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By Her Own Hand
Madeline Crowne escapes a violent home, discovers love for the first time, but war and betrayal threaten to destroy it.
Seeking a world away from abuse, she joins the army. Her first deployment is Afghanistan. Initially a hero, she is later accused of a war crime she did not commit. On the run, near death, she is saved by a woman named Mira, a survivor of the civil wars of Lebanon.
Shared sorrows seem to form a perfect friendship, but in time desire and deceit cast shadows. Mira is an illegal arms dealer, drawing Madeline into an underworld as a means of seduction.
In another part of the Afghan war, Eliot Lange is accused of desertion as he tried to save a comrade. Panicked, he flees to America.
Madeline sees through Mira's duplicity, rejects her advances and finds a way home. Madeline and Eliot's paths intersect in their native Sacramento, where they fall in love, but the FBI is pursuing them. And Eliot is holding back a fearful secret, for he has a distant connection to Mira. Before he can confess, the FBI is closing in. Mira finds them first. Spurned, jealous, she has a plan for a perfect revenge.
Seeking a world away from abuse, she joins the army. Her first deployment is Afghanistan. Initially a hero, she is later accused of a war crime she did not commit. On the run, near death, she is saved by a woman named Mira, a survivor of the civil wars of Lebanon.
Shared sorrows seem to form a perfect friendship, but in time desire and deceit cast shadows. Mira is an illegal arms dealer, drawing Madeline into an underworld as a means of seduction.
In another part of the Afghan war, Eliot Lange is accused of desertion as he tried to save a comrade. Panicked, he flees to America.
Madeline sees through Mira's duplicity, rejects her advances and finds a way home. Madeline and Eliot's paths intersect in their native Sacramento, where they fall in love, but the FBI is pursuing them. And Eliot is holding back a fearful secret, for he has a distant connection to Mira. Before he can confess, the FBI is closing in. Mira finds them first. Spurned, jealous, she has a plan for a perfect revenge.
342 pages, Paperback
First published December 16, 2025
About the author
Jack Deveny
2 books44 followersJack Deveny writes fiction based on strong female leads facing impossible odds. As an empath, he finds it easier to write from a woman’s point of view.
His first novel, “Blind Triangle” received five-star reviews from two of Amazon’s top reviewers. His second novel, “By Her Own Hand” deals with a woman struggling to hold on to love amidst war. He’s also had a play produced and several poems published.
When he’s not writing, he’s dancing Argentine tango with his beloved wife, Jackie as you can see from his author photo. Tango was Jack’s idea, but Jackie quickly gravitated to it.
He has an MA in psychology and worked for a time as a psychotherapist.
His first novel, “Blind Triangle” received five-star reviews from two of Amazon’s top reviewers. His second novel, “By Her Own Hand” deals with a woman struggling to hold on to love amidst war. He’s also had a play produced and several poems published.
When he’s not writing, he’s dancing Argentine tango with his beloved wife, Jackie as you can see from his author photo. Tango was Jack’s idea, but Jackie quickly gravitated to it.
He has an MA in psychology and worked for a time as a psychotherapist.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
October 8, 2026
The Wishing Shelf Book Awards
EDITORIAL REVIEW
6th October 2026
TITLE: By Her Own Hand
AUTHOR: Jack Deveny
Star Rating: 4
“They survived the war. Now they must face the past, the truth… and everything standing between them.” Wishing Shelf
REVIEW
I really enjoyed By Her Own Hand by Jack Deveny. It’s the sort of novels that throws a lot at you: romance, war, PTSD, trauma, secrets, danger and plenty of emotional drama, but somehow keeps you wanting to know what’s going to happen next.
I especially liked Madeline and Eliot. They’re both carrying a lot of baggage from their pasts, and I thought their relationship was one of the strongest parts of the story. There’s something really touching about two people who understand each other’s pain and slowly find comfort in one another. Their story has some genuinely emotional moments.
There’s also a good amount of suspense, and just when you think things might finally calm down, something else seems to go wrong! I definitely found myself wondering how Madeline and Eliot were ever going to get out of some of the situations they found themselves in.
If I had one criticism, it would be that there were times when the story felt a little overdramatic, and I occasionally wanted things to slow down and breathe. A few parts could probably have been tightened up too. But honestly, the emotional intensity is also part of what makes the book so engaging.
Overall, this was an emotional and dramatic read with plenty going on. I liked the mix of romance and suspense, and I enjoyed watching Madeline and Eliot try to come to terms with everything they’d been through.
Definitely worth picking up if you enjoy romantic stories with troubled characters, danger, secrets and a few twists along the way.
A ‘Wishing Shelf’ Book Review
www.thewsa.co.uk
EDITORIAL REVIEW
6th October 2026
TITLE: By Her Own Hand
AUTHOR: Jack Deveny
Star Rating: 4
“They survived the war. Now they must face the past, the truth… and everything standing between them.” Wishing Shelf
REVIEW
I really enjoyed By Her Own Hand by Jack Deveny. It’s the sort of novels that throws a lot at you: romance, war, PTSD, trauma, secrets, danger and plenty of emotional drama, but somehow keeps you wanting to know what’s going to happen next.
I especially liked Madeline and Eliot. They’re both carrying a lot of baggage from their pasts, and I thought their relationship was one of the strongest parts of the story. There’s something really touching about two people who understand each other’s pain and slowly find comfort in one another. Their story has some genuinely emotional moments.
There’s also a good amount of suspense, and just when you think things might finally calm down, something else seems to go wrong! I definitely found myself wondering how Madeline and Eliot were ever going to get out of some of the situations they found themselves in.
If I had one criticism, it would be that there were times when the story felt a little overdramatic, and I occasionally wanted things to slow down and breathe. A few parts could probably have been tightened up too. But honestly, the emotional intensity is also part of what makes the book so engaging.
Overall, this was an emotional and dramatic read with plenty going on. I liked the mix of romance and suspense, and I enjoyed watching Madeline and Eliot try to come to terms with everything they’d been through.
Definitely worth picking up if you enjoy romantic stories with troubled characters, danger, secrets and a few twists along the way.
A ‘Wishing Shelf’ Book Review
www.thewsa.co.uk
July 9, 2026
First time for everything: a book I have given up on and will not finish. Not sure why I even downloaded this. It popped up as a Goodreads recommendation. It is not anywhere in the genres I read. It’s post-War in Afghanistan. 2 vets on the run from something: fbi, cia, MP, some other shadowy orgs. 20% in and it’s not clear who from or why. But also they are searching for other vets (a brother & a friend). They don’t seem to make smart decisions trying to evade these shadow orgs. And that’s where I gave up.
It’s also written stream of consciousness with abrupt point of view jumping (no break or warning), so it’s difficult to kernel up with whose thoughts you are reading.
It’s also written stream of consciousness with abrupt point of view jumping (no break or warning), so it’s difficult to kernel up with whose thoughts you are reading.
August 28, 2026
Jack Deveny’s By Her Own Hand is a war novel, romance, and psychological thriller built around two soldiers who come home carrying much more than memories of Afghanistan. Madeline Crowne and Eliot Lange are both fugitives in their own ways, haunted by disastrous moments in combat that left innocent people dead and their own lives shattered. Madeline’s guilt is especially central to the story. She enters the military partly to escape the pain of leaving her abused younger brother behind, only to accidentally kill a pregnant Afghan woman during a chaotic firefight. Eliot carries a parallel burden after trying to protect his best friend, Will, during a severe PTSD episode and accidentally causing the death of an Afghan civilian. Those opening events give the novel its emotional foundation and explain why both characters see themselves as guilty even when the circumstances are far more complicated.
What makes the novel so interesting is how quickly it moves from the battlefield into a much more personal story. Madeline and Eliot find comfort in each other, and their relationship becomes the safest place either of them has known. Their romance is tender, physical, and sometimes intensely sentimental, but that fits these characters because affection isn’t just affection to them. Holding hands, sleeping beside someone, or being touched without fear becomes evidence that life can still contain something good. Deveny frequently shifts perspective between Madeline and Eliot, letting readers experience how differently they carry similar kinds of guilt. At the same time, the story keeps widening. Madeline’s search for her addicted brother, Eliot’s concern for Will, and the dangerous Mira all pull the couple back toward the violence they’re trying to escape. Mira is especially important because her history with Madeline connects love, jealousy, exploitation, and revenge, giving the novel much of its thriller energy.
In that sense, By Her Own Hand reminded me somewhat of Kristin Hannah’s The Women. Both stories are deeply interested in what happens after combat, especially when a soldier returns carrying guilt and trauma that ordinary life can’t easily absorb. Deveny takes a more action-driven and romantic approach, mixing PTSD, crime, pursuit, international travel, and courtroom drama into the same story. His characters tend to experience everything at full emotional volume, so the book has the feel of a sweeping melodrama as much as a military novel. That intensity works best when Madeline and Eliot’s private pain collides with the question of how other people judge what happened in war. By the final sections, the chase has evolved into a legal reckoning, and the same events that have tortured the characters internally have to be retold as evidence, testimony, and competing versions of the truth. Madeline’s trial, for example, forces witnesses to confront how little certainty can exist in the smoke and confusion of combat.
What I liked most was the book’s belief that healing can become a responsibility. Madeline and Eliot don’t just want to survive what happened to them. By the end, they begin imagining lives built around helping people who have suffered in ways they understand personally. Eliot wants to work with veterans who have PTSD in honor of Will, while Madeline considers helping wrongly accused veterans or women affected by sex trafficking. That ending gives the title another dimension. The characters have spent much of the novel feeling as though their own hands caused destruction, but those same hands can eventually comfort, defend, and rebuild. It’s a very earnest novel, and its mix of war, romance, trauma, crime, and redemption gives it an unusually broad emotional range. For readers who like character-driven stories where love is tangled up with guilt, danger, and the difficult work of living after violence, By Her Own Hand has plenty to hold onto.
What makes the novel so interesting is how quickly it moves from the battlefield into a much more personal story. Madeline and Eliot find comfort in each other, and their relationship becomes the safest place either of them has known. Their romance is tender, physical, and sometimes intensely sentimental, but that fits these characters because affection isn’t just affection to them. Holding hands, sleeping beside someone, or being touched without fear becomes evidence that life can still contain something good. Deveny frequently shifts perspective between Madeline and Eliot, letting readers experience how differently they carry similar kinds of guilt. At the same time, the story keeps widening. Madeline’s search for her addicted brother, Eliot’s concern for Will, and the dangerous Mira all pull the couple back toward the violence they’re trying to escape. Mira is especially important because her history with Madeline connects love, jealousy, exploitation, and revenge, giving the novel much of its thriller energy.
In that sense, By Her Own Hand reminded me somewhat of Kristin Hannah’s The Women. Both stories are deeply interested in what happens after combat, especially when a soldier returns carrying guilt and trauma that ordinary life can’t easily absorb. Deveny takes a more action-driven and romantic approach, mixing PTSD, crime, pursuit, international travel, and courtroom drama into the same story. His characters tend to experience everything at full emotional volume, so the book has the feel of a sweeping melodrama as much as a military novel. That intensity works best when Madeline and Eliot’s private pain collides with the question of how other people judge what happened in war. By the final sections, the chase has evolved into a legal reckoning, and the same events that have tortured the characters internally have to be retold as evidence, testimony, and competing versions of the truth. Madeline’s trial, for example, forces witnesses to confront how little certainty can exist in the smoke and confusion of combat.
What I liked most was the book’s belief that healing can become a responsibility. Madeline and Eliot don’t just want to survive what happened to them. By the end, they begin imagining lives built around helping people who have suffered in ways they understand personally. Eliot wants to work with veterans who have PTSD in honor of Will, while Madeline considers helping wrongly accused veterans or women affected by sex trafficking. That ending gives the title another dimension. The characters have spent much of the novel feeling as though their own hands caused destruction, but those same hands can eventually comfort, defend, and rebuild. It’s a very earnest novel, and its mix of war, romance, trauma, crime, and redemption gives it an unusually broad emotional range. For readers who like character-driven stories where love is tangled up with guilt, danger, and the difficult work of living after violence, By Her Own Hand has plenty to hold onto.
September 3, 2026
Jack Deveny’s By Her Own Hand: War and Passion in a Woman’s Wounded Heart follows two decorated soldiers whose lives have been profoundly shaped by war, trauma, betrayal, and an enduring desire to find somewhere, and someone, with whom they can finally feel safe.
Madeline Crowne escapes an abusive home by joining the Army, eventually rising from survivor to hero during her deployment in Afghanistan. Her hard-won sense of purpose is shattered when she is falsely accused of a war crime and becomes the target of a global manhunt. She is rescued by Mira, a survivor of Lebanon’s civil wars, and the two women form an intense bond based on their shared suffering. Mira’s secret life as an illegal arms dealer transforms their connection into a dangerous mixture of obsession, loyalty, and betrayal. Back in the United States, Madeline meets Eliot Lange, another soldier on the run after being accused of desertion. Their immediate chemistry is tempered by fragile trust, as both carry the emotional scars of civilian deaths, abandonment, and choices made in the chaos of war.
Madeline is a compelling protagonist because her strength never completely erases her vulnerability. Her journey from an abused woman seeking escape to a courageous soldier, hunted fugitive, and ultimately someone determined to use her suffering for a greater purpose gives the story considerable emotional depth. Her relationships with Mira and Eliot reveal contrasting aspects of her character: Mira represents a dangerous but intoxicating understanding of shared trauma. Eliot offers the possibility of tenderness, trust, and healing. Eliot brings a gentler energy to the narrative, particularly through his devotion to his traumatized friend Will and his growing tenderness toward Madeline. Their romance feels more convincing because neither character is magically rescued by the other. Instead, their relationship develops through an understanding of pain and the difficult process of relearning to trust.
At its heart, the novel explores trauma, survival, loyalty, forgiveness, love, and the moral complexities of war. Deveny gives particular attention to the emotional consequences of violence, showing that surviving a conflict does not mean simply leaving the battlefield behind. The novel’s most meaningful lesson is that healing does not necessarily require forgetting or overcoming the past; sometimes it means learning to carry those wounds without allowing them to determine the future. Their eventual commitment to service, compassion, and helping others who have suffered as they have give their journeys a hopeful sense of purpose.
Deveny’s writing combines military drama, psychological tension, romance, and suspense, creating a story that moves between external danger and the characters’ internal battles. The pacing keeps the narrative engaging, particularly as Madeline’s flight, Mira’s betrayal, and Eliot’s own troubled circumstances gradually intersect. Readers who prefer straightforward military thrillers may find the novel’s emphasis on emotional wounds and relationships slower in places, but those elements are also what give the story its heart. By Her Own Hand is ultimately a story about damaged people searching for redemption without pretending that love can erase the scars of war.
Madeline Crowne escapes an abusive home by joining the Army, eventually rising from survivor to hero during her deployment in Afghanistan. Her hard-won sense of purpose is shattered when she is falsely accused of a war crime and becomes the target of a global manhunt. She is rescued by Mira, a survivor of Lebanon’s civil wars, and the two women form an intense bond based on their shared suffering. Mira’s secret life as an illegal arms dealer transforms their connection into a dangerous mixture of obsession, loyalty, and betrayal. Back in the United States, Madeline meets Eliot Lange, another soldier on the run after being accused of desertion. Their immediate chemistry is tempered by fragile trust, as both carry the emotional scars of civilian deaths, abandonment, and choices made in the chaos of war.
Madeline is a compelling protagonist because her strength never completely erases her vulnerability. Her journey from an abused woman seeking escape to a courageous soldier, hunted fugitive, and ultimately someone determined to use her suffering for a greater purpose gives the story considerable emotional depth. Her relationships with Mira and Eliot reveal contrasting aspects of her character: Mira represents a dangerous but intoxicating understanding of shared trauma. Eliot offers the possibility of tenderness, trust, and healing. Eliot brings a gentler energy to the narrative, particularly through his devotion to his traumatized friend Will and his growing tenderness toward Madeline. Their romance feels more convincing because neither character is magically rescued by the other. Instead, their relationship develops through an understanding of pain and the difficult process of relearning to trust.
At its heart, the novel explores trauma, survival, loyalty, forgiveness, love, and the moral complexities of war. Deveny gives particular attention to the emotional consequences of violence, showing that surviving a conflict does not mean simply leaving the battlefield behind. The novel’s most meaningful lesson is that healing does not necessarily require forgetting or overcoming the past; sometimes it means learning to carry those wounds without allowing them to determine the future. Their eventual commitment to service, compassion, and helping others who have suffered as they have give their journeys a hopeful sense of purpose.
Deveny’s writing combines military drama, psychological tension, romance, and suspense, creating a story that moves between external danger and the characters’ internal battles. The pacing keeps the narrative engaging, particularly as Madeline’s flight, Mira’s betrayal, and Eliot’s own troubled circumstances gradually intersect. Readers who prefer straightforward military thrillers may find the novel’s emphasis on emotional wounds and relationships slower in places, but those elements are also what give the story its heart. By Her Own Hand is ultimately a story about damaged people searching for redemption without pretending that love can erase the scars of war.
December 29, 2025
‘One cruelty creates another. It has to stop somewhere’ – A superb new novel!
California author Jack Deveny blends his gifts as a psychotherapist, empath, poet, playwright, and novelist with the very welcome arrival of his second novel BY HER OWN HAND. His initial novel, BLIND TRIANGLE, struck a chord of resonance with this reader, and it is most satisfying to share that his power as an author of significance continues to grow: his ability to sculpt strong female leads to pace his propelling stories of military fiction places him on the stage of prominent authors.
Establishing an atmosphere to captivate attention is a skill Deveny owns, as the opening lines of this immersive novel reveal: ‘Eliot Lange knew it was only a matter of time until his best friend, Will Madsen, did something deadly. It had to happen, but when would it be? ...Eliot had been forced to go and fight in Afghanistan in 2012, by his military father as a punishment. But Will had not needed to go. So, why had he insisted on doing so? What possible difference could two men from Sacramento, in their early twenties, make in a land where war might never end? And why would Will, by far the gentler of the two, take up arms?...’
Deveny’s central character, Madeline Crowne, reflects his own history of early years dealing with an abusive, drug addled, violent environment: Crowne has escaped a violent home, and as the distilled story reveals, she ‘discovers love for the first time, but war and betrayal threated to destroy it. Seeking a world away from abuse, she joins the army. Her first deployment is Afghanistan. Initially a hero, she is later accused of a war crime she did not commit. On the run, near death, she is saved by a woman named Mira, a survivor of the civil wars of Lebanon. Shared sorrows seem to form a perfect friendship, but in time desire and deceit cast shadows. Mira is an illegal arms dealer, drawing Madeline into an underworld as a means of seduction. In another part of the Afghan war, Eliot Lange is accused of desertion as he tried to save a comrade. Panicked, he flees to America. Madeline sees through Mira's duplicity, rejects her advances and finds a way home. Madeline and Eliot's paths intersect in their native Sacramento, where they fall in love, but the FBI is pursuing them. And Eliot is holding back a fearful secret, for he has a distant connection to Mira. Before he can confess, the FBI is closing in. Mira finds them first. Spurned, jealous, she has a plan for a perfect revenge.’
Great characters and an immersive plot, this book further elevates the position of this author on the ladder of successful novelists. Highly recommended
California author Jack Deveny blends his gifts as a psychotherapist, empath, poet, playwright, and novelist with the very welcome arrival of his second novel BY HER OWN HAND. His initial novel, BLIND TRIANGLE, struck a chord of resonance with this reader, and it is most satisfying to share that his power as an author of significance continues to grow: his ability to sculpt strong female leads to pace his propelling stories of military fiction places him on the stage of prominent authors.
Establishing an atmosphere to captivate attention is a skill Deveny owns, as the opening lines of this immersive novel reveal: ‘Eliot Lange knew it was only a matter of time until his best friend, Will Madsen, did something deadly. It had to happen, but when would it be? ...Eliot had been forced to go and fight in Afghanistan in 2012, by his military father as a punishment. But Will had not needed to go. So, why had he insisted on doing so? What possible difference could two men from Sacramento, in their early twenties, make in a land where war might never end? And why would Will, by far the gentler of the two, take up arms?...’
Deveny’s central character, Madeline Crowne, reflects his own history of early years dealing with an abusive, drug addled, violent environment: Crowne has escaped a violent home, and as the distilled story reveals, she ‘discovers love for the first time, but war and betrayal threated to destroy it. Seeking a world away from abuse, she joins the army. Her first deployment is Afghanistan. Initially a hero, she is later accused of a war crime she did not commit. On the run, near death, she is saved by a woman named Mira, a survivor of the civil wars of Lebanon. Shared sorrows seem to form a perfect friendship, but in time desire and deceit cast shadows. Mira is an illegal arms dealer, drawing Madeline into an underworld as a means of seduction. In another part of the Afghan war, Eliot Lange is accused of desertion as he tried to save a comrade. Panicked, he flees to America. Madeline sees through Mira's duplicity, rejects her advances and finds a way home. Madeline and Eliot's paths intersect in their native Sacramento, where they fall in love, but the FBI is pursuing them. And Eliot is holding back a fearful secret, for he has a distant connection to Mira. Before he can confess, the FBI is closing in. Mira finds them first. Spurned, jealous, she has a plan for a perfect revenge.’
Great characters and an immersive plot, this book further elevates the position of this author on the ladder of successful novelists. Highly recommended
August 1, 2026
By Her Own Hand is a sweeping blend of war novel, psychological drama, romance, and fugitive thriller. Jack Deveny centers the story on Madeline Crowne and Eliot Lange, two decorated soldiers carrying the moral injuries of Afghanistan into an uncertain life back home. Both are haunted by civilian deaths, abandonment, and the fear that a single terrible moment has defined them forever. Their growing love gives the novel its emotional center, while accusations of war crimes, an international arms trafficker, and a relentless pursuit keep the story moving. The book’s subtitle, “War and passion in a woman’s wounded heart,” captures its central tension beautifully.
Madeline is the novel’s driving force. She’s fierce, vulnerable, sexually candid, and burdened by guilt that reaches back to her childhood and her brother John’s suffering. Her relationships with Eliot and Mira reveal different sides of her hunger for safety, loyalty, and forgiveness. Eliot, meanwhile, brings a gentler energy to the story. His devotion to his traumatized friend Will and his tenderness toward Madeline give the romance genuine warmth. Their intimacy is presented as more than desire. It becomes a private language through which two damaged people recognize each other and begin imagining a future.
Deveny writes with emotional directness and a strong visual instinct. Combat scenes arrive in flashes of blood, smoke, confusion, and irreversible choices, while quieter moments linger over hands, scars, clothing, rooms, and treasured objects. The shifting viewpoints bring readers close to the characters’ thoughts, and the story moves confidently from Afghanistan to Sacramento, Libya, Beirut, and military courtrooms. At times, the intensity is almost unbroken, but that sustained pressure suits characters who can’t simply step away from their memories. The novel is deeply interested in moral injury, especially the painful distance between what a person intended and what their actions caused.
What stays with you is the book’s belief that remorse can become a source of purpose. Madeline and Eliot don’t erase their wounds. They learn to carry them toward service, compassion, and a life devoted to people suffering as they have suffered. By the closing pages, justice matters, but mercy matters more, and love becomes an active choice. By Her Own Hand is a fierce and intimate story of two wounded soldiers who discover that love can’t undo the past, but it can teach the heart what to do with it.
Madeline is the novel’s driving force. She’s fierce, vulnerable, sexually candid, and burdened by guilt that reaches back to her childhood and her brother John’s suffering. Her relationships with Eliot and Mira reveal different sides of her hunger for safety, loyalty, and forgiveness. Eliot, meanwhile, brings a gentler energy to the story. His devotion to his traumatized friend Will and his tenderness toward Madeline give the romance genuine warmth. Their intimacy is presented as more than desire. It becomes a private language through which two damaged people recognize each other and begin imagining a future.
Deveny writes with emotional directness and a strong visual instinct. Combat scenes arrive in flashes of blood, smoke, confusion, and irreversible choices, while quieter moments linger over hands, scars, clothing, rooms, and treasured objects. The shifting viewpoints bring readers close to the characters’ thoughts, and the story moves confidently from Afghanistan to Sacramento, Libya, Beirut, and military courtrooms. At times, the intensity is almost unbroken, but that sustained pressure suits characters who can’t simply step away from their memories. The novel is deeply interested in moral injury, especially the painful distance between what a person intended and what their actions caused.
What stays with you is the book’s belief that remorse can become a source of purpose. Madeline and Eliot don’t erase their wounds. They learn to carry them toward service, compassion, and a life devoted to people suffering as they have suffered. By the closing pages, justice matters, but mercy matters more, and love becomes an active choice. By Her Own Hand is a fierce and intimate story of two wounded soldiers who discover that love can’t undo the past, but it can teach the heart what to do with it.
June 16, 2026
‘One cruelty creates another. It has to stop somewhere’ – A superb new novel!
California author Jack Deveny blends his gifts as a psychotherapist, empath, poet, playwright, and novelist with the very welcome arrival of his second novel BY HER OWN HAND. His initial novel, BLIND TRIANGLE, struck a chord of resonance with this reader, and it is most satisfying to share that his power as an author of significance continues to grow: his ability to sculpt strong female leads to pace his propelling stories of military fiction places him on the stage of prominent authors.
Establishing an atmosphere to captivate attention is a skill Deveny owns, as the opening lines of this immersive novel reveal: ‘Eliot Lange knew it was only a matter of time until his best friend, Will Madsen, did something deadly. It had to happen, but when would it be? ...Eliot had been forced to go and fight in Afghanistan in 2012, by his military father as a punishment. But Will had not needed to go. So, why had he insisted on doing so? What possible difference could two men from Sacramento, in their early twenties, make in a land where war might never end? And why would Will, by far the gentler of the two, take up arms?...’
Deveny’s central character, Madeline Crowne, reflects his own history of early years dealing with an abusive, drug addled, violent environment: Crowne has escaped a violent home, and as the distilled story reveals, she ‘discovers love for the first time, but war and betrayal threated to destroy it. Seeking a world away from abuse, she joins the army. Her first deployment is Afghanistan. Initially a hero, she is later accused of a war crime she did not commit. On the run, near death, she is saved by a woman named Mira, a survivor of the civil wars of Lebanon. Shared sorrows seem to form a perfect friendship, but in time desire and deceit cast shadows. Mira is an illegal arms dealer, drawing Madeline into an underworld as a means of seduction. In another part of the Afghan war, Eliot Lange is accused of desertion as he tried to save a comrade. Panicked, he flees to America. Madeline sees through Mira's duplicity, rejects her advances and finds a way home. Madeline and Eliot's paths intersect in their native Sacramento, where they fall in love, but the FBI is pursuing them. And Eliot is holding back a fearful secret, for he has a distant connection to Mira. Before he can confess, the FBI is closing in. Mira finds them first. Spurned, jealous, she has a plan for a perfect revenge.’
Great characters and an immersive plot, this book further elevates the position of this author on the ladder of successful novelists. Highly recommended
California author Jack Deveny blends his gifts as a psychotherapist, empath, poet, playwright, and novelist with the very welcome arrival of his second novel BY HER OWN HAND. His initial novel, BLIND TRIANGLE, struck a chord of resonance with this reader, and it is most satisfying to share that his power as an author of significance continues to grow: his ability to sculpt strong female leads to pace his propelling stories of military fiction places him on the stage of prominent authors.
Establishing an atmosphere to captivate attention is a skill Deveny owns, as the opening lines of this immersive novel reveal: ‘Eliot Lange knew it was only a matter of time until his best friend, Will Madsen, did something deadly. It had to happen, but when would it be? ...Eliot had been forced to go and fight in Afghanistan in 2012, by his military father as a punishment. But Will had not needed to go. So, why had he insisted on doing so? What possible difference could two men from Sacramento, in their early twenties, make in a land where war might never end? And why would Will, by far the gentler of the two, take up arms?...’
Deveny’s central character, Madeline Crowne, reflects his own history of early years dealing with an abusive, drug addled, violent environment: Crowne has escaped a violent home, and as the distilled story reveals, she ‘discovers love for the first time, but war and betrayal threated to destroy it. Seeking a world away from abuse, she joins the army. Her first deployment is Afghanistan. Initially a hero, she is later accused of a war crime she did not commit. On the run, near death, she is saved by a woman named Mira, a survivor of the civil wars of Lebanon. Shared sorrows seem to form a perfect friendship, but in time desire and deceit cast shadows. Mira is an illegal arms dealer, drawing Madeline into an underworld as a means of seduction. In another part of the Afghan war, Eliot Lange is accused of desertion as he tried to save a comrade. Panicked, he flees to America. Madeline sees through Mira's duplicity, rejects her advances and finds a way home. Madeline and Eliot's paths intersect in their native Sacramento, where they fall in love, but the FBI is pursuing them. And Eliot is holding back a fearful secret, for he has a distant connection to Mira. Before he can confess, the FBI is closing in. Mira finds them first. Spurned, jealous, she has a plan for a perfect revenge.’
Great characters and an immersive plot, this book further elevates the position of this author on the ladder of successful novelists. Highly recommended
September 15, 2026
Deveny’s compelling latest novel blends wartime trauma, romance, and suspense into an emotionally charged story of guilt and survival. After fleeing an abusive home for the Army, Madeline Crowne serves in Afghanistan, where a disastrous combat incident leaves her accused of a war crime. On the run, she becomes entangled with arms dealer Mira before reconnecting with fellow fugitive veteran Eliot Lange, as federal authorities close in.
Deveny builds the novel around characters whose wars continue long after they leave the battlefield. Madeline is a particularly complicated protagonist: fierce and capable yet burdened by childhood memories, concern for her troubled brother John, and remorse over what happened in Afghanistan. Her psychological wounds shape her choices without reducing her to them, giving the thriller’s escalating dangers an intimate emotional foundation.
Eliot provides an effective counterweight. Haunted by his own military past and deeply concerned for his PTSD-stricken friend Will, he recognizes much of Madeline’s pain. Their romance becomes a fragile attempt by two traumatized people to recover trust, tenderness, and purpose. The recurring imagery of hands—capable of violence but also of protection and affection—nicely reinforces that tension. Mira brings a darker variation on the same theme. Her own history of war and suffering initially creates common ground with Madeline, but affection gradually gives way to possessiveness and danger. Deveny moves between personal trauma, romance, criminal intrigue, and pursuit while keeping Madeline’s divided loyalties at the center. The satisfying ending favors emotional resolution over easy answers, bringing the novel’s ideas about accountability, forgiveness, and healing satisfyingly full circle. A dramatic, compassionate tale of damaged lives and hard-won healing.
Deveny builds the novel around characters whose wars continue long after they leave the battlefield. Madeline is a particularly complicated protagonist: fierce and capable yet burdened by childhood memories, concern for her troubled brother John, and remorse over what happened in Afghanistan. Her psychological wounds shape her choices without reducing her to them, giving the thriller’s escalating dangers an intimate emotional foundation.
Eliot provides an effective counterweight. Haunted by his own military past and deeply concerned for his PTSD-stricken friend Will, he recognizes much of Madeline’s pain. Their romance becomes a fragile attempt by two traumatized people to recover trust, tenderness, and purpose. The recurring imagery of hands—capable of violence but also of protection and affection—nicely reinforces that tension. Mira brings a darker variation on the same theme. Her own history of war and suffering initially creates common ground with Madeline, but affection gradually gives way to possessiveness and danger. Deveny moves between personal trauma, romance, criminal intrigue, and pursuit while keeping Madeline’s divided loyalties at the center. The satisfying ending favors emotional resolution over easy answers, bringing the novel’s ideas about accountability, forgiveness, and healing satisfyingly full circle. A dramatic, compassionate tale of damaged lives and hard-won healing.
April 29, 2026
By Her Own Hand
by Jack Deveny
Thank you to the author for the gifted copy.
By Her Own Hand is an intense, emotionally heavy story about trauma, survival, war, and the complicated paths people take when they are trying to outrun their pasts. Jack Deveny gives Madeline Crowne a difficult journey, from an abusive home to Afghanistan, then into a dangerous web of accusation, betrayal, and desire.
The plot is ambitious, moving between military service, wrongful accusation, illegal arms dealing, romance, and pursuit by the FBI. There is a lot happening, but the story keeps a strong sense of momentum and danger throughout. Madeline’s resilience is the heart of the book, and her struggle to reclaim control over her life gives the novel its emotional weight.
The relationships are complicated and often tense. Mira brings an unsettling mix of rescue, manipulation, and obsession, while Eliot’s storyline adds another layer of secrecy and consequence. Their intersecting paths create a sense that the past is never really finished with them.
This is not a light read. It deals with abuse, violence, betrayal, and the aftermath of war, so readers should go in prepared for darker material.
A dramatic and immersive novel with high stakes, complicated characters, and a strong survival thread running through it.
4 stars.
by Jack Deveny
Thank you to the author for the gifted copy.
By Her Own Hand is an intense, emotionally heavy story about trauma, survival, war, and the complicated paths people take when they are trying to outrun their pasts. Jack Deveny gives Madeline Crowne a difficult journey, from an abusive home to Afghanistan, then into a dangerous web of accusation, betrayal, and desire.
The plot is ambitious, moving between military service, wrongful accusation, illegal arms dealing, romance, and pursuit by the FBI. There is a lot happening, but the story keeps a strong sense of momentum and danger throughout. Madeline’s resilience is the heart of the book, and her struggle to reclaim control over her life gives the novel its emotional weight.
The relationships are complicated and often tense. Mira brings an unsettling mix of rescue, manipulation, and obsession, while Eliot’s storyline adds another layer of secrecy and consequence. Their intersecting paths create a sense that the past is never really finished with them.
This is not a light read. It deals with abuse, violence, betrayal, and the aftermath of war, so readers should go in prepared for darker material.
A dramatic and immersive novel with high stakes, complicated characters, and a strong survival thread running through it.
4 stars.
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