What do you think?
Rate this book
The Decoy
Claire Rodenburg, a young British actress, pays the rent on her New York apartment the only way she can: as a decoy for a detective agency, entrapping straying husbands. When a client is murdered in macabre circumstances, she agrees to help the police entice the dead woman's husband into revealing whether he's the killer. But as Claire gets closer to their quarry, she begins to realize that she's not the only one who's playing a part. And as she pursues the shadowy figure of a serial killer across the Internet and through the dark fantasies of a nineteenth-century poet, she has to immerse herself in her role more deeply than she ever thought possible…
- GenresThriller
396 pages, Mass Market Paperback
Published November 26, 2002
1 person is currently reading
68 people want to read
About the author
Tony Strong
13 books117 followersTony Strong also writes under the pseudonym J.P. Delaney.
Tony Strong was born in 1962 in Uganda, though his parents came back to the UK when he was six weeks old. He read English at Oxford under the playwright and poet Francis Warner and then went on to work as an advertising copywriter at Ogilvy and Mather, an agency which had already bred writers such as Salman Rushdie and Fay Weldon.
Tony Strong has made more than thirty television commercials, including the celebrated BUPA 'You’re Amazing, We Want You To Stay That Way ' campaign, and the American Express campaign. He has won a BAFTA for a campaign aimed at reducing solvent abuse - one of the very few drug abuse campaigns that have ever been shown to have a measurable effect. Tony Strong was recently poached by Abbot Mead Vickers, whose main account is British Telecom. He has published four novels: THE POISON TREE, THE DEATH PIT, THE DECOY and TELL ME LIES. THE DECOY has been bought for film by Twentieth Century Fox for Arnold Kopelson. TELL ME LIES was recently adapted by Granada Television into a series entitled LIE TO ME.
He has also written under several pseudonyms, including Anthony Capella.
Tony Strong was born in 1962 in Uganda, though his parents came back to the UK when he was six weeks old. He read English at Oxford under the playwright and poet Francis Warner and then went on to work as an advertising copywriter at Ogilvy and Mather, an agency which had already bred writers such as Salman Rushdie and Fay Weldon.
Tony Strong has made more than thirty television commercials, including the celebrated BUPA 'You’re Amazing, We Want You To Stay That Way ' campaign, and the American Express campaign. He has won a BAFTA for a campaign aimed at reducing solvent abuse - one of the very few drug abuse campaigns that have ever been shown to have a measurable effect. Tony Strong was recently poached by Abbot Mead Vickers, whose main account is British Telecom. He has published four novels: THE POISON TREE, THE DEATH PIT, THE DECOY and TELL ME LIES. THE DECOY has been bought for film by Twentieth Century Fox for Arnold Kopelson. TELL ME LIES was recently adapted by Granada Television into a series entitled LIE TO ME.
He has also written under several pseudonyms, including Anthony Capella.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
August 23, 2017
Judging by the stamp inside the front cover of this, and a quick look back in my old diaries, I bought this over a decade ago for 10p in Wolverhampton library sale. I'm not sure why I left it so long to read it, it was in truth pretty good.
Possibly the English author but American setting didn't give me high expectations. This was an interesting concept for a book - a thriller involving a young actress recruited to act as a honey trap of sorts to try and get a murder suspect to let something slip. The plot was pretty damned good - some very good twists and a writing style that worked pretty well - but it never really had me won over because of a few things that irked me. Firstly it drifted oddly into erotic thriller territory at times, which seemed to be attempting to be mysterious and edgy by involving some (truthfully quite tame) S&M aspects, which seemed to be serving to try and act as a shortcut to characters falling for each other more realistically/gradually. Parts of this, and also descriptions of online communities, were clunky and didn't convince. In addition, I couldn't completely get past the fact that the forensic psychology at the centre of the story was based on since discredited mistake-ridden attempts to bring the murderer of Rachel Nickell to justice.
Possibly the English author but American setting didn't give me high expectations. This was an interesting concept for a book - a thriller involving a young actress recruited to act as a honey trap of sorts to try and get a murder suspect to let something slip. The plot was pretty damned good - some very good twists and a writing style that worked pretty well - but it never really had me won over because of a few things that irked me. Firstly it drifted oddly into erotic thriller territory at times, which seemed to be attempting to be mysterious and edgy by involving some (truthfully quite tame) S&M aspects, which seemed to be serving to try and act as a shortcut to characters falling for each other more realistically/gradually. Parts of this, and also descriptions of online communities, were clunky and didn't convince. In addition, I couldn't completely get past the fact that the forensic psychology at the centre of the story was based on since discredited mistake-ridden attempts to bring the murderer of Rachel Nickell to justice.
October 20, 2008
I certainly didn't expect the numerous twists and turns found in this novel. Originally, I found the first chapter a little hard going, but once I tried again it was a great read!
June 5, 2011
I searched for this book for years, only thing I can say is when I read it 7 years ago it I enjoyed it much more. I guess that me was more impressed than this me.
January 25, 2019
The Decoy is the book that was tweaked and rewritten to become Believe Me by J P Delaney.
Since I read Believe me first, I actually preferred that version of the story. The Decoy is just different enough to warrant it as not an exact copy.
Some of the characters names were different ( one of the main ones!) , some new ones, and what happened to them was different. Also this book was much more graphic as far as sex scenes and it was a darker book as far as content.
I will admit I skimmed through most of this book, because I already read the newer version, however I would stop and read the parts that were different..which there were quite a few.
It was an interesting experiment to read what was the first published story and how the author changed it. I am wondering what I would have felt had I read The Decoy first, before Believe Me. I will never know.
I think that Believe Me was a more likeable book is what it boiled down to.
I recommend this book, it was good, and truly interesting to see how much the author changed to create the newer version out today.
3 Stars.
Since I read Believe me first, I actually preferred that version of the story. The Decoy is just different enough to warrant it as not an exact copy.
Some of the characters names were different ( one of the main ones!) , some new ones, and what happened to them was different. Also this book was much more graphic as far as sex scenes and it was a darker book as far as content.
I will admit I skimmed through most of this book, because I already read the newer version, however I would stop and read the parts that were different..which there were quite a few.
It was an interesting experiment to read what was the first published story and how the author changed it. I am wondering what I would have felt had I read The Decoy first, before Believe Me. I will never know.
I think that Believe Me was a more likeable book is what it boiled down to.
I recommend this book, it was good, and truly interesting to see how much the author changed to create the newer version out today.
3 Stars.
May 15, 2017
Until about half way I was not particularly enjoying this. However the twist, when it comes is worth it.
August 29, 2017
Приятно садо-мазо трилърче с главен герой Кристиян, и то през 2002 — бая преди 50-те нюанса гняс да излезе изпод перото на оная недотакована такова :) Изданието е пълно с грешки — както правописни, така и смислови — затова не мога да му дам повече звездички, но, сравнено с Дивър и Крис Картър, и това му е много :)
August 27, 2012
I really enjoyed it, I would like to read more by this author
September 24, 2013
Excellent thriller
June 10, 2020
Not what I expected. There were interesting and unexpected twists and turns for sure in this book but overall not my cup of tea.
January 12, 2025
This is a mystery novel by Tony Strong, an author who goes by many different names. Hopefully this name will be abandoned soon if all the writing under this name is in this style.
A young unknown actress is asked by the police to help with an investigation to see if a man killed his wife. She is hired by them and put up in a bugged apartment to see if she can get him to confess. If any real police did this sort of thing as described in this book, I do not see how a conviction would ever stand.
The author tries to be too clever with their twists and turns and makes the whole plot seem unbelievable and people are not acting naturally or even believably to the point where I started to hope that one of them would kill the other to get this book over with.
The author changes their mind so often on who they want you to believe is the killer that is does not even read as a cohesive story, more like chapters out of a series of notes they made for the storyline, without ever checking if it actually made any sense at all. It is a pity for it started off quite well, but seemed to collapse as the book went on.
This is the literary equivalent of the trifle Rachel made in Friends - sweet and nice to start but when you hit the peas and mince all you want to do is spit it out.
I would recommend this book to someone who just wants to waste their time on something hoping it will improve.
A young unknown actress is asked by the police to help with an investigation to see if a man killed his wife. She is hired by them and put up in a bugged apartment to see if she can get him to confess. If any real police did this sort of thing as described in this book, I do not see how a conviction would ever stand.
The author tries to be too clever with their twists and turns and makes the whole plot seem unbelievable and people are not acting naturally or even believably to the point where I started to hope that one of them would kill the other to get this book over with.
The author changes their mind so often on who they want you to believe is the killer that is does not even read as a cohesive story, more like chapters out of a series of notes they made for the storyline, without ever checking if it actually made any sense at all. It is a pity for it started off quite well, but seemed to collapse as the book went on.
This is the literary equivalent of the trifle Rachel made in Friends - sweet and nice to start but when you hit the peas and mince all you want to do is spit it out.
I would recommend this book to someone who just wants to waste their time on something hoping it will improve.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews