Dark Deception

by Amanda James

One woman discovers the missteps that can ruin a marriage—and a life—in this gripping thriller from the author of Another Mother.

Kerensa and Leo are a happily married young couple who live in Cornwall. Leo works part-time in London as an investment advisor to wealthy businessman, Paul Donaldson. The couple hope to start a family soon and life couldn’t be better.

But Leo has been stealing from Paul and Paul isn’t the sort of man you steal from.

When Leo realizes that Paul knows what he’s done, he has no choice but to resort to drastic measures.

Meanwhile, after discovering she is pregnant, Kerensa can’t wait for her husband to return home so she can share her news. But she soon discovers he’s gone missing.

After receiving a threatening phone call from Paul, Kerensa realizes how much trouble her family is in.

Just how far is Paul prepared to go to get revenge? And will Kerensa ever be happy or safe again?

“The story was fast paced and kept me engrossed . . . But it was the last page that absolutely caused me to freeze. It was chilling and caused me to gasp aloud.” —Shalini’s Books & Reviews

“We are taken on a roller coaster journey through this book and never know what to expect around the corner . . . Dark Deception is Amanda James’s best book yet.” —Books with Wine and Chocolate

• ISBN13: 9781912986804
• Publish Date: 13 November 2019
• Publish Status: Active
• Out of Print: 2 March 2022
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: Bloodhound Books
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 262
• Language: English

Reviews

[zooloo1983]

What the frick have I just read!!! Wow, when Mandy said to me this was her darkest book yet she really was not joking!! This was dark dark and darker and I bloody loved it!!

All the while I was reading Dark Deception my head was spinning with all the questions I needed answers to. Well, I got the answers and they were really not what I was expecting at all. This is #CrazyTown to the extreme and it was brilliant. I do not know what to tell you, I can’t give anything away at all. This is most definitely a book you need to read!!

Kerensa appears to have it all, a husband, Leo, who loves her and she has just found out that she has a baby on the way and when Leo comes home she gets to share this amazing news…..however he doesn’t come home that night or any other night. Working for a mobster will do that to you but this story is not so cut and dry as you might suspect from the sentences I just wrote, far from it.

Will, Leo’s best friend, has to break the news to Kerensa of Leo’s folly. I loved Will, all I will say is a rock and a hard place this man has found himself in. Whilst helping Kerensa, he introduces Patrick into her life and this, my readers, is where it all goes a bit Pete tong.

This book had me flying through my Kindle as quick as I could, if I wasn’t being sensible I would have stayed up the night before finishing it but homeschooling/working combo is not good when tired. Instead, I blitz this ending and my jaw drop, a few tears wanted to leak and I had a lump in my throat. I couldn’t get over all the revelations at all, but the biggest shocker of all had been landed yet, and when it did well the mischievous one we know as my Queen of CrazyTown wrote two words which had me screaming……The End……..

Aaaahhhhhhhhhhh!! I have all the feels with this, I am left wanting to know what happens next, I need to know but at the same time I will never know but you are definitely left wanting more. I had to delete a lot of my review because even though I didn’t give anything away I felt like I did. So this is really blinking tough to write! Dark Deception is so true to its title, the deception we have here is way darker than we thought it could be.

This is on par with The Feud for me, I can’t decide between the two, but this will be on my list at the end of the year for sure. This is the dark and twisty mind I love of Mandy. I love how this is a full-circle story, just where you think one storyline has been finished and we focus on the main part, we have a clanger at the end. The ending well, so much I want to say that I haven’t but Mandy weaves you into her web without you realising before cutting it and letting you fall. I love how her mind works and this is no exception. I was transfixed on her writing and I love her storytelling. Suspenseful and it’s like being on a rollercoaster with the breaks being cut, you can not take your eyes from the pages for the fear of what might happen next. I am so excited by this book, it was just so tantalising and intense, just loved it!