Deception (Pegasus
Crime, 1 September 2026) by Alan Parks is the second book in the World War II
thriller series about Joseph Gunner, late of the Glasgow police, seriously
wounded on the front lines in France in the early days of the war. This story
shifts location from Glasgow to New York during the week leading up to the
attack on Pearl Harbor.
At the end of
the first
book Gunner meets Nickerson, part of the espionage machine in the UK. Knowing
his injuries are severe enough to confine his police work to a desk, Gunner
accepted a job working for Nickerson to undermine the America First movement
and to sway public opinion toward entering the war. A similar publicity
campaign by German sympathizers seeks to reinforce isolationism, doing their
best to keep the sleeping U.S. giant out of Europe.
Gunner and
Nickerson are not above blackmail to achieve their aims. The opening chapter
finds Gunner sending a beautiful young woman to maneuver a young Joe Kennedy
into a hotel room, where a photographer can take compromising photographs. It
works, Kennedy is willing to do anything to keep his father from seeing photos
that might damage the senior Kennedy’s plans for his son. A day or two later,
the young woman’s body is found in the river. Her death is ruled an accident
but Gunner is convinced it was murder. He works an investigation into his
duties.
Beside the
Kennedys, Charles Lindbergh, jazz musician Charlie Parker, and Arthur Fellig,
known for his photographs of New York City and crime scenes are among the real
people who appear in the book.
While
Nickerson meets with ambassadors and other diplomats to persuade them toward
war and Gunner plants overly positive stories in the U.S. newspapers, they
learn that a highly placed German spy has arrived in New York to sow dissension
and plant a few bombs. They begin searching for him before he can do much
damage.
The book is
aptly named. Few of the people are who they say they are. Some change sides as
they find it convenient. Gunner does not know who he can trust including
Nickerson, with whom Gunner has an uneasy relationship. Nickerson comes from an
elite social circle and Gunner has caught him in more than one untruth. But he
knows there is nothing for him in Glasgow, so he stays with Nickerson out of
financial necessity.
I am a huge
fan of anything Alan Parks writes and Deception is not an exception. A
complicated and fascinating and likely realistic portrayal of activities in the
last days before the U.S. entered the war. For another look at the activities
of the pro-war faction in the U.S. after Germany invaded Poland and before
Pearl Harbor, see The
Wealth of Shadows (Random House, 2024) by Graham Moore.
·
Publisher: Pegasus Crime
·
Publication date: September 1, 2026
·
Language: English
·
Print length: 352 pages
·
ISBN-13: 979-8897101566
Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3Ssw2c6
Aubrey Nye Hamilton ©2026
Aubrey Hamilton is a former librarian who works on Federal
It projects by day and reads mysteries at night.
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