Journal Entry 1 by elsi from Sanger, Texas USA on Saturday, February 27, 2010

An interesting and engaging mystery/thriller. Written in the first person, which at times I found a bit distracting, Deceit is narrated by Tom Valle, a reporter in a tiny town in California, as he stumbles through the exposé that every reporter dreams of finding and writing. The problem is that Tom was once an award-winning journalist in NYC, until it came out that many of his stories—more than 50 in all—were totally fictional. He's lucky to still be working in the field of journalism at all, and no one is going to believe this story even though it's 100% true.

From the back cover:

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.