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Two warrior angels. First friends, now lovers. Their future? A WILD UNKNOWN.


Deceit

Deceit, August 2006
by James Siegel

Warner
Featuring: Tom Valle
384 pages
ISBN: 0446531863
EAN: 9780446531863
Hardcover
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"Fascinating combination of dark humor and mystery in this suspenseful thriller."

Fresh Fiction Review

Deceit
James Siegel

Reviewed by Lenore Howard
Posted June 26, 2006

Thriller

Reporter Tom Valle overslept one day and made up a story to meet his deadline. Then he made up another, and another... until the lies caught up with him more than 50 articles later. Forced to leave the paper in disgrace, two years later Valle is an exile in the desert, working at a small- town California newspaper, reporting on local residents and community events. A fiery car crash on the highway interrupts the monotony and then triggers Valle's journalistic instincts when he discovers that the victim allegedly killed in the crash is apparently still alive in Iowa. As he investigates, Valle begins to realize that he's stumbled onto a complicated conspiracy, one that may have been going on for years. It's the biggest story of his career, but it seems almost too incredible to be true -- especially coming from a journalist who based much of his career on lies. Even if he can manage to expose the truth, who will believe him? This is a fascinating story based on the old adage that the truth can, indeed, be stranger than fiction. It's also a tale of redemption for Tom Valle, an unlikely hero surrounded by eccentric small-town characters. Although readers may figure out some elements before Valle does (and he admits as much in his "journal" entries addressed to the reader), there are plenty of twists and turns to keep people interested. I found myself totally absorbed in Valle's adventures as he traced the roots of a decades-old conspiracy. I liked the combination of dark humor, suspense and mystery.

Learn more about Deceit

SUMMARY

A disgraced journalist.
The scoop of a lifetime.
If it doesn't redeem him…
It'll kill him.
It looks like just another car crash: a head-on collision on a lonely stretch of desert highway that leaves one driver dead. But Tom Valle, the local newspaperman assigned to the story, is damned good at spotting lies. And for Valle, once a star reporter at America's most prestigious daily, this so-called accident may be just the ticket he needs to resurrect his career and get him out of the aptly named town of Littleton, California, for good. Yet as Valle eagerly starts investigating, he finds himself the only one who cares about getting the story right. As he starts checking facts, and unveiling lie after lie, he finds himself completely alone-and negotiating a dark trail of corruption, cover-ups, fraud, and murder that stretches back for decades. The more he discovers, the closer he gets to the heart of a conspiracy that threatens to destroy him. From a seedy after-hours bar in L.A. to a remote cabin in the woods to the dark corridors of a psychiatric ward, Valle is desperately seeking redemption in the truth. But, as the boy who cried wolf so many times before, will anyone believe him?


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