Deceived by Heena Rathore P.

Deceived

The Book

Deceived is one of those books that I start off reading with a fair amount of hesitance. It has a fascinating plot; however I battle with anything involving children being the victims of crime.
Allison comes home to find her mother and 5-year-old brother murdered. Picking up 8 years later Allison is still desperately trying to face her demons and the fall out in her relationship with her cousin following this traumatic experience. Meanwhile the case is about to be opened all over again, with answers coming to the fore that will once again rip any sense of normality away.

My Thoughts

I liked

1. Using multiple character perspectives is always risky because it could lead to some confusion on the readers side, but the transition between each character was executed really well in Deceived.

2. Plot build up was fantastic, with each additional hint of information discovered, suspense grew in me. Any book that has me reading faster because I can’t wait to see what happens is a good book.

3. I enjoyed the character of Elizabeth because I still do not know whether I pity or hate her. There’s a two-sidedness that Rathore used in building Elizabeth’s story which really grabbed me and shook me up.

4. The cover is fantastic. Judge this book by its cover because it ties in brilliantly with the story. It’s just that kind of cover that though slightly… off, is aesthetically pleasing to me.

5. As the book built up to conclusion over the last few chapters the suspense tripled, and ended on what is either an absolute cliff hanger for a prequel, or otherwise a really well mastered, though slightly devastating final conclusion.

I disliked:

1. Anyone who follows my reviews will know that I do my very best to give allowance for some errors, but with Deceived I found it almost impossible to do this, there are parts where I wonder if Google translate had been used. Some examples;

” … this is the last time you ever spoke about your father you say one more word from your mouth…

“I let my hair loose as they are still wavy from last night’s curling”

and “I’ve been hacking into her account since a month”

There is also far too much use of the word literally, everyone was literally-ing, and I was literally sick of seeing literally.

2. Several phone calls take place in the book, and while I do feel it’s certainly… unique… only providing one side of the dialogue, it got irritating fast and left me feeling  (weird as this may sound) out of sorts.  

3. The last point I would make here though, is that I think the characters needed a little more substance. They felt bland to me. Almost stock standard. I just didn’t feel a definite connection or appreciation for the circumstances they find themselves in, I want to feel like I hope a certain character is the perp, that the other doesn’t deserve what comes their way, this didn’t happen.

I found it difficult to rate Deceived. For a debut novel, I would have to say it’s one of the best I’ve read. While I really enjoyed the overall story the editing issues were really the biggest issue for me, I am cognisant that grammar mistakes can occur, but I feel a lot more work can be done on fine-tuning the text. If a prequel is in the pipelines I’d like to see a character arc or two.

This is a book which is best suited for true fans of the psychological thriller who are not easily triggered. I enjoy a gripping read but even I found certain aspects to be extremely difficult to stomach.  

Review  Rating: 3.5 out of 5

More Information:

Publisher: Citrus Publishers
Expected Publication Date:

Genre: Psychological Thriller