5 Words: Family, secrets, death, survival, betrayal.

Lots of science. So much science. Brain science-blagged.

But this was excellent.

Review to come.

In the meantime, check out my Q&A with the author: http://www.teapartyprincess.co.uk/2018/03/q-with-teri-terry.html

Thank you Netgalley for my review copy of this book for an impartial review.

This series sucks you in and doesn't let you breath for a minute. Completely annihilated this book in one night. Loads to take in and characters that are actually believable for a change. The theories behind the breakouts are a little confusing (lots of physics etc - not my strongest suit) but I'm just about following. Last book needs to be as good as this...

When 'Contagion' was published last year I was really excited. I love the 'disaster' genre in films and don't feel there is enough of it in the book world. Thankfully Teri Terry's novel lived up to my expectations and I devoured it. Consequently I was elated when I saw 'Deception' was available on Netgalley as I could now find out how the story would continue. Sadly, I just couldn't get into this second novel. Callie really began to irritate me in her selfishness and the book became more arduous than enjoyable. Eventually I gave up.

It's always difficult to know where and how to start with a review for a second (or third) book of a series, so my first simple step is to just quote the synopsis above which appears on the book itself, adding that Kai and Shay have been on the trail of his missing sister, and uncovered far more than they'd expected, especially that her disappearance was somehow connected to the 'flu' epidemic sweeping the country.
The end of the first book of the series, Contagion, left them at a logical sort of place but with so many questions unanswered that I've been longing to read more. Deception is definitely the name of the game this time. Kai and Shay are trying to find answers - how did the epidemic begin? is their ever likely to be a cure? what happened to family and/or friends? - but it's not easy to find any when so many people, at both a personal and official level, are covering up the truth. It seems at times that one layer of deceit is removed, only to find another hidden below. When I'm reading adult crime fiction, I always pride myself on guessing the villain and having an inkling of how the plot will pan out - here, I'm stumped. Although I feel I'm better than Kai and Shay at picking who to trust, or not (yes, I was mentally shouting 'Don't believe X. They're up to no good'), I still can't guess how the plot will develop or who, if anybody, could be the 'good guys' in this scenario.
Add in some fast paced action, secret hideouts and military bases, the possibility of some secret research lab experimenting without any official control, and a hint or perhaps more of a love triangle, and it's easy to see any reader would be hooked.
How would I describe it? Well, definitely a thriller, with a slightly sci-fi/conspriracy theory feel as it involves secret scientific research. Whatever you call it, Deception is an excellent, tense, thrill a minute, unputdownable read. The danger is real and ever-present, any moments of calm are short lived, and before long Kai and Shay are plunged back into action and life-threatening situations. With that in mind, I'd suggest that it might possibly be a little scary for readers at the younger end of its age range, especially if they're inclined to identify too much with characters; I can easily imagine them becoming so engrossed that it becomes 'real'.

This book was so good!
So addictive and can’t wait for the next book. There we quite a few revelations in the book that I didn’t see coming.

Deception is the second in a trilogy and while sometimes that can be the book that flags a little in a series this follow up is well paced and exciting. I'm not really a fan of a huge cliffhanger and the first in the series ended with one but it's been worth the wait to find out what happened and I think my students are going to eat this one up. Definitely not one to pick up if you haven't read the first as there are shifting viewpoints and twists and turns that won't make any sense. Would recommend reading both though!

Having not read the previous book this was hard to pick up

The story carries on from where Contagion left off, and we follow two different narratives this time. We also get to see the story from Kai's POV as well as Callie, and Shay's again.

I had high hopes for this as Contagion was such a surprise hit with me, that I hoped this did not follow as a filler novel (imagine my surprise when I find out that this is a trilogy, I thought it was a duology).

I loved this book so much that I managed to devour it in 3 days with a 10wk old to look after (I know even I am surprised).
I love Terry's writing style it is just so easy to follow, and even though there were two separate stories, and three different POV's you still managed to follow the story OK.

I loved Shay, she is still one of my favourite characters from this series, but we are also introduced to Spike, who I loved as well.

A character that I went from liking to wanting to slap was Freja, what she does at the end of the book made me so angry, she came off as such a selfish character.

This story is heart wrenching in places, and characters can really make your blood boil. There are also unexpected twists that had my jaw dropping.

Overall a great sequel, and Teri, please hurry up and bring out Evolution, I need to know what happens next.

In true Teri Terry style, Deception was a thrilling page turner. I found myself immersed in the story and characters and couldn't put the book down. I am counting down the days until I can read the next installment!

Most of the time the second book in a series is either better or worse than the one before. I'd say that in this case the two are on par, or at least my enjoyment of them both was about the same. I put that down to the fact that in this series you don't actually meet that many new characters. The core trio of Kai, Shay, and Callie remains fairly undisturbed throughout this book. In some ways, that's a good thing, given how much territory these books cover it would be hard to keep track of a whole host of new characters, but it does mean you're limited in the experiences recorded. Especially in a series where the whole country is being affected by a disease, it might have been interesting to get out of their bubble and find out more about the world at large. 

I will say that this book had a whole lot more intrigue than I was expecting. Given that you can normally see the plot twists in this kind of book coming from a mile away I was pleasantly surprised to be...well - surprised. 

Even though I think this is actually more actioned packed than the first book, somehow it felt a little bit slower? I think partly because the disease has already taken hold there isn't as much of the urgency and sheer confusion of Contagion as people have started to get themselves organized somewhat. I didn't feel like this made the book worse, it was different, a new way of experiencing the crisis. 

One thing I will say about these books is that they are the kind of story where if you (however accidentally) skim one page you could miss a whole plot point. I think this is because some of the descriptions aren't as rich as other books I've been reading lately, so the pages are filled with plot points. I know that for some people, rich description isn't their cup of tea, I personally like some extra lavish writing but this didn't bother me too much.

I think this is a strong second novel. I would have liked to have seen the story and the characters develop a little more and to have broadened the setting somewhat, but the plot is still interesting, the characters still relevant and for the most part genuine. I'm glad I discovered this series and I'll be interested to see what else comes in the future.

My rating: 4/5 stars

Deception is out on February 8th.

I received a digital advanced review copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I have been excited for this book since reading the first in the series, Contagion. Teri Terry never ceases to amaze me with her well developed (and more importantly believable) characters and gripping story line. Deception continues on straight after the events of Contagion and things are getting more and more dire. The virus is spreading, our protagonists are still separated and there is an underlying tension of.... well something! I couldn't put this story down and cannot wait for the third title in the series!

I've been waiting for this book for... what, nearly 2 years? Surely that can't be right? I think it is! I was sent a copy to review on Netgalley by Bkmrk and AHH. This is an honest review and won't spoil the first one or this one.

The first one ends on a huge cliffhanger, which at the time I felt was the WORST thing to happen to me. I would advise you to either re-read Contagion or at least read reviews to refresh what happened in it because when I started it I was quite confused as I definitely did not remember as much as I'd hoped I would. It came back quick enough though!

Synopsis





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Overview







As I mentioned in my short review of Contagion, this series combines the very real threat of virus outbreak with futuristic theories on dark matter and physics which was really interesting. I’ve always been fascinated by the curing and creating of disease in fiction – where science is messed around with to disastrous consequences. This instalment takes on an 'almost' fantastical quality? Everything is explained with science but I will be honest, it was much harder to believe.

That being said, I still really enjoyed Deception! What an apt name that is, this book is full of twists and turns, much like the first one. New characters are introduced, the stakes are high... what more do you need?

Structure





The story is told from multiple POVs, which is really interesting as you are constantly believing what the character believes to be true, what they think they're seeing and hearing. As the title may suggest, this may not always be the case!

The plot is a mixture of fast and slow paced. There are a few bits which are quite science heavy, which I enjoyed as it was interesting to see the reasoning for what was happening. Instead of your usual biological virus, the virus is related to dark matter and the focus is more on physics, which is a refreshing take on the virus narrative.

Character





One of my gripes with this book is the romantic element. I won't spoil it (or the first one for that matter) but it does use the trope which I like to refer to as the Twilight Trope, where the thing that gets in the way of lovers is them not telling each other something or another/doing something they believe is for the best, but of course isn't, which they'd know if THEY BLOODY SPOKE TO EACH OTHER ABOUT IT. GAH. I think it stems from me being a VERY open book in any relationship - I will tell them anything (to an extent) and I just can't imagine me doing anything like that.

Other than that though the characters are all well developed. I'm always nervous of second book introductions to new characters, especially after Glass Sword, but it wasn't the case with Deception. The ones we were introduced to were interesting and relevant, each playing an important role with their own voice.

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The second in a dystopian series, but not a book that you could easily pick up as a standalone.

Entertaining, but very convoluted in places. Plenty of action, but a bit too long.

Epidemics as apocalypse devices in fiction are one of my favourite things ever so I am really enjoying this series, as much for the post apocalyptic world as anything. The characters are engaging enough and I didn't mind the shifting viewpoints as much this time. Fast paced and twisting action in an extinction event future. Great stuff.

If you like fast-paced stories then this is probably going to be right up your street. Having set up our characters in 'Contagion,' Terry is free to let them loose on their quest to discover just what/who is behind the spread of the disease.
Having grown accustomed to their voices I really enjoyed the fact that we are continually shifting viewpoints here. Watching Shay as she comes to realise the truth behind her situation was tough. We got to see a little more of Kai, although he is rather bullish in approach and makes some bad decisions that I hope he'll get to move on from in the final part of the trilogy. Oddly, I also developed a soft spot for Callie. Even though we can see the extent to which she is responsible for events pretty early on (and it was heavily hinted at last time) this didn't ruin things because of a rather cunning little twist that is dropped on us late on. Without giving anything away, this definitely sets up something pretty exciting for next time.
As we follow Kai, Shay and Callie around the country the net closes in on the mysterious Dr 1. We get an awful lot more insight into the SAR division and some truly exciting details about what the survivors are capable of doing. The survivors were a group that I thought would feature more heavily. They were definitely needed to help Shay move towards her finishing place for this book, but I really hope that we'll get to see a little more of them and their unique talents next time.
My final thoughts on this inevitably focus on the evil genius ending...I was shouting at Freya. While I understand why she did what she did, I really hope it comes back to haunt her later on. Shay comes into her own at the end, and I can't wait to see if we get some of our questions answered.
Thank you NetGalley and Hachette for brightening up my morning commute with this page-turner.