Deceit

From Publishers Weekly Starred Review. Contemporary thriller master Siegel (Detour) will doubtless have another bestseller with this superb novel. His flawed protagonist, Tom Valle, is a journalist in exile after writing more than 50 fake stories for a major New York City newspaper, a scandal that led to criminal charges for him and disgrace for the respected editor blamed for not having caught his lies. Now, Valle toils for a small California paper, covering mall openings and the birthdays of elderly locals. One such fluff assignment, which entails a visit to a senior citizen home whose oldest resident just turned 100, gives Valle a chance at redemption when he suspects that the woman's recollection of a recent visit from her long-dead son is more than a senile delusion. Using his atrophied investigative skills, Valle finds a connection to a 50-year-old catastrophe, even as twists in the trail echo elements of his own faked reports, causing him to question his sanity. The word play and atmosphere of paranoia will remind some of Dennis Lehane's Shutter Island. Even those new to genre will find it hard to stop turning the pages. Copyright Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From In his fourth outing, thriller writer Siegel seems to be fine-tuning his technique. His inventive plotting and delicious humor are in the forefront, while his fluid writing masks a multitude of sins in characterization and dialogue, resulting in first-rate entertainment. Reporter Tom Valle once worked for the most storied newspaper in the nation (read New York Times ). But it seems he had a small problem with fabrication in some of his stories--56 to be exact. Now he's doing penance, covering bronco-busting tournaments for a small-town newspaper in California. That's when he stumbles on the biggest story of his life--but who will believe him? A car accident morphs into a case of stolen identity, and the next thing Tom knows, his phone is tapped and his colleague is shot. A reclusive ex-reporter and a very scary psychiatric hospital seem to hold the answers, and they all point Tom toward a nuclear reactor out in the desert. Siegel keeps the paranoia level high even as he imbues his story with ethical overtones and a hilariously snarky sense of humor. Joanne Wilkinson Copyright American Library Association. All rights reserved ϡ쯦랠 It looks like just another car crash: a head-on collision on a lonely stretch of desert highway that leaves one driver dead. Yet Tom Valle, the local newspaperman assigned to the story, is damned good at spotting lies. He should know--once a star reporter at America's most prestigious daily, he was disgraced after being caught spinning columns of lies and exiled to the smallest town paper that would have him. Seeking personal redemption and the resurrection of his career, Valle investigates a trail of cover-up, fraud, and murder stretching back for decades. But the path of corruption is so dark, Valle wonders if this story will redeem him, or kill him.