Deception (Mass Effect, #4)

by William C. Dietz

An all-new adventure inspired by the award-winning videogame from BioWare!

The universe is under siege. Every fifty thousand years, a race of sentient machines invades our galaxy to harvest all organic life-forms. They are the Reapers.

Two people who know the truth are desperately searching for a way to stop the cycle: Navy admiral David Anderson and his partner, Kahlee Sanders. They have uncovered grisly evidence proving that the Reaper threat is real. But in so doing they have exposed the machinations of Cerberus, a secretive paramilitary organization, and its mysterious leader, the Illusive Man—putting David and Kahlee in mortal danger, for Cerberus will stop at nothing to protect its secrets.

But along the way, they find an unlikely ally in Gillian Grayson, a young woman with extraordinary powers. Once the subject of horrifying scientific experiments, Gillian is now free—and beginning to master her deadly abilities. But after learning that Cerberus was responsible for the death of her father, Gillian swears vengeance against the group and the Illusive Man—threatening to unravel everything Kahlee and David are fighting for.

• ISBN10: 0345520734
• ISBN13: 9780345520739
• Publish Date: 31 January 2012 (first published 31 December 1969)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Random House USA Inc
• Imprint: Random House Inc
• Format: Paperback (US Mass Market)
• Pages: 336
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780345520739

Reviews

[pamela]

I had planned on reading every piece of lore written about the Mass Effect universe to completion this time around, but man, I had to DNF this steaming mess a little over the halfway mark. It's sloppily written, with no care given to the lore at all - Dietz obviously did no research into the Mass Effect universe, and it really shows. Not only was no care taken in representing things that had been established in-game, but it wasn't even consistent with the previous books! It even manages to undo diverse representation, which is a feat in and of itself.

Add to all of that the fact that it just didn't really enhance the story in any way, and it became a book that was just impossible to finish. Given that it will have no appeal to Mass Effect fans, so doesn't work as a video game tie-in, and isn't particularly well-written or engaging, I just can't see who the audience is for Mass Effect: Deception. No one should read this book.

[Rinn]

I was going to review this, but this Google document pretty much covers everything.
I'm not sure why I keep reading the Mass Effect books, they're a massive disappointment. I'm just too much of a fangirl I guess...