Deadly Deception

by Margaret Thomson Davis

Set in a Glasgow high-rise, A Deadly Deception centres on Mabel Smith who lives alone in one of the flats. Her selfish parents had used Mabel as a slave and they effectively ruined her life but now they are both dead. Mabel is now getting older and her crippling arthritis means she can only hobble about with the help of her sticks. She feels terribly bitter and lonely. Then, one day, sitting in the doctor's waiting room flicking through a magazine, Mabel notices adverts for phone-sex. She is shocked and appalled but stuffs the magazine into her bag all the same. Later, she finds out how the system works and decides it could be an easy way to make some much-needed extra cash. A thirty-nine-year-old man called John begins phoning her. Mabel tells him her name is Angela and she and John gradually form a close and loving relationship. He, too, is lonely and bitter, after being cruelly deserted by his wife, and he soon becomes eager to find out everything about Angela, especially what she looks like. Mabel then describes a beautiful blonde girl she has seen in the building. John becomes more and more desperate to meet Angela but she keeps putting him off. Eventually he resolves to find her and punish her for tormenting him. After following various clues, he finds the high-rise complex and begins watching it. Finally, he spots a beautiful blonde girl who exactly fits the description he has of Angela but she is clinging to a young man. Feeling jealous and betrayed, John thoughts become murderous and he plans deadly revenge. A Deadly Deception is a rivetting read, a real page-turner that will keep readers on the edge of their seats.

256 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2005

About the author

A prolific author, admired for her depiction of the Scottish working class communities.

Reviews

[Val Penny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Margaret Thompson Davis has lived in Glasgow, Scotland, since the age of 3. She left school at the age of sixteen, working as a children’s nurse and having a variety of other jobs before achieving her ambition of becoming a writer. She is a Scottish author who has forty novels published and also over two hundred short stories published and broadcast in the UK and overseas. A Deadly Deception is a suspense thriller and it is her first venture in to crime fiction.

The story is set in a Glasgow high-rise tenement building and centres on Mabel Smith who lives alone in one of the flats. Her selfish parents had used Mabel as a slave and effectively ruined her life but now they are both dead. However, Mabel is getting older and her crippling arthritis means she must hobble about with the help of her sticks.

Mabel feels terribly bitter and lonely. Then, one day, sitting in the doctor’s waiting room flicking through a magazine, she notices adverts for phone-sex. She is shocked and appalled but stuffs the magazine into her bag all the same! She makes a point of finding out how the system works and decides it could be an easy way to make some extra cash. A thirty-nine-year-old man called John begins phoning her. Mabel tells him her name is Angela and she and John gradually form a close and loving relationship.

John is also lonely and bitter, after being cruelly deserted by his wife, and he soon becomes eager to find out everything about Angela, especially what she looks like. Mabel then describes a beautiful blonde girl she has seen. John becomes more and more desperate to meet Angela but she keeps putting him off. Eventually he resolves to find her and punish her for tormenting him. So he follows various clues and finds the high-rise tenement and begins to watch it.

Finally, he spots a beautiful blonde girl who exactly fits the description he has of Angela but she is clinging to a young man. Feeling jealous and betrayed, John thoughts become murderous and he plans deadly revenge. A Deadly Deception is a riveting read, a real page-turner that will keep readers on the edge of their seats. This maybe a first foray into the world of crime for Margaret Thomson Davis, but I hope it will not be her last. I really enjoyed the book.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the story of Mabel, an elderly spinster crippled by arthritis, who sets herself up selling phone sex, to earn some extra cash. When asked by a regular customer John, what she looks like and what she is wearing etc, Mabel describes a beautiful young blonde neighbour, wishing to be her in her fantasy world. When John's obsession with Mabel becomes a reality and he wants to meet with her, things spiral out of Mabel's control, with disastrous consequences that Mabel could never have imagined.
The setting of this book was a trip down memory lane for me as I lived near this area as a child and can remember the flats Mabel lives in, the bus stops, the park, the streets and the shops which are all accurately described.
I enjoyed this novel which I found to be a light easy read.

[Linda · Rating 2 out of 5]

A nice easy read but it didn't really get into it enough for me - too nice if thats the right word, it could have gone really dark but it kept everthing a bit too nice and some of the story lines were sort of building up to something then went nowhere, it would be nice to know the stories behing the ladies in the Safe House etc. and what happened to them, it was a little too short but I did enjoy it.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed this one, Mabel, an elderly spinster, lives alone in a high rise flat. She ventures into the world of phone sex lines to make a bit of money but one client becomes fixated on her. Trouble is Mabel has given him a description of a young woman in the flats, things take a sinister turn when he try’s tracking her down.

[Wendy]

Quite a thriller, very enjoyable without getting too scarey

[The Bookish Wombat · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to like this more than I actually did as the premise sounded great and I was looking forward to the Glasgow setting. I've only read one of the author's previous books and I had the same issues with both. There are long passages of the history of Glasgow and of particular settings in the novels which slow the action down and don't really add anything - it feels as if she couldn't bear not to use all the research she did and shoehorns it in. Secondly, I'd have preferred more dialogue to the third-person narration used. I always feel that characters reveal more about themselves in what they say and how they say it than any narrator can. Having said that, I did find the book enjoyable, but was sorry not to have enjoyed it more.