Fatal Deception
By Marie Force
Publisher: Carina Press
Release Date:
November 12, 2012
D. C. Police Lieutenant Sam Holland and
her husband Senator Nick Cappuano are settling into their life as one of the
city’s celebrity couples when another of Sam’s cases intersects with their
personal lives. Victoria Kavanaugh, wife of White House Deputy Chief of Staff and
friend of Nick, Derek Kavanaugh, has been beaten to death, and the couple’s
thirteen-month-old daughter has disappeared. For once, the spouse is not a
suspect. Derek was at Camp David with his boss, the President of the United
States, when the murder occurred. The crime seems motiveless until Sam and her
team begin to uncover Victoria’s secrets.
Heartbroken for Derek, Sam has to face
additional complications with a cold case involving her father that forces her
to suspend Detectives Jeannie McBride and Will Tyrone just when she needs them
most. Then there’s the pressure of working the Kavanaugh case with Special
Victims Unit Detective Ramsay and FBI Special Agent Avery Hill. The former
dislikes Sam, and the latter likes her too much, a fact that provokes Nick’s
jealousy and possessiveness.
On the personal front, Sam is fighting
with her dad, discovering her estranged mom’s story may involve more than Sam
ever suspected, and trying to control her envy of her sister Angela who is
about to give birth to her second child. Meanwhile, Nick’s campaign is proving
successful beyond their dreams, and it becomes clear his party has bigger
things in mind for him. Most important for Sam and Nick, they are preparing for
a three-week visit from Scotty Dunlap, the twelve-year-old they are hoping to
adopt. It’s Scotty’s visit that persuades them they need a personal assistant
to organize their lives and be there for Scotty when they can’t be. Reenter
Shelby Faircloth, also known as Tinker Bell, the wedding planner.
I’ve been a fan of Force’s Fatal series
from the beginning. The mystery is always a page-turner, often with the added
fascination of political contexts, but it is the characters that have made this
one of my favorite series. I love Sam and Nick. They are richly developed
protagonists with complex personal histories, complicated relationships,
terrific chemistry, and an emotional connection that manages to be both stable
and evolving. The secondary characters, who include family members, friends,
and professional colleagues, are dynamic and interesting in their own right and
add dimension to Sam and Nick.
This is the fifth book in the series,
the second since Fatal Destiny, the
novella in which Sam and Nick were married. I confess I worried that the series
might suffer from the Moonlighting syndrome after the wedding, especially when Fatal Flaw, Book 4, although a solid
read, lacked that extra something that made the earlier books more than just
good. But Fatal Deception proved my
fears were groundless. The mystery in this one is a compelling story that
presents a challenge and stirs the reader’s emotions, and the relationship
between Sam and Nick continues to grow. All that kept this from being a
five-star read for me was the kinky sex. I’m sure some readers will see it as a
significant part of the novel’s appeal, but it added nothing to the story and
was just too bandwagony for my taste. But it wasn’t enough to cure my
Sam-and-Nick addiction. I eagerly await future books. I’m hoping Dr. Harry Flynn
will get a happy romance, and I’d love to see something develop between Shelby
and Avery Hill.
Like J. D. Robb’s In Death series, to
which Force’s Fatal books are often compared, the series follows the
relationship of the same characters, and story arcs often carry over from one
book to the next. Do you like continuing stories, or do you prefer a tightly
resolved ending?
