Released 20th November 2020.
Narrated by Christopher Pizzey.
From the cover:
The five star psychological thriller that won't let you look at passing dog walkers the same.Through the stark and leafless trees, I see her.
I remember the first day I saw her; an instant attraction. I think she’s beautiful. She has such pensive blue eyes; they remind me of a blue sky right before the sun descends. Every time I see her I want to talk to her, I want to get to know her, and I want to be her friend.
She usually completes the lower woodland walk in six minutes and 42 seconds; she misses the deeper woodlands and goes home, I believe.
I walk down the road at the same speed as her. She reaches the crossroads at the bottom of the road, looks both ways, and then jogs across into the garden of a house. I stop walking and concentrate on which house is hers.
I can’t stare too long but I am intrigued already, I will come back.
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Deception is told entirely through the first person narrative of creepy loner Billy, who spends his days, and sometimes nights, wandering through the local woods with his dog Ella, spying out the signs that tell him all about the other woodland visitors - of both the animal and human varieties. At first he seems quite harmless, but it is not long before his true colours begin to show. Billy develops an obsession with a young woman who also visits the woods to walk her dog, going as far as to follow her around and take photographs of her that he displays on his living room wall as some kind of disturbing shrine.
As the story goes on, we come to learn something of the lonely, maladjusted life he lives all alone in his bungalow, following the death of his wife, as he drinks himself into a stupor while ruminating on their time together. His creepy antics aside, it seems that there may be some hope for him to redeem himself as he begins a relationship with Eve, the young woman he has been stalking, but as their romance develops, things start to go seriously awry. It seems that deception is tied up in both their stories, and the truth, when it comes, is truly bizarre.
I have to say this this is one seriously creepy story, narrated in unsettling detail by Christopher Pizzey as he clearly has a lot of fun ramping up all the harrowing vibes as Billy. Billy's behaviour is deeply troubling and at times it is very difficult to listen as he describes himself watching from the shadows and expressing his innermost thoughts. At first, you find yourself worrying for the safety of Eve, but soon realise that she is just as damaged as Billy - if not more so - and the tale warps unexpectedly into a twisted parody of a love story that has them locked together in a claustrophobic relationship from which they seem powerless to escape. However, I cannot go into more detail for risk of spoiling the eerie surprises!
There were lots of things I enjoyed about this one, especially the way the the story flips how you feel about the characters completely, but I did find it a bit slow at times, screwing every last ounce out the tense atmosphere to the point where it was almost unbearable - and I think you really do need to suspend your disbelief perhaps a bit much to come to terms with how the tricky situation Billy gets himself into ultimately resolves itself. The themes are nicely layered though, bringing in obsession, guilt, childhood trauma, and the legacy of violent relationships, and intriguingly you do find yourself unexpectedly rooting for Billy, despite his quirks, as you begin to understand what has shaped him into the man he has become - and his relationship with his dog Ella is very touching, showing that he is capable of more.
If you are looking for something a bit off-beat to set your spine tingling, enjoy the kind of psychological thriller that draws you in, messes with your head and gives you a visceral chill, and you don't mind a story that strays a little into the absurd, then there is certainly a lot here to pique your sinister interest - not one to listen to a night and alone though!
Deception is available to buy now in paperback, ebook and audio formats from your favourite book retailer.
Thank you to Kelly Lacey of Love Books Tours for providing me with an audio version of this book n return for an honest review, and for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.
About the author:
Blake is responsible for the psychological thriller, Deception - A Love of Lies. Now he is working on his new paranormal, psychological thriller, Familiar, which will be published in 2020.
Blake on his writing process - "When I go over my plans and writing, I always critique as a harsh and predictive reader. I don't want a reader to guess what is going to happen before it happens; it ruins the fun."
To keep up to date with T. J. Blake, follow him on his blog at http://tjblakeauthor.com/, Twitter @TJBlake93 and Facebook https://www.facebook.com/TJBlakeauthor.
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