Sinister and Suspenseful! A Review of Deceived by Irene Hannon

I was blessed to get an advance copy of Deceived by Irene Hannon to review from Revell Publishing. I can honestly say that I enjoyed the story and had a hard time putting it down. The story was compelling the characters very real.

The death of a child is one of a mother's worst nightmares. To lose a child and a husband in a freak boating accident is more than I can fathom.  After suffering this loss and learning to cope,  Kate Marshall picks up her life and moves from New York to St. Louis.  Fast forward three years, we meet her at the mall, an odd setting for someone who does not enjoy shopping! It is when she is riding down the escalator that she hears a small voice asking about getting a poppysicle that she whips around to see a young boy who looks like Kevin the son she lost in that horrible accident.  She scrambles down through the crowd and pushes herself up the escalator trying to catch up with the boy being ushered into the upper level by a man wearing a baseball cap, slung low on his forehead.  She loses them but not before she is totally shaken.

She talks to Mall Security and to the St. Louis Police who are not convinced the boy is her son and that she is merely distraught. She buried her husband but no body was ever found of her son Kevin. Nearly convinced she is mistaken she goes forward and hires Phoenix Inc.,( a Private Eye group with men who hold credentials as a former undercover A.T.F. agent, former Secret Service man and a former Police Detective) with the hope of putting it to rest once and for all.  She meets handsome Connor Sullivan, the former Secret Service man and the PI who plans on looking into the matter. After the doubts of the mall security and the police she is hesitant to discuss the matter with Connor. Quickly putting her at ease with respect and dignity she begins the story that takes them both on a journey worthy of the reader investing hours in a good novel.  I cannot share anything else or it would ruin the carefully crafted suspense in the book except recommend that you read Deceived and discover for yourself  how the story ends.