Book cover of Deception Cove by Owen Laukkanen shows title, author's name, and a low view of a Pacific Northwest shoreline, with tall grass, rocky coastline, and a rocky island in the distance under a cloud-filled sky.

Deception Cove by Owen Laukkanen

Genre: thriller

Publisher: Mulholland Books

Release Date: May 21, 2019

Thanks to #NetGalley and Mulholland Books for a free review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Summary of Deception Cove

Haunted by violent flashbacks, former U.S. Marine Jess Winslow is struggling both internally and externally. Her no-good husband has died, leaving her with a crappy house, broken dreams, and a huge headache: Deception Cove’s corrupt deputy sheriff, Kirby Harwood, claims Jess’s late husband Ty had taken some valuable (though unspecified) item that was rightfully Kirby’s and hidden it. He demands that Jess find it. Problem is, Jess has no idea what “it” is, much less where her always-scheming husband might hide something.

Kirby and his cohorts won’t take that as an answer, though. Feeling threatened, Jess’s companion dog Lucy bites Kirby. As a result, the police take Lucy to destroy her as a public menace. But there’s no one else who helps with Jess’s PTSD. No one who can help.

Mason Burke is struggling, too. After fifteen years behind bars, he doesn’t know how to act as a civilian. Through a service-animal training program, Mason trained Lucy. He decides to check up on her. When he finds that his old canine pal is in trouble, he tracks her to Deception Cove and meets Jess. Though neither is inclined to trust the other, they are forced to work together to free the dog they both love–and fight the police corruption in Deception Cove. But when they search for the mysterious hidden item, they find themselves in a battle with ruthless people. And as they both know too well, there’s no guarantee that they’ll survive.

My thoughts

This book grabbed me from the start. Why? Glad you asked.

The characterizations are superb.

Jess and Mason both battle with doubts, fears, and wounds. They battle in different ways, though. Jess tends to plan and shoot, and considers the possibility of suicide. Mason, who reluctantly read the Bible in prison, lets it guide his actions. The tension between the two is clear from the start and it builds throughout the book.

It’s interesting that Laukkanen gives little-to-no physical description of either Mason or Jess. The only thing he mentions is that Mason is muscular. We’re given more physical description of sweet floppy-eared Lucy than our human protagonists! Yet my imagination filled in that gap and I had a distinct mental image of both Jess and Mason. I bet that if I compared mental descriptions with other readers’, our ideas would be different but they’d all be equally valid. I rather like this technique. It’s refreshing not to have a female protagonist’s appearance described in detail, and it’s refreshing to see both genders treated the same in this regard. Their appearance simply doesn’t matter for this story; their personalities and characters do.

The antagonists aren’t one-dimensional “bad” guys.

Laukkanen gives us their points of view and we see people like Kirby, his other officers, and the ironically-named drug trafficker Joy as people with aspirations and goals, dreams and fears.

They all have moments of humanity, moments when we, the readers, can identify with them. Who hasn’t dreamed of great accomplishments, only to find the world harder to conquer than we’d realized? Who hasn’t lived with the disappointment of not fulfilling their potential? Or made a wrong decision and lived to regret it? Or want a better life for their family? Or desperate to solve a problem? I can identify with these things. So can the antagonists. It makes them human and desperate, but not beyond redemption.   

The terrific characterizations don’t stop with the major characters, though. Even minor characters, such as Shelby (Kirby’s secretary and Ty’s fling), have a surprising amount of depth. Sure, she was screwing Ty while his wife was deployed, but she’s capable of loyalty, courage, and sacrifice.

Lucy is a well-developed canine character.

Lucy has her own battles to fight. She was rescued from abusers who planned to use her for dogfights. Thanks to flashbacks to the prison training program, we get to see her grow from a terrified dog, unwilling to leave her kennel, to a loving, if skittish, dog whose loyalty to her troubled owner puts her at risk.

But she’s not one-dimensional, either. She can act perturbed at certain . . . um, bedroom activities, or distressed at Jess’ nightmares, or playful with Mason. She even acts the “traitor” by cozying up to minor characters (to the disgust of her owner) and “helps” Jess and Mason get more information than they otherwise would’ve received. Dogs are natural icebreakers.

Laukkanen flips gender expectations.

Without giving away major plot points, let’s just say that there are times when Jess is more knowledgeable about traditionally “male” things than Mason. But Mason has the courage to ask for help and is willing to accept Jess as a leader. That endears him to her and to us.

Laukkanen raises the stakes throughout the book.

It’s not enough just to make the situation bad. He has to keep making it worse. And right when I thought things couldn’t get worse, guess what? They do. Plenty of action. Plenty of twists and turns.

This is a powerful novel. The possibility of redemption runs throughout the story. People lose their way, sometimes through their own fault and sometimes not, but they can be rescued. Like Lucy, the rescue dog, they need others to give them a chance.  Deception Cove isn’t just another adrenaline rush thriller, easily read and forgotten. This is a story that will haunt you, move you, and make you look at others differently. 

(Note: I received a copy of Deception Cove in exchange for an honest review. This review also appears on Goodreads and will appear on Amazon after the publication day.)