Customer Reviews

The Deceiver

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THE DECEIVER is a family saga. Beginning at the end of the nineteenth century, it follows one extended family on through the next hundred or so years through a series of loosely connected vignettes. (You may want to draw up a family tree when you start, to help keep track of relations.) The title refers to a character that occasionally appears to offer advice or suggestions to certain family members at relevant times. Sometimes it is a stranger on the street, sometimes a friend or associate.

But with the exception of a tragic event that occurs at the story's end, this entity's words seem to have little or no effect. Episodes go by without any intervention at all. One wonders whether his/her presence was even necessary.

As always, Melanie Tem's keen understanding of psychology and human interrelations shines. There just isn't a substantial plot beneath it.

The other thing worth mentioning is that this book is not horror. There is one hallucinatory segment that would place it in the genre, but it seems incongruous. It is otherwise a straight family history; why it is labeled a horror novel, and a "terrifying" one at that, is something I don't understand. Lazy marketing, I suppose. In any case, those looking for such a thing will likely be disappointed, while those who do normally enjoy reading these kinds of stories will probably miss out on it entirely.

Tem's latest release is a dark tale centered on an otherworldly presence with a disembodied voice, largely left unexplained. The "voice" gradually intensifies, following family members through five generations. Both storyline and horror are subtle and elusive, in the V.C. Andrews style; the resolution leaves the reader with some unanswered questions.

The book begins with scenes from 1894-2000, focusing on Cecelia's grandfather and his brother, her grandmother (who died after a botched abortion), possible incest, Cecelia's engagement to a gay man and later marriage to a serial cheater. The work ends with a mother who kills one of her children.

The story, which toggles in time, has so many characters that one almost needs a written list to remember who they are and how they relate to the story. The characters fail to compel a deep interest in their welfare; indeed they don't seem deeply interested in each other. The occasional voice or spirit leading them astray could be terrifying, but becomes buried in daily detail of too many lives, thus missing the mark. This reader's emotion never rose beyond a mild curiosity about where the voice would lead each character it visits.

A reader with delicate sensibilities may want to skip the scenes depicting the anti-war, drug, and sex-crazed '60s at their sleaziest. They add little to the plot. Nor do the early scenes further the story of Kirk, who is introduced in the '60s but is revisited later in the story.

A promotional cover blurb labels Ms. Tem as "a master at conveying visceral terror" and proclaims her a two-time winner of the Bram Stoker Award for previous works. This is certainly true of the new work, though it may not be on par with Tem's earlier titles.

One chilling thing about this horror novel is that it's 342 long pages long. Then again, it is titled, THE DECEIVER.