Deception by Lesley Pearse

 

No one wants to believe their mother is a liar . . .

After her mother's funeral, Alice Kent is approached by a man who insists he's her real father. Initially upset and disbelieving, Alice soon discovers that tugging at this loose thread unravels the expertly woven tapestry of lies which was her mother Sally's life.

Faced with this staggering deception, Alice decides she must learn the whole, terrible truth about her mother.

But is she prepared for the dark journey back to Sally's traumatic childhood and the evil forces which came to shape the woman who claimed to love her?

I do love a Lesley Pearse book and Deception was every bit as gripping as each of her books I have read before. We journey along with Alice Kent after the passing of her mother to discover the secrets of her past but we soon learn along with Alice that her mothers past was far from an idyllic one and at times my heart went out to her mum and at others there was pure frustration, by not letting anyone in she was putting herself in constant vulnerable situations and deep down lead a life of loneliness but this was understandable considering her past experiences she certainly done what she done as a way of protection.

I loved the way that the author revealed shocking truths to us at the same time as Alice was discovering them so we can have some kind of understanding of the emotions she would have been experiencing at each revelation. The book really highlights the ways in which the care system had such an effect on teens lives when they come of age and are just expecting to go out alone and it is easy to see why so many of them didn’t fulfil their full potential because their main priority was survival.

My only criticism with this book is the little romance story that was rushed in at the end involving Alice, I actually don’t feel like this was need in this storyline and it felt like an after thought that had been moulded in at the end to provide a little hope and lightness to the storyline but personally, I don’t feel it add anything to the storyline and actually was a little distracting.

Overall a gritty and compelling novel.

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