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Type of bind: Mass Market Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN num: 9780446619097
ISBN number: 0446619094
Label: Grand Central Publishing
Manufacturer: Grand Central Publishing
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 432
Printing Date: October 01, 2007
Publishing house: Grand Central Publishing
Sale Popularity Level: 704593
Studio: Grand Central Publishing
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Product Description:
It looks like just another car crash: a head-on collision on a lonely stretch of desert highway that leaves one driver dead. Yet Tom Valle, the local newspaperman assigned to the story, is damned good at spotting lies. He should know--once a star reporter at America's most prestigious daily, he was disgraced after being caught spinning columns of lies and exiled to the smallest town paper that would have him.
Seeking personal redemption and the resurrection of his career, Valle investigates a trail of cover-up, fraud, and murder stretching back for decades. But the path of corruption is so dark, Valle wonders if this story will redeem him, or kill him.
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Rated by buyers 
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I guess I just don't get popular fiction writers. Take James Siegel here, author of two previous blockbuster thrillers - "Derailed" and "Detour", lean and suspenseful thrillers both, neat little gems that were nearly impossible to put down - five-star reads you devour and can't wait to pass on to your friends. But then something must happen to these guys - their success, maybe, leads them to believe that they now have some responsibility to proselytize and preach and write something they feel is "important" - an overwhelming urge to educate and point out to the reader that it is an evil and unfair world in which we live?
Anyway, in "Deceit", a paranoid James Siegel fumbles and stumbles around a tired theme - make that multiple tired themes - in this disjointed yarn of yet another case of grey ops and government conspiracies. Yawn. But not to be outdone by an endless gray line of similar literary gruel, Siegel tries to spice this pabulum up with an (unintentionally) annoying reporter Tom Valle, a plagiarizer of Jason Blair caliber. The disgraced Valle, like Blair, is banished from The New York Times for making up stories published as fact. Unlike Blair, Valle finds himself exiled in a Podunk southern California desert town, covering car dealership openings and birthday parties. But when a fiery car crash begins looking more sinister than a common - if horrific - accident, the fearless Valle is on the case like Bob Woodward on a Pulitzer. Will anybody believe confessed liar Valle with a story of this magnitude? Will Valle gain back his honor, and win the fetching Anna Graham? Will little purple men finally emerge from Hanger 51?
Well, if you've got more time on your hands than sense, you can hang with James Siegel and Tom Valle for some 408 pages to find out most of these answers - however lame they may be. Siegel peppers his tale with needless and misplaced political yammering, while his Tom Valle, never truly repentant, falls back on worn out excuses of a tough childhood and, therefore, is apparently justified in his transgressions. "Not my fault, folks - blame `society'." But hey, I'll overlook some James Lee Burke-like political ranting for smart prose and tight plots. Regrettably Siegel forgot those attributes from his earlier works and this time spins an incredibly unlikely story that is just plain silly, and stumbles on some major incongruities that pretty much blow the whole premise of the plot. So I'm bummed. I really liked Siegel, and was looking forward to this one - not sure that, unlike Tom Valle, I'll give him another chance.
Rated by buyers 
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Having read all his books, I was prepared to read a masterful thriller. Not only was this book poorly written and absurd, it also took advantage of the reader to spew political venom and mistruths. I found myself getting annoyed and then furious for wasting my time on a deceitful book. Yes, the irony is intended. Next time the author should be honest and tell readers up front that he is writing a political essay and not a novel. One star is an overly generous rating for this flop. I will never "trust" this author again.
Rated by buyers -
Having read Siegel's other 3 books, I was very disappointed with this one. It takes the investigativeness from Epitath and uses the story telling style of Derailled. But where both of those books were excellent, this one falls short of the mark.
Tom Valle is a reporter who was fired for fabricating stories. He ends up in a small town called Littletown (I guess the name is appropos) where the local newspaper editor gives him a chance in spite of Tom's reputation. Tom covers a car crash involving two cars, with one survivor. When Tom interviews the survivor he notices some inconsistancies. His interest is piked when the coroner says that the man actually killed may have different physical characteristics then he is supposed to be.
As Tom starts to investigate more he is fed a lot of information in ways resembling the lies he told when he was the lying reporter in his previous life. Tom starts to suspect there is a big conspiracy involving a flooded out town from 50 years prior. He cannot share his feelings with anyone because if he says what he suspects, he would have to say how he got his info and since it was in the manner of his previous lies, nobody would believe him.
The story as it goes along seems totally implausible and the people who want the plot kept secret could easily dispose of Tom any time they want (just like the previous Littletown reporter that was investigating the plot). At times it is difficult to understand what is going on. The best part of the book is some of the prose that Siegel uses. He has a way for describing things that is very unique. Based on that I gave the book 3 stars.
Rated by buyers -
This book is the worst I've read in years. Apparently Siegel has burned out and has become just another political hack. The protagonist is so annoying that you hope he gets killed off before the end of the book. Poorly written, a predictable plot and little wonder that this author has become one of my few blackballed authors.
Rated by buyers -
I really enjoyed James Siegel's last two books (didn't read "Epitath")
But this one makes the same mistake as another book I just read, "Gone Baby Gone." It gets needlessly complicated and then the ending is much less than the sum of all the parts.
"Deceit" starts off very promising: fallen NY reporter's redepemtion, then he stumbles across a possible conspiracy...which goes off in a million different directions. As in the other book, the ending could have been reached without all the complications. Pick one thread and develop it.
Oh, well...this book didn't have a preview for his subsequent one...maybe he will take a little more time and think it through rather than doing the one-a-year gig.
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