The Deception: A Novel by Kim Taylor Blakemore
3.5
The Deception Book Cover The Deception
Kim Taylor Blakemore
New Adult, Gothic Fiction, Historical Thrillers,
Lake Union Publishing
September 22, 2022
Kindle, Paperback, Audiobook, Audio CD
351

New Hampshire, 1877. Maud Price was once a celebrated child medium, a true believer in lifting the veil between the living and the dead. Now penniless, her guiding spirits gone, the so-called “Maid of Light” is desperate to regain her reputation―but doing so means putting her faith in deceiving others. Clementine Watkins, known in spiritualist circles for her bag of tricks and utmost discretion, creates the sort of theatrics that can fill Maud’s parlor again, and with each misdirection, Maud’s fame is restored. But her guilt is a heavy burden. And the ruse has become a risk. Others are plotting to expose the fraud, and Clem can’t allow anyone―even Maud―to jeopardize the fortune the hoax has made her. When the deception hints at a possible murder, Maud realizes how dangerous a game she’s playing. But to return to the light from which she’s strayed, she must first survive the darkness created by Clem’s smoke and mirrors.

The Deception by Kim Taylor Blakemore is a story of intrigue and deceit set during the Spiritualism movement of the late 1800s. A time where mediums and seances were widely engaged as people sought answers from their loved ones and the other side of the veil. From childhoood, Maud Price has always had the ability to channel the voices of the dead. This “gift” was exploited by her father who used his daughter’s ability for his own financial gain. After her father’s death, and the pressure to perform was gone, the spirits no longer are readily at her beck and call propelling her into financial disarray. Clementine Walker’s destitute and violent childhood drives her for financial stability and independence and developed her into a person with great skills of deception but no moral conscience. Maud’s predicament and personality is the perfect scenario for Clem to exploit.

Maude and Clem are the polar opposites of each other in not only personality but in their beliefs in the afterworld. This dichotomy provides the perfect tension for a story woven with the fact and fraud of Spiritualism of that time. A tale that shows how exploitation leads different people down different paths and that individual choices are both made that person and forced by the circumstances they have had to endure. While neither character was easy to identify with, together as main characters, they provide an thoroughly complete story that will keep you engaged till the end.

Kim Taylor Blakemore draws you into the historical world of mediums in a story that walks the line between the fact or fiction of such practioners. A tale of of duplicity and fraud with an undercurrent of truth and reality that is dark yet captivating. This leads to a much bigger discussion of ethics in choices and decisions and whether experiences grant a person an exception to the standards that society has established. The Deception constantly swings you from one side of the arguement to the other as the reader learns more and more of both Maude and Clem’s backgrounds from their points of view. In the end, its seems that Fate sorts things all out only for the reader to be left with a tidbit that totally throws this resolution for a loop in the most unexpected way, leaving us wondering if there might be another book down the road.