and by the back half I was fully invested in watching two guarded people let each other in. It’s playful and joyful in places, as Penguin’s own description of the book promises, but it doesn’t shy away from the real cost of Jake’s decision, which is where the emotional weight lands hardest.
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It’s worth noting After the Siren has already been optioned for a screen adaptation by Mad Ones Films, which tracks: this is a story built for that treatment, with a clear three-act shape and two leads whose chemistry would translate straight to screen.
After the Siren by Darcy Green is out now through Penguin, RRP $24.99.