Mary Jay’s first novel, Deception, explores the lives and
relationships of those who come into contact
with her central character.
Miranda’s own relationships are central and the complex characters with whom
she interacts are all substantial, individual and realistically realised.
Readers of my reviews will know that character is the one aspect I must engage
with in a novel and it certainly applies to this one.
Do not expect fast action,
violence or sex. But, if you’re looking for a developing story laced with
intrigue and a psychological menace that lurks in the background, always
threatening to startle and surprise, you’ll find it here. The love story
develops slowly and grows as Miranda explores her feelings and attempts to
resolve her internal conflicts through engagement with her creative self. A
painter and a college tutor, she lives a lot of her life on the edge, rather
than as a central or pivotal figure. But success in her artistic endeavours is
rising above the horizon and she believes her love life is mirroring that
shift.
There are undercurrents, mostly
subtle and shadowy, that bring gnawing threats to Miranda’s personal and
professional lives. A student hovers in her background, his aims and motivation
always hinted at rather than made explicit. As a lover, she chooses to be
involved with a mountaineer, a man so far from her everyday experience in
almost every way that the reader wonders whether she is actually afraid of
evolving a relationship that might have a hope of permanence.
Just as she makes the decisions
she might have made to her advantage earlier in life, circumstances take over
and result in the sudden, unexpected and ultimately inevitable denouement. It
is an ending that leaves the audience with questions to ask, allowing the
maturity and experience of the reader to answer those maybes, might-have-beens
and what-ifs for himself.
Published by Fantastic Books
Publishing, this novel has slow and gentle start that draws the reader in and,
as he comes to know the characters, drives the desire to complete the read. A
thoughtful novel and one I recommend to the thoughtful reader.
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