Deception Station

by C.A. Gray

Entrepreneur Ethan DeTournay has devoted his life to two solving the problem of clean energy, and achieving full membership in the elite philanthropic Order of the Global Brotherhood. At last, he has an opportunity to potentially achieve both objectives at once. The only problem is, their mining operation would result in an environmental poison to the neighboring rural Mexican community. The Order considers this a reasonable sacrifice in the name of ‘the greater good.’ If he refuses, he’ll lose everything. When Ethan finds out that his ex-girlfriend Elle happens to be serving in that community as a local physician, though, he knows he can’t go through with it.

As Ethan attempts to regroup, Elle’s sister calls Ethan out of the blue, telling him she’s in trouble. Elle has always been ‘the one that got away,’ so Ethan is only too glad to drop everything and rescue her. Meanwhile, Ethan connects with Mitch, an elderly and eccentric billionaire with a secret archeological interest in an area of Antarctica, Deception Island, where Ethan suspects he can mine rare earth minerals without poisoning indigenous populations. Mitch offers to fund the expedition, provided they search for evidence of ancient civilizations along with the rare earth metals as well. Ethan suspects Mitch is crazy—after all, everyone knows that no native populations have ever lived on the coldest and most hostile continent on earth. But Mitch has the money and the connections for world-class mining and archaeology teams, as well as access to the fully renovated Deception Station. With no other options, Ethan accepts Mitch’s proposal, and manages to convince Elle to accompany the team as their physician. She anticipates a restful, if bitterly cold, vacation.

As soon as the teams arrive at Deception Station, though, strange things begin to occur. They find a structure buried beneath the ice that can only be manmade. One of the archaeology team members begins to have bizarre paranormal visions. And terminally ill Thierry Voltaire, chairman of the Order of the Global Brotherhood, is suddenly desperate to find them. All at once, Ethan, Elle, and the rest of the team find themselves thrust into the middle of a tale spanning the ages—one which could potentially rewrite human history as we know it.

361 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 27, 2024

About the author

C.A. Gray is the author of three YA Amazon bestselling trilogies: PIERCING THE VEIL (magic and quantum physics meet Arthurian legends), THE LIBERTY BOX (dystopian metaphysics and mind control technology), and UNCANNY VALLEY (dystopian coming-of-age with neuroscience and super intelligent A.I). She starts with some scientific concept that she’s interested in learning more about herself, and then creates lots of epic chaos and high-stakes action to go along with it. Her stories are free of gratuitous violence, language, and sexual content, and she abhors depressing endings… but they’re not all kittens and rainbows either! She also listens to and reviews audiobooks on her website, here on Goodreads, on Instagram, and on her podcast, Clean Audiobook Reviews, where she also occasionally interviews other authors. 

By day, C.A. Gray practices naturopathic medicine, podcasts, and writes medical non-fiction under her maiden name (Dr. Lauren Deville). She lives in Tucson, AZ with her husband Frank, and together they maintain an occasionally contentious film review blog (under her real name: Lauren Baden. Three names. Yes.) She’s kind of the queen of multitasking—so in her spare time, she creates whatever meals or crafts she found most recently on Pinterest, drinks lots of coffee (Aeropress btw) and occasional wine (reds—and she saves the corks for craft projects), works out (while listening to audiobooks), and studies the Bible—about half of the podcasts on Christian Natural Health are scripture meditations.

She does sleep, too. Promise.

Join her newsletter for best-of-the-month reads, freebies and giveaway information, as well as new releases! http://eepurl.com/F3rof

Reviews

[Cheryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had fun with this one. It's summertime for me and reading about a visit to Antarctica in this heat was exhilerating. The story was engaging; I could really picture the characters from the discriptions. There is a Book 2, but this one ended well.

[Kristen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was quite interesting. I was sucked in right away with the opening scene between two of the main characters. I enjoyed watching the different paths the two of them took in the book. You get to see how different people live out their lives in a world where energy is expensive and harmful to the environment to produce. Are you profiting of other people’s pain, just a member of the machine, or are you trying to stop it all from happening? This would be a great book to read with a group where you could come together and discuss why characters made certain decisions and what you would do in the same scenario. It definitely gives off a “good verses evil” kind of feel. There was great character development and the story was well written as always when it’s one of C.A. Gray’s books. There was also a lot of discussion about spirituality which I enjoyed but may not be everyone’s cup of tea. I was certainly intrigued by the ending and will have to read the next one to see what happens next.

[Cate · Rating 5 out of 5]

I lost some sleep over this book because I couldn’t put it down. Very interesting and exciting, with engaging characters and situations. It feels very “five minutes in the future” – only slightly futuristic – and entirely possible. I was on the edge of my seat. My only complaint is that it ends quite abruptly, and now I will have to wait (not very patiently) for the next installment to see what happens next. Supernatural, scifi, end times, and a trip to Antarctica. What more could you want?
I strongly recommend this book and pretty much everything this author writes. She’s one of my faves.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Darby · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was my first book by C.A. Gray. I liked the premise of the book, but I would have liked more information on the specifics of the energy crisis and how rations are determined. I liked the secret and possibly evil society, but I didn't connect with any of the characters. The female main character seemed insecure and the lead male character didn't have any substance for me.

I am also not a big fan of religion and found myself skipping over most of the dialogue related to the bible.

I'm sure the book will be liked by many, but it wasn't the one for me.

Thank you to BookSirens and C.A Gray for the eARC.

[Margaret · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such an amazing book! I had no expections, but was totally blown away. The characters were brought to life beautifully and the description of the environment was marvelous. But the main plot was the real gem of this book and so perfectly explained. Very hard to put down! I lost a lot of sleep! And the best part is that there is a book 2 to dive into? I have it and am ready to go!

I was given an advance copy of the book and am posting a voluntary review.

[Crystal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Deception Station

This story was incredible. A couple of college kids with a lot of business savvy and a drive to succeed. They have a couple of ventures that do okay, but they want more. When they are on the precise of all they ever dreamed of, one moves ahead and the other backs out. Their lives take vastly different (but parallel) paths.

#GoodreadsGiveaways

[Annazetta Henderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

My cousin read this and she absolutely loved it! She said it was one of the best books she read this year

[C.A. Gray · Rating 5 out of 5]

I recently finished the audio version of this - James R Cheatham does such a terrific job!

This was a different challenge to write -- the first time I'd ever attempted a thriller for adults.