Published: 24 June 2017
Description:
How well do you know your loved ones?
A girl struggling to cope with the murders of her mother and five-year-old brother.
A journalist chasing the ghost of a potential serial killer.
A thirteen-year-old girl who slaughtered her parents.
And a revenge-driven psychopath who is about to destroy everyone’s life.
After 9 years, a young writer is still coping with the brutal murders of her mother and five-year-old brother, as she moves into a house of horrors, to start a new life with her lover. Will friends and family be able to redeem Ally out of the impending doom in time? Will her infallible love become the key to the destruction of her already fragile world? Will madness prevail over love; true love over revenge?
Deceived is a gripping psychological thriller that mazes through the deepest, darkest emotions of human mind through the story of a vulnerable girl who treads in the mist of deception bred from a long unforgiven betrayal.
My Thoughts & Review:
“Deceived” was a book that I read a review of and was intrigued, not something I would usually pick up but this book screamed out “read me” and I was only too happy to oblige.
This is a very fast paced thriller that grabs readers from the very beginning, the explanation of the differences between a psychopath and a sociopath makes for very interesting reading and really sets the tone for this book – a book that will get under the skin of the reader.
Without retelling the plot, I will say that the book centres around Allison Stone (Ally), whose mother and younger brother were brutally murdered. She suffers debilitating nightmares and is slowly working towards recovery from the painful memories of this loss with the help of her friend Sam, his dog Max, and her boyfriend Danny. The plot then cleverly weaves together narrative from both the past and current time to keep the reader hooked. The use of journal entries is fantastic, a great insight into the mind of a psychopath. Running through the plot is also the story of Elizabeth Lawson, a 13 year old girl who murdered her parents in cold blood before running away in 1978.
This was a quick read for me, finding that I wanted to keep reading to find out if my suspicions were correct about the killer. And I have to admit that I did like the way the ending was written, the author giving the reader something to ponder long after the book has been carefully placed on the bookshelf. It’s a very impressive debut, and if I’m honest, it didn’t read as a debut. It was well written, well thought out and very interesting.
My thanks to Emily at Citrus Publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.
I loved this one! I also started getting suspicions about who the killer was, but was still completely surprised with other things 🙂
I sort of figured it out but didn’t, I had suspicions but wasn’t 100% sure. its definitely a book to make readers take notice that’s for sure.
I’m posting my review on Sunday. I found it a strong debut as well but I figured out who the killer was unfortunately. Was it a complete surprise to you? I also felt there was a lot more violence in the second part of this novel and it was quite hard-hitting. I really liked how the past and the present fit together though 🙂
I want to read this too. Thanks for the enticing review. 🙂
I’m glad you liked it. Great review 🙂
Sounds very very intriguing 🙂