Owen Laukkanen’s Deception Cove (Little Brown, $28.00) has adopted a familiar plot-line — the handsome, tough stranger strolls into a crummy little town run by crooked cops. Sounds like a Clint Eastwood movie doesn’t it? Or another Jack Reacher book. And like a Lee Child novel, there resides in the village a lonely, depressed, sympathetic heroine being abused by the thugs. My only question is, why didn’t I write this book?
Mason Burke is a convicted murderer out of prison after fifteen years (for a little sympathy, he wasn’t the one who actually pulled the trigger in a robbery gone bad). He comes to Deception Cove looking for the pitbull he trained as part of a project in prison to train the convicts. He’s learned that the dog is owned by Jess Winslow, a female marine suffering from PTSD from her experiences at war.
Laukkanen switches point of view quickly and keeps the pace fast. Although the story is a little unrealistic at times. Really just how far would Mason go to find this dog when any act of violence would send him back to prison? But I continued to flip pages. He portrays Jess as a hardened combat veteran, though it’s not clear to me how much actual warfare a member of a Marine Female Engagement Team would actually experience. Suffice to say, she is the worst of all the characters in a crunch.
I was ready to put it aside when Laukkanen wrote a scene in the dog’s point of view, quite a first for this reader, but I stayed with it and the ending is exciting. However, the cliché at the end — the flat broke, untouchable ex-con turning down $10,000 in loose drug money was a real eyeroll. Really? I give Deception Cove a B-.
Steve E Clark as seen in the New York Times is Author of Justice Is for the Lonely and Justice Is for the Deserving, Kristen Kerry Novels Of Suspense. Steve is a 2017 NY Big Book Award winner and a 2018 Independent Book Awards recipient. You can purchase his books via https://steveclarkauthor.com/buy-the-book/ or request it at your local book store. Want to know more about Steve Clark, read more reviews or speak directly with Steve? Learn more about Steve at SteveClarkAuthor.com
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