Deceive Me by Karen Cole is another compelling and twisty thriller from an author who has become a must read for me. This one will keep you guessing right up until the final page has been turned.

When sixteen year old Grace goes missing, her mother, Jo, is frantic for answers. As the narrative alternates between the present and past, it quickly becomes apparent that Jo is a woman harbouring a plethora of secrets. Is her daughter's disappearance a random coincidence, or is it somehow connected to the secrets that Jo had prayed would stay buried in the past? With skillful execution, and a motley cast of suspects, Ms Cole will keep you questioning everything you think you know. I look forward to reading more from this author.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Quercus Books for this ARC

Joanna and Chris are living known Cyprus when Joanna’s daughter, Grace, goes missing. Fingers point at her older boyfriend, Tom, and to stepfather, Chris. Has Grace’s birth father taken her? Joanna is trying her best to find her daughter but it’s going to cause a lot of pain!

This was a slow burn and before I knew it I was finished. Last few chapters brought this to a 4 star. Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for this arc in exchange for my honest review.

I’d like to thank Quercus Books and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘Deceive Me’ by Karen Cole in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

Jo lives in Cyprus with husband Chris, sixteen-year-old daughter Grace and Jack eleven. One morning Jo drives Grace to school but when she goes back later Grace has disappeared despite having watched her walk through the main entrance. She thinks Grace has run away and blames herself for the escalating arguments they’ve been having. The local police investigate but when Jo takes it upon herself to question Grace’s friends she’s horrified to learn that what has happened has the potential to reveal her darkest and most deeply hidden secrets and destroy her family.

‘Deceive Me’ is an intriguing and spine-chilling psychological thriller that had me in its grasp from the very beginning, unable to put it down for twenty-four hours until I’d got to the end and discovered the truth. The tension kept increasing with each twist and turn, becoming more sinister and unnerving, until the final turn of events and the biggest twist of all that I definitely wasn’t expecting. I enjoyed the setting of Cyprus as I’m going there for the first time in a couple of months and the descriptions of scenery and places made me even keener to visit. This novel is compulsive reading and is one of those books I’d recommend you don’t miss.

Sixteen year old Grace gets out of her mum's car at school at 7.30 am on Monday morning and vanishes. Her mum, dad and brother are frantic with worry. There are family secrets that are being brought to the surface and the family' could easily implode.

Kept me guessing until the very end.

This book was a little slow going for me. Wasn’t until the grandpa was introduced about halfway through where I really started guessing culprits and the suspense was better. Definitely threw me for a few loops at the end. Overall good book!

I really enjoyed the plot. Was very hard to put down.
I give this book 5**** just because i loved it
Cant wait for other books

🤯🤯 Deceive me is Karen Coles newest thriller release and it definitely lives up to its name. There are several different deceitful twists that leaves you wondering until the very last chapter!! It usually takes me a 5-7 days to read a book of this size and I finished Deceive me in 3! Highly recommend! Definitely 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟!!!

Special thanks to Netgalley, Quercus Publishing, and Karen Cole for providing this ARC for my unbiased and honest review!

I must have read well over a thousand thrillers by now but I’ve never been so unsure of what’s going to happen. Deceive me is dark, it’s twisted and it’s bloody fantastic!
Truly unique and highly recommended!

4.5/5

Wow, what a book! Really enjoyed this fast paced, twist laden journey that kept me guessing until the very end. There was just the right amount of suspicion cast on most people throughout to keep you on your toes and the final few reveals were pleasantly surprising.
I love the thriller genre and this is no exception. I highly recommend it.

A mothers worst nightmare, a child goes missing and an investigation into her disappearance begins. As we delve further and further into family life, we realise things may not always be what they seem.

Thank you to Netgalley, Quercus Books and Karen Cole for allowing me to read this book.

Jo takes her two children to school one morning but only one returns. The characters are all well described and lots of twists in the story. A great read

On Monday morning, Jo drops her two kids—Jack and Grace—off at school. But in the afternoon, only Jack is home. Grace is nowhere to be found and as it turns out, she never showed up to any of her classes that day. So where could she be?

Jo and Chris only moved to Cyprus recently after wanting a fresh start for Grace. But Grace’s boyfriend, Tom, picked up his whole life to follow their family to a foreign country. Chris is convinced that Tom has something to do with Grace’s disappearance, but Jo isn’t so sure.

The more Jo looks delves into Grace’s life, the more she realizes how much she doesn’t know her daughter. She discovers a side of Grave she didn’t know was there. And in the process of looking for her daughter, Jo is reminded of the summer before having Grace—the last summer in Cyprus before everything changed. And now the past is coming back to haunt her.

Deceive Me is Karen Cole’s latest twisty thriller release. After reading and enjoying Karen Cole’s Deliver Me, I had high hopes for Deceive Me. The story delivered on being fast-paced and having shocking twists. It’s told through two timelines: currently during Jo’s search and back to when she nannied in Cyprus in 2000. You’re wondering the whole time how the two timelines intersect and I was shocked by the twist. Unfortunately, the delivery of the twist wasn’t my favorite and I felt the end was rushed. I always enjoy these short twisty thrillers and can’t get enough! 3.5/5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley, Quercus and Karen Cole for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

When Jo's daughter goes missing her mum's first suspect is her daughters slightly older boyfriend. She follows any lead that she might have. They have had the usual teenage rebellion daughter relationship of late but when she finds out the real reason why her daughter left it leaves her in turmoil. A secret so damaging to everyone that she has kept for so long might now come out.
I thought that I had this storyline worked out but was completely thrown by the ending. I loved reading this book and will look out for more from this author.

Karen Cole really hit the mark with this book!

Joanna and her husband, Chris, had relocated with their two children to Cyprus. From the start, their daughter, Grace, had gone missing sometime during the school day on Monday. Grace is 16 years old and has a boyfriend, Tom, for 2 years. Of course this person is who Grace's parents first contact. He says he hadn't seen Grace either -since Saturday.

As the story becomes more intense, additional family and friends seem to be under suspicion. Is Grace even alive? Is she a runaway or had she been taken against her will? The police have been called in but have had no results. Joanna embarks on a one-woman crusade to find Grace. Chris helps, also, but their 11 year old son, Jack, needs their attention, too. So as not to leave any spoilers, let me just say that the twists begin early in this story and they keep on coming!

A brilliant read !

Many Thanks to Quercus Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review Deceive Me !

I really enjoyed reading this , it was fast paced and I was hooked straight away . Joanna and her husband Chris have relocated to Cyprus with their 2 children .Grace the eldest who is 16 is missing and Joanna and Chris search desperately to find her . We get to hear about Joanna's past in Cyprus where she had an affair with a married hotel owner that she worked for , resulting in Grace being born . There are so many suspects in Grace's disappearance , her older boyfriend , school friends and even Joanna's step dad are in the frame at one time or another . I was quite shocked at the twist , I was certainly not expecting it . The only criticism I have is that it seemed a bit short and it wrapped up a bit too quickly , this didn't spoil my enjoyment though .

Deceive Me is a good thriller that has some great twists. Well developed characters and a good storyline. A good book overall.

Deceive Me really deceived me and took me by surprise.
Having read dozens of psychological mystery thrillers, very few books stand really out as unique.

Karen Cole just did that, where she managed to take the recurrent theme of a case of a missing person and weaved and original and gripping mystery that was impossible to predict.

When Grace disappears her family frantically search for her. But things are not quite as they seem, and the deeper the investigation goes the more long buried cracks emerge with shocking consequences and an unforeseen ending.

Thanks Netgalley, Quercus Books, and author Karen Cole for a chance to review this book.

I really enjoyed this book, you wonder what gapped to the girl all the way through. What you find out was not expected at all. Good read and would recommend.

I've read hundreds (possibly thousands) of thrillers/mysteries, and I've written several of them as well. In other words, it takes a lot for a thriller to truly shock me, but Deceive Me did exactly that. And I don't just mean in a 'that was a great twist,' kind of way, but in a jaw hanging open, 'wow, I can't believe the author went there' kind of way. Not just once, either. The last portion of this book is full of several twists and turns that I defy anyone to honestly say they saw coming.

The basic setup is this: Grace, a 16-year-old living in Cyprus with her mother, step-father, and brother, disappears from school one day. Her family launches an exhaustive search to try to find her, but their efforts only seem to make things murkier. Grace's friends and boyfriend are evasive and, in some cases, flat out hostile. The authorities take a much closer look at the family than either parent is comfortable with. And soon, Grace's mother can't help but cast a suspicious eye on pretty much everyone.

What happened to Grace? And why? These are questions that set off an explosive chain reaction of stunning revelations. Most of the book flows in a way that's easily familiar to thriller fans and could have gone down any of a long list of easily guessable, mundane solutions. Karen Cole's ending gives readers so much more than the norm, though, and that makes this one of 2019's must-read thrillers.

What a head spinner, Joanne was a single parent to Grace, having had an affair with Hakan for whom she worked as an au pair in Cyprus, unwilling to leave his wife Helen and their children, Joanne had no choice but to go back to England. When Grace was about 3, she met Chris, they married and had another child, a happy ever after? When Grace was 16, they moved to Cyprus, Jo thought this would sever Grace's relationship with her older boyfriend Tom but turns out not to be the case as Tom turns up in Cyprus ditching his studies to follow his heart.

Grace goes missing, Jo had left her at school at 7.30 a.m., watched her go in, but when she arrives at home time to collect her, she's nowhere to be found, has she been kidnapped, run away, Jo has no idea, their relationship has been strained of late. After 24 hours, she has no option but to call on the local police for help but in the meantime, she carries out her own investigations and even crosses the border to the Greek Cypriot side to speak to Hakan, Grace's biological father.

I can't say much else for fear of ruining anything but suffice to say, your mind will be blown by revelations, incriminations and twists galore. Highly recommend it.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Quercus Books for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

A really solid read that kept my attention throughout. I found the characters believable and well written. I would recommend this.