Careful is a luxury you have when your baseline isn’t chaos
I didn’t know what to expect when starting The Deceivers, I had heard good things about it, but didn’t know whether I would like it. I did in the end and it was something completely different.
Book Review: The Deceivers by Kristen Simmons
Rating:
Title & Author: The Deceivers by Kristen Simmons
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery
Release date: February 5 2019
Series: The Vale Hall
Publisher: Tor
Synopsis
Welcome to Vale Hall, the school for aspiring con artists.
When Brynn Hilder is recruited to Vale, it seems like the elite academy is her chance to start over, away from her mom’s loser boyfriend and her rundown neighborhood. But she soon learns that Vale chooses students not so much for their scholastic talent as for their extracurricular activities, such as her time spent conning rich North Shore kids out of their extravagant allowances.
At first, Brynn jumps at the chance to help the school in its mission to rid the city of corrupt officials–because what could be better than giving entitled jerks what they deserve? But that’s before she meets her mark–a senator’s son–and before she discovers the school’s headmaster has secrets he’ll stop at nothing to protect. As the lines between right and wrong blur, Brynn begins to realize she’s in way over head.
I give The Deceivers by Kristen Simmons four out of five hearts because it was something different for once and I liked the characters. Kristen made me want to see where the story went and I finished reading it in just one day.
The pacing of this novel wasn’t very fast, which was something I missed, but it was fine and the writing made up for the speed. The Vale Hall was an interesting idea and worked out for the most part. The names used in this novel are very much taken from Norse mythology and I wished she had done more with it, but it also seems very hard to do so.
Each of the characters is morally corrupt and each one thinks they have good reasons for doing the thing they are doing. Brynn is set on a senator’s son and while she tries to get what is asked of her, there is so much more going on than she originally thought it was about. She is relatable, with a good background story and moral guidelines. She just wants to get out of her original situation and is willing to do anything as long as it isn’t evil.
Overall I really liked The Deceivers, the only thing I would have liked more would have been more Norse inspired bits. So if I gave half hearts, this would be a four and a half hearts read, but I don’t and I also don’t want to give you the wrong idea by giving it five hearts when it wasn’t the blow away book.
Let me know what you thought of this book!
If you have any requests for which book I should talk about next, please let me know in the comments down below.
For now, let books enrich your life!