Deceived

by Irene Hannon

September 30, 2014 · Revell

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This RITA® Reader Challenge 2015 review was written by Emily A. This story was nominated for the RITA® in the Inspirational Romance category.

Here is Emily A.'s review:

This review contains spoilers. Some I have tried to hide, and others will be revealed. You have been warned.

I haven’t read the previous books in this trilogy (this being the third of the Private Justice series), but I have read books by the author before. I really enjoyed the author’s Heroes of Quantico trilogy, to which there was a nice reference to the RITA-Winning Award third book of that trilogy: In Harm’s Way.

I don’t think not reading the previous books in this series affected my ability to understand this book. I do think reading Hannon before affected the way I read this book.

In reading Hannon before, I developed a reader-trust rapport with the author. Yes, things may get intense, but I trust this author to resolve those things in way I like. You may scare me and put characters in harm’s way (no pun intended), but ultimately the protagonists will get an HEA and their fates resolved in a way I will accept. This kind of faith in the author is imperative in a book like this one where a seven year old kid is in the center of action.  I’m not Sarah and I don’t have kids yet, but even so seeing a child so involved was hard sometimes.

In the prologue, Mrs. Kate Marshall is told her husband and son are missing after a boating accident. Determining what happened that day is the spine of the whole plot. A little later we find out her husband ‘s body was recovered, but she is convinced her son is alive and she sees a little boy that could be him. She tells the hero, who is a private investigator. At this point, three chapters in, we switch to scenes involving the little boy Kate saw and the man he’s living with. Since as the reader we know something is up—there would be no story if the little boy just looks like Kate’s son — it’s worrisome to see the potential villain and the little boy living together. Scenes of their life together play out throughout the book and as the tension builds their world starts unraveling as the protagonists piece together slowly what happened that fateful day.

I trust Hannon. I like her style and the way she crafts characters. Her heroes and heroines are all brave, competent, professional adults, whom you want to turn to with a problem. They’re dependable, reliable and strong.  Kate Marshall is more vulnerable than the average Hannon heroine, but still tough and resourceful, able to listen to things with an open mind and not fall apart, which I liked a lot. She has had some tough blows, and she keeps going. Her back story is full and rich and reveals a surprising secret.

Connor Sullivan is the  handsome private investigator. He is totally dependable. He, like Kate, has an interesting back story. Both he and Kate have had lot of loss in their life. Both of them change in subtle ways mostly by falling in love. They are instantly attracted to one another, but are fighting it and agree not to get too involved before the case is over. I totally thought they were a wonderful couple and belonged together, which for me is the most important thing in a romance.

Hannon creates amazing villains. She gives them big believable motivations and reasons to commit the crimes they do. This book is more suspense than mystery and the main questions are why? and how? and not “who?” Hannon does a fabulous job creating a villain in this book, who is both despicable, flawed, awful, and yet understandable and human, even at times sympathetic.

I adored the little boy at the center of the story and I felt he was well done.  He acted his age, neither too young nor too old, and was likable. I’m picky about depictions of children.

This is a tough book to review.  We have a kid in peril and a grieving mother.  We have three different genres — Inspirational, Romance, and Suspense all meshed together.  Of the three genres, I would say this book is more Suspense than anything else. The Inspirational elements are there, but do not take over the story. The romance is strong, but the suspense plot comes first.

So now there’s the ending to deal with.

I really liked the this book and this author.  The child endangerment stuff and the fact that it calls back to a variety of other books makes it not the best starting place for this author. I would recommend reading her Heroes of Quantico trilogy, and then decide whether to read this one or not.