Author: Carys Jones
ISBN: 978-1-472-09472-8
RRP: $8.48
Prime Deception has an intriguing premise which drew me in though it didn’t hold my attention quite as much as I would have liked.
The blurb from Goodreads sells this as a crime thriller and there were elements of mystery and suspense but they were underdeveloped. The bulk of the story was more of a romance.
Lorna Thomas was a cheerful and vibrant 22 year old about to sell a sordid story to the tabloids before she died in a car accident which was ruled a suicide. Her twin sister refuses to believe it was suicide and decides she will do all it takes to find out what happened to her sister.
Laurie heads to London in search of answers and soon falls into a role much more suited to her twin than herself.
Lorna was an intern in Downing Street, working for the Deputy Prime Minister, and Laurie manages to talk her way into a similar position hoping to uncover the events that led to her sisters death.
Deputy Prime Minister Charles Lloyd is devastated and consumed by guilt about the death of Lorna, the very young intern he shared a clandestine affair with for six months. He is being haunted by the memories of the love they shared, and the guilt he feels for calling it off for the sake of his reputation.
Imagine his surprise when her doppelganger enters his office and enlists his aid in her search for answers.
The story seems to lose its way a little here. Instead of building the suspense and casting suspicion on everyone who had come in contact with Lorna we get Charles pining for his lost love and Laurie torn between whether or not to trust her sisters lover – knowing he had the most to lose from her selling her story.
I received my copy from NetGalley in return for an honest review so have been telling myself this is just like an ARC, it’s uncorrected. I am not sure if this is the case but I had to tell myself this as there were lots of grammatical, punctuation and spelling errors as well as double words. I try to put that aside and concentrate on the story but it really is a pet hate of mine, a couple I can ignore but this book would definitely have benefited from a thorough professional edit.
The lead male is the Deputy Prime Minister so I was expecting there to be a distinct political vein to the story but that wasn’t the case. If it wasn’t for the constant references to the Deputy Prime Minister it would have been easy to put him in any deskbound job. He came across very badly, he pined for the twin he lost and spent most of the book plotting ways to replace her with her sister while he was supposed to be helping her uncover the answers. It cheapened the supposed love he felt for Lorna and just made him come across as sleazy and suckered by a pretty face.
Perspective shifted with little or no warning seemingly in the middle of a scene at times and that could be quite disorienting. There was no marking to indicate a shift just a totally different scene and that took some definite getting used to also.
Prime Deception was an interesting enough read though it didn’t live up to its full potential. I like the premise but the execution needs a little extra attention, I think Carys Jones could become an author to watch in the future.
I devour books, vampires and supernatural creatures are my genre of choice but over the past couple of years, I have broadened my horizons considerably. In a nutshell – I love to write! I love interacting with a diverse range of artists to bring you interviews. Perhaps we were perfect before – I LOVE WORDS!