Formula of Deception
A Novel
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4.5 • 44 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
“I love Carrie Stuart Parks’s skill in writing characters with hysterical humor, unwitting courage and page-turning mystery. I hope my readers won’t abandon me completely when they learn about her!” —Terri Blackstock, USA TODAY bestselling author of If I Run, If I’m Found, and If I Live
An artist hiding from an escaped killer uncovers one of World War II’s most dangerous secrets—a secret that desperate men will do anything to keep hidden.
After the murder of her twin sister, Murphy Anderson changed her name and appearance and moved to Kodiak, Alaska, to avoid the press and publicity. But when local authorities discover she’s an artist and request her help in drawing a dying man’s memories, she unintentionally ends up in the limelight again—and back in the killer’s crosshairs.
The deathbed confessions of an Alaskan hunter have Murphy drawing the five bodies he discovered on remote Ruuwaq Island ten years ago. But what investigators find has them mystified. Evidence suggests that the bodies were deliberately destroyed, and what they uncover in an abandoned Quonset hut from World War II only brings more questions.
As one by one the investigators who were at the hut die, Murphy knows there is something much darker at stake. What happened on this island during the war? And who is willing to kill to keep its secrets buried?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Artist Murphy Anderson, the protagonist of this promising series launch from Parks (Portrait of Vengeance and three other Gwen Marcey novels), is keeping a low profile in Kodiak, Alaska, after her twin sister's murder when the local police ask her to draw a crime scene. Details come courtesy of a hunter's deathbed confession, with Murphy trying to envisage not only the likenesses of several victims but the actual crime scene itself which happens to be on a remote island. Unfortunately, once Murphy completes the drawing, fresh bodies soon begin to pile up at an alarming rate. The dying hunter and his caretaker are first, followed by a twisted trail of carnage leading right to Murphy's door. Are her buried secrets coming back to haunt her, or is a killer willing to decimate the town to protect WWII-era crimes? Parks skillfully blends a lovely yet treacherous locale into the very dark deeds of its human inhabitants. Readers will want to see more of the mysterious and sympathetic Murphy.
Customer Reviews
FORMULA OF DECEPTION
Isolated in Alaska trying to survive with the bare essentials. A basement apartment, with a crock pot, a bike to get into town, when weather was nice. A photo of her twin, but most would think it was her. As an artist selling a few of her wares at a shop in town. A call they need an artist to draw a face from the memory of a dying man. Before she can show him the finish picture there is murder. She is focused in the news,getting attention, she didn’t want. The words of the dying man are they true.? What follows is what he told of an island, a hut, with bodies.bringing in WW II history. A plot you want to follow, is intruding to the end. Given ATC from Net Galley and Thomas Nelson. for my voluntary review and my honest opinion.