Deception: A Novel
Denise Mina
Little, Brown, August 2004
Mystery/Suspense
Reviewer:
Kevin Tipple
Posted: August 16, 2005
* * * * * *
Lachlan Harriot never believed his wife capable of murder. As a psychiatrist she had worked extensively with Adam Gow, the paroled serial killer and now murder victim. Despite the fact that she was covered in blood and found near the scene of his death, Lachlan does not believe she killed them. Susie is his wife, his lover, and mother of their young daughter, Margie. There is no possible way she could be a killer.
Or did she do it after all? Does anyone really know what a spouse could do? After she is found guilty, Lachlan begins to wonder if he knew her at all as he discovers disturbing evidence in her previously off limits home office. Nothing seems to be the way he thought it was and his life becomes an emotional roller coaster as he tries to determine his wife's guilt or innocence.
Gradually, over the course of many detailed pages, the reader is pulled deep into a shadowy world of Lachlan's almost surreal existence. He is caught in a no mans land, held hostage not only by his emotions but also by his perceptions of the reality around him. On one level the book is about his search to prove her innocent as stated on the cover. On another level, the book is a psychological study of one man under enormous psychological pressure.
The result is an entertaining, often disturbing, atmospheric mystery read. Filled with constant shifts in perception by Lachlan, and with the work constructed in diary form, the work seems to blur the lines between fiction and non-fiction. As such, the novel reads more like non-fiction and the result is a book that will leave the reader pondering it long after the book has been read.
About Kevin Tipple
Kevin Tipple has been the editor of the zine “The Write Advice” and was also co-editor of the zine, “The Freshwave.” His short story fiction hasappeared in such magazines as Lost Worlds, Lynx Eye, Show and Tell, and Starblade among others. Currently, while reviewing books for several different sites, Kevin also owns and moderates the group ReviewersChoice listed in Yahoo Groups. In addition to numerous short stories, which are currently making the marketrounds, he is at work on his first novel, a murder mystery.
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Kevin Tipple profile now.
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