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Web of Deceit
New York attorney Jennifer March is haunted by the mysterious and savage slaughter of her family on the same night that her father disappeared, never to be seen alive again. Two years on, his corpse is discovered frozen into a remote glacier in the Swiss Alps, the victim of a bizarre murder, and Jennifer sets out for Europe to find answers. It's a journey that's meant to unravel the frightening mystery of why her family was butchered, and to help uncover a dark secret at the heart of her father's past. But instead, Jennifer March finds herself running for her own life, as her investigation drews her into a ferrifying web of deceit, murder and betrayal, and a deadly conspiracy to hide an explosive secret.
416 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2004
9 people are currently reading
350 people want to read
About the author
Glenn Meade
34 books397 followersGlenn Meade was born into a working-class family in Dublin, Ireland. After finishing secondary school he had a tough time choosing between studying theology or engineering, but eventually engineering won out and he studied telecommunications. Soon after graduating, he lived and worked in New Hampshire. He worked as a specialist in the field of pilot training—having had a life-long interest in aviation—and has also been a journalist for the Irish Times and the Independent.
While living in New Hampshire, he persistently tried to interview the famously reclusive author of CATCHER IN THE RYE, J.D. Salinger, an effort that only served to vex Salinger, who set his dogs on Meade, who luckily managed to outrun Salinger’s hounds and survive.
He began writing in earnest in the late eighties, when he wrote and directed his own plays, mostly for the Strand Theatre in Dublin, but Meade decided to turn his efforts to thriller writing in the mid-nineties.
His novels to date—SNOW WOLF, BRANDENBURG, THE SANDS OF SAKKARA, RESURRECTION DAY, WEB OF DECEIT, THE DEVIL’S DISCIPLE, THE SECOND MESSIAH—have been translated into twenty-six languages, and have enjoyed critical and commercial success.
His first novel, BRANDENBURG, about a neo-Nazi resurgence in present-day Europe, came about when he travelled to Germany to write an article for the Times on the billions in Nazi gold that went missing at the end of the Second World War. Quite by accident, he met an elderly former SS officer who told him a remarkable and highly personal tale about his part in keeping a disturbing war-time secret. That story became the inspiration for BRANDENBURG.
Several of his novels were also inspired by his journalistic work but inspiration only takes you so far and Meade claims that to produce anything of worth it always comes down to the same three constants: hard work, prayer, and putting your imagination through the wringer.
Critics have compared the standard of his work to that of Frederick Forsyth, John le Carre, and Tom Clancy, and his stories have tended to be a tantalising blend of fact and fiction. SNOW WOLF won the prestigious thriller of the year award by the Japanese Writer's Guild (second place went to Stephen King's THE GREEN MILE).
He has also worked on several Hollywood scripts but Meade confesses that employment in Tinsletown was not a pleasant experience and he has learned to stick to the golden rule for novelists whose work is bought by Hollywood—gratefully accept the pay check, walk away and just pray that they don’t turn your treasured story into a musical.
Meade has earned a reputation for meticulously researched stories and has travelled extensively—to Russia, the Middle East, Europe—to research his novels. For RESURRECTION DAY, a highly realistic thriller about a dramatic attack on the US capital by an Al Qaeda terror group armed with a chemical weapon of mass destruction, and completed three weeks before the events of September 11th, he spent many months in Washington DC. He interviewed senior White House staff, former Secret Service agents, US Federal emergency planners, and senior FBI terrorist experts, some of whom were later involved in the hunt for Al Qaeda terrorist suspects on US soil. One former senior FBI source, John O’Neill, who helped Meade, was killed in the September 11th attacks, having resigned from the bureau only months prior to taking up a new post—as head of security at the Twin Towers.
RESURRECTION DAY was published internationally but Meade’s then New York publisher considered it too raw a subject for the US, coming so soon after 9/11, and they parted company. However, the work garnered rave reviews and much media attention in Europe.
Having read the book, Newt Gingrich, then a member of the Hart-Rudd commission (set up post 9/11 by President George Bush with responsibility for determining future likely terrorist threats against the US) was so impressed that he contacted Meade and kindly offe
While living in New Hampshire, he persistently tried to interview the famously reclusive author of CATCHER IN THE RYE, J.D. Salinger, an effort that only served to vex Salinger, who set his dogs on Meade, who luckily managed to outrun Salinger’s hounds and survive.
He began writing in earnest in the late eighties, when he wrote and directed his own plays, mostly for the Strand Theatre in Dublin, but Meade decided to turn his efforts to thriller writing in the mid-nineties.
His novels to date—SNOW WOLF, BRANDENBURG, THE SANDS OF SAKKARA, RESURRECTION DAY, WEB OF DECEIT, THE DEVIL’S DISCIPLE, THE SECOND MESSIAH—have been translated into twenty-six languages, and have enjoyed critical and commercial success.
His first novel, BRANDENBURG, about a neo-Nazi resurgence in present-day Europe, came about when he travelled to Germany to write an article for the Times on the billions in Nazi gold that went missing at the end of the Second World War. Quite by accident, he met an elderly former SS officer who told him a remarkable and highly personal tale about his part in keeping a disturbing war-time secret. That story became the inspiration for BRANDENBURG.
Several of his novels were also inspired by his journalistic work but inspiration only takes you so far and Meade claims that to produce anything of worth it always comes down to the same three constants: hard work, prayer, and putting your imagination through the wringer.
Critics have compared the standard of his work to that of Frederick Forsyth, John le Carre, and Tom Clancy, and his stories have tended to be a tantalising blend of fact and fiction. SNOW WOLF won the prestigious thriller of the year award by the Japanese Writer's Guild (second place went to Stephen King's THE GREEN MILE).
He has also worked on several Hollywood scripts but Meade confesses that employment in Tinsletown was not a pleasant experience and he has learned to stick to the golden rule for novelists whose work is bought by Hollywood—gratefully accept the pay check, walk away and just pray that they don’t turn your treasured story into a musical.
Meade has earned a reputation for meticulously researched stories and has travelled extensively—to Russia, the Middle East, Europe—to research his novels. For RESURRECTION DAY, a highly realistic thriller about a dramatic attack on the US capital by an Al Qaeda terror group armed with a chemical weapon of mass destruction, and completed three weeks before the events of September 11th, he spent many months in Washington DC. He interviewed senior White House staff, former Secret Service agents, US Federal emergency planners, and senior FBI terrorist experts, some of whom were later involved in the hunt for Al Qaeda terrorist suspects on US soil. One former senior FBI source, John O’Neill, who helped Meade, was killed in the September 11th attacks, having resigned from the bureau only months prior to taking up a new post—as head of security at the Twin Towers.
RESURRECTION DAY was published internationally but Meade’s then New York publisher considered it too raw a subject for the US, coming so soon after 9/11, and they parted company. However, the work garnered rave reviews and much media attention in Europe.
Having read the book, Newt Gingrich, then a member of the Hart-Rudd commission (set up post 9/11 by President George Bush with responsibility for determining future likely terrorist threats against the US) was so impressed that he contacted Meade and kindly offe
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
December 13, 2022
Twee jaar geleden is de moeder van Jennifer March vermoord en haar broertje in de rug geschoten, zodat hij gehandicapt bleef. Zijzelf werd bijna verkracht maar kon ternauwernood ontsnappen. De dader is nooit gevonden en haar vader, die voor zaken in Zwitserland was, is sindsdien vermist.
Nu zou het lichaam van haar vader in een gletsjerspleet gevonden zijn, bevroren in het ijs. Jennifer wordt gevraagd naar Zwitserland te komen om het lichaam te identificeren.
Maar er is iets vreemds aan de hand. Was haar vader betrokken bij duistere praktijken? Ineens zijn allerlei mensen geïnteresseerd in de zaak, en ook de CIA. Dan is er nog degene die beweert de vader te zijn van de jongen die het lichaam gevonden heeft, maar de jongen is nu zelf ook in een ravijn gestort.
Een vriend van Jennifer, Mark, wordt door iemand benadert om Jennifer te overhalen om hem mee te nemen naar Zwitserland, want ze zou in gevaar zijn. Jennifer wil echter alleen gaan, dus gaat Mark haar in het geheim achterna, begeleid door enkele (zogenaamde?) CIA mensen.
In Zwitserland gebeurt er de ene na de andere aanslag op Jennifer, dus er is wel degelijk iets groots aan de gang. Zal dit allemaal wel goed aflopen en zullen de mysteries opgelost worden?
Spannend boek tot op de laatste bladzijde!
Nu zou het lichaam van haar vader in een gletsjerspleet gevonden zijn, bevroren in het ijs. Jennifer wordt gevraagd naar Zwitserland te komen om het lichaam te identificeren.
Maar er is iets vreemds aan de hand. Was haar vader betrokken bij duistere praktijken? Ineens zijn allerlei mensen geïnteresseerd in de zaak, en ook de CIA. Dan is er nog degene die beweert de vader te zijn van de jongen die het lichaam gevonden heeft, maar de jongen is nu zelf ook in een ravijn gestort.
Een vriend van Jennifer, Mark, wordt door iemand benadert om Jennifer te overhalen om hem mee te nemen naar Zwitserland, want ze zou in gevaar zijn. Jennifer wil echter alleen gaan, dus gaat Mark haar in het geheim achterna, begeleid door enkele (zogenaamde?) CIA mensen.
In Zwitserland gebeurt er de ene na de andere aanslag op Jennifer, dus er is wel degelijk iets groots aan de gang. Zal dit allemaal wel goed aflopen en zullen de mysteries opgelost worden?
Spannend boek tot op de laatste bladzijde!
August 23, 2020
Badly written wannabe thriller with poorly executed, predictable plot and stereotype, unrelatable characters.
DNF at 25 %
1 star. Not recommended.
DNF at 25 %
1 star. Not recommended.
July 4, 2025
A very good book with twists and turns that caught me!
But only if the end could be more developed...Where is Jennifer's father?
But only if the end could be more developed...Where is Jennifer's father?
June 23, 2011
#Cross-posted from http://palakmathur.wordpress.com/2011......
Web of Deceit was the third thriller that I read this week. Again, the sequence of events makes you think forever that what exactly is going to happen next. Glenn Meade mesmerised me with his powerful writing and imagination.
A New York Attorney, Jennifer March’s life was torn apart two years previously when here family was destroyed – her mother killed, brother disabled and father disappeared. Dark secrets in her father’s past make her wonder whether he was responsible for the death of her mother and leaving her brother, Bobby badly disabled.
Two years later, her father’s body is discovered frozen into a remote glacier in the Swiss Alps, and Jennifer sets out to find answers. However, she soon finds herself the target of mystery men who do anything to stop her from unravelling the frightening mystery of why her family was butchered.
CIA agent Jack Kelso forces her friend Mark Ryan, a New York police officer, into following her, as Jack warns him that Jennifer’s life is at risk. Jennifer hooks up with Private Detective, Frank McCaul, whose son Chuck was murdered because he found the body of Jennifer’s father in the glacier.
The book is swift and events happen at a breakneck speed though in the beginning the story runs a little slow. The plot is wonderful and maintains the thrill until the end. Since it is fast paced you don’t want to put the book down and continue reading thinking about the events that have happened and that will happen next and each time something new happens which you would not have thought.
Somehow, now I feel that the books like Web of Deceit, Whiteout and Paranoia are forcing me to read more of fiction now. I had assumed that no more fictions for me. I was wrong. If there are authors like Ken Follet, Glenn Meade, and Joseph Finder then you can keep coming back to thrilling fictions. I loved the last three books that I read.
Rating 4/5.
Web of Deceit was the third thriller that I read this week. Again, the sequence of events makes you think forever that what exactly is going to happen next. Glenn Meade mesmerised me with his powerful writing and imagination.
A New York Attorney, Jennifer March’s life was torn apart two years previously when here family was destroyed – her mother killed, brother disabled and father disappeared. Dark secrets in her father’s past make her wonder whether he was responsible for the death of her mother and leaving her brother, Bobby badly disabled.
Two years later, her father’s body is discovered frozen into a remote glacier in the Swiss Alps, and Jennifer sets out to find answers. However, she soon finds herself the target of mystery men who do anything to stop her from unravelling the frightening mystery of why her family was butchered.
CIA agent Jack Kelso forces her friend Mark Ryan, a New York police officer, into following her, as Jack warns him that Jennifer’s life is at risk. Jennifer hooks up with Private Detective, Frank McCaul, whose son Chuck was murdered because he found the body of Jennifer’s father in the glacier.
The book is swift and events happen at a breakneck speed though in the beginning the story runs a little slow. The plot is wonderful and maintains the thrill until the end. Since it is fast paced you don’t want to put the book down and continue reading thinking about the events that have happened and that will happen next and each time something new happens which you would not have thought.
Somehow, now I feel that the books like Web of Deceit, Whiteout and Paranoia are forcing me to read more of fiction now. I had assumed that no more fictions for me. I was wrong. If there are authors like Ken Follet, Glenn Meade, and Joseph Finder then you can keep coming back to thrilling fictions. I loved the last three books that I read.
Rating 4/5.
March 18, 2010
I came across Glenn Meade’s book : The Devil’s Disciple, by luck at a book fair and fortunately, was a great find, even though I initially didn’t have any great expectations of it. But after reading the first book, I was prompted to buy the second book of Glenn Meade which is Web of Deceit.
The heroine of the story starts the story armed with her mysterious past which was never solved. There were several twists and turns as the plot thickens. I find myself reading the book with suspense and anxiousness as every event that occurs, the heroine finds herself in unknown danger. The book’s story gets better and I find myself biting my lips, literally, when the action begins to pick up with only a small and limited amount of clues make known. And readers may find themselves fooled twice when guessing the villain at the final chapters of the book.
Like many other books out there, mix within the thriller and mystery is a hint of romance and in my opinion, that it was not heavily laced within the story. Although the story starts with the hero harboring romantic feelings towards the heroine, they were at the stage where expressing genuine concern is more than enough.
Overall, Web of Deceit is an awesome read and I would definitely been on the look out for more of Glenn Meade’s books, although is a bit hard to find them in the book stores.
The heroine of the story starts the story armed with her mysterious past which was never solved. There were several twists and turns as the plot thickens. I find myself reading the book with suspense and anxiousness as every event that occurs, the heroine finds herself in unknown danger. The book’s story gets better and I find myself biting my lips, literally, when the action begins to pick up with only a small and limited amount of clues make known. And readers may find themselves fooled twice when guessing the villain at the final chapters of the book.
Like many other books out there, mix within the thriller and mystery is a hint of romance and in my opinion, that it was not heavily laced within the story. Although the story starts with the hero harboring romantic feelings towards the heroine, they were at the stage where expressing genuine concern is more than enough.
Overall, Web of Deceit is an awesome read and I would definitely been on the look out for more of Glenn Meade’s books, although is a bit hard to find them in the book stores.
January 28, 2011
As with most books that involves spys and criminals there is a certain amount of confusion about what, why and when, plus all the double bluffs. There was a bit of that in this book which was a bit of a distraction. The ending was a bit cliche and seemed to be have written for a movie ending rather than a book but there is a lot of that round of late.
Overall it's readable, but nothing spectacular.
Overall it's readable, but nothing spectacular.
April 25, 2012
Gripping, staggering, unnerving. Glenn Meade entraps the reader and the reader submissively thinks in the direction as the author dictates, only to realize that he hurtling down a steep road with no headlights on. The best part about Glenn Meade's plot always is that he takes the reader travelling and shows him some exotic travel destination. That, for a travel buff like me, this book is a sheer rattling delight.
October 14, 2010
Another book which I though was badly written, I did read it to the end but in places I felt the writing was very childish, it sounded from reading the trailer that it should have been exciting, but not for me this one seemed amatuerish.
January 9, 2018
Paramedics Jane and Alex are called to the scene of a car accident and find the driver, Marco Mikesner, afraid to even open the door. He finally does and, though uninjured they convince him to go to the hospital. He is clearly paranoid and they both suspect he needs to talk with a psychiatrist. The hospital is very busy and he is sent to the waiting room. Just before Jane and Alex are to sign off for the day they are sent to the metro train station where they find Marco dead under the wheels of a train.
Ella Marconi and Murray Shakespeare get the case are being hurried along by their new interim boss to rule it a suicide, but they don’t feel that it is and are both seriously irritated with the new boss, and for more reasons than just this.
As they continue to investigate and talk to people about Marco, things begin to get more and more confusing and they become much more convinced that Marco did jump in front of that train. But did he fall or was he pushed? And if he was pushed, then by whom? But no matter what the new boss says, Ella will see justice done.
As usual in this series, there are also the issues facing the paramedics. Jane is secretly involved with a new man, but her husband’s new wife is convinced that they are seeing each other again so she is harassing Jane daily, even going as far as to file a complaint against her with Human Resources. Alex’s 14-year-old daughter Mia, meanwhile, hates the rules that he has to keep her sage and has told him she wants to live with her mom. The mom who walked out when Mia was three and has had no contact in the last 11 years.
As I have written reviews on the other books in this series (see my reviews of Frantic, The Darkest Hour, and Cold Justice HERE and Violent Exposure HERE) you can tell that I really like the characters. Ella Marconi is a get-to-the-bottom of things person who also has an amazing empathy for the people her job brings into her path. Unless they cross her – then all bets are off and I really like that combination and have a bit of that in me, as well.
Detective Shakespeare has someone new in his life and it has certainly changed him for the better. He is much less surly and angry. The fact that the new boss angers him as much as he angers Ella goes a long way toward making him much more likable. Maybe there’s hope for him yet.
As in the rest of the series, Caroline Lee is the narrator and I am more than a little in love with her narration. She does an amazing job changing tone, pace, cadence, and sound for each character so there is no doubt who is talking. I cannot say enough about how much I love listening to her. She is my all-time favorite narrator. And the Australian accent certainly adds to that.
I highly recommend this book. If you have read the others, this one is just as well written. If you have not read them, you may want to start at the beginning of the series, but it is not imperative as all of the detective work and the paramedics’ stories are stand alone for each novel, there are just references to personal situations from previous books, but you would not get lost starting anywhere in the series.
Click https://propensitytodiscuss.wordpress... for more reviews.
Ella Marconi and Murray Shakespeare get the case are being hurried along by their new interim boss to rule it a suicide, but they don’t feel that it is and are both seriously irritated with the new boss, and for more reasons than just this.
As they continue to investigate and talk to people about Marco, things begin to get more and more confusing and they become much more convinced that Marco did jump in front of that train. But did he fall or was he pushed? And if he was pushed, then by whom? But no matter what the new boss says, Ella will see justice done.
As usual in this series, there are also the issues facing the paramedics. Jane is secretly involved with a new man, but her husband’s new wife is convinced that they are seeing each other again so she is harassing Jane daily, even going as far as to file a complaint against her with Human Resources. Alex’s 14-year-old daughter Mia, meanwhile, hates the rules that he has to keep her sage and has told him she wants to live with her mom. The mom who walked out when Mia was three and has had no contact in the last 11 years.
As I have written reviews on the other books in this series (see my reviews of Frantic, The Darkest Hour, and Cold Justice HERE and Violent Exposure HERE) you can tell that I really like the characters. Ella Marconi is a get-to-the-bottom of things person who also has an amazing empathy for the people her job brings into her path. Unless they cross her – then all bets are off and I really like that combination and have a bit of that in me, as well.
Detective Shakespeare has someone new in his life and it has certainly changed him for the better. He is much less surly and angry. The fact that the new boss angers him as much as he angers Ella goes a long way toward making him much more likable. Maybe there’s hope for him yet.
As in the rest of the series, Caroline Lee is the narrator and I am more than a little in love with her narration. She does an amazing job changing tone, pace, cadence, and sound for each character so there is no doubt who is talking. I cannot say enough about how much I love listening to her. She is my all-time favorite narrator. And the Australian accent certainly adds to that.
I highly recommend this book. If you have read the others, this one is just as well written. If you have not read them, you may want to start at the beginning of the series, but it is not imperative as all of the detective work and the paramedics’ stories are stand alone for each novel, there are just references to personal situations from previous books, but you would not get lost starting anywhere in the series.
Click https://propensitytodiscuss.wordpress... for more reviews.
October 3, 2021
Yazarin okudugum ilk kitabiydi, beni gercekten cok etkiledi. Tipki Grange havasi aldim diyebilirim. Jennifer March tum gecmisiyle yuzlesiyor. Benden tam puan aldi. Bazen kitabi elimden birakip soke oldum. Polisiye seven sevmeyen herkes okumali; seveni mest eder, sevmeyeni de polisiye hayrani yapar.
November 13, 2019
Quieres leer algo entretenido con lo que pasar un rato? No quieres leer algo complicado en exceso y te gustan las historias con muchos giros de trama?
En ese caso yo recomiendo este libro, que no es el gran libro del siglo ni nada por el estilo, pero cumplio perfectamente lo que promete
En ese caso yo recomiendo este libro, que no es el gran libro del siglo ni nada por el estilo, pero cumplio perfectamente lo que promete
May 16, 2019
Spannende Geschichte. Teilweise war die Handlung und der Fortschritt des Buches vorhersehbar, an anderen Stellen gab es für mich unvorhersehbare Wendungen.
Read
July 15, 2019Grange'ın romanları kadar sevdim.
May 17, 2020
Çok güzel bir aksiyon filmi izlemiş gibi hissettim. Favori yazarımdan güzel bir kitap daha...
May 22, 2021
Изключително интересно написана история, която постоянно се развива и те оставя без дъх до края. Много обрати и заплетени схеми, но края е впечатляващ.
August 28, 2023
Çok boş vaktiniz var ve klişelerle dolu, sığ bir macera kitabı okumak istiyorsanız ideal. İyi bir şeyler okuma peşindeyseniz zamanınıza yazık.
January 26, 2017
Spannend, verrassend! Aanrader!
March 10, 2016
Bir Glen Meade hayranıyım .. Aksiyon deyince ilk favori yazarım . tüm kitaplarını büyük zevkle okudum...buz kapanı hollywood filmi gibiydi kitaplarında bulduğum farklı şok eden vay dedirten kurgusu maalesef bu sefer aceleye gelmiş...
Glen meade ' E başlayacaksanız bu kitapla başlamayın ama :)
Glen meade ' E başlayacaksanız bu kitapla başlamayın ama :)
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December 24, 2008One of the finest yarns spun by Glenn Meade. It was a page turner full of suspence and intrigue.
March 29, 2010
one word "amazing".
September 8, 2010
enjoyed it. finished it in a day! :)
May 28, 2011
A good story and very interesting climax in the end.
October 26, 2011
really good thriller with lots of twists and turns
August 19, 2011
I very much liked this book. Fast and mysterious,
you never really know what's really going on until the end, the lot's so full of twists.
My type of book.
you never really know what's really going on until the end, the lot's so full of twists.
My type of book.
January 21, 2014
I enjoyed this book, but really felt that the description of the detective's debauchery was not necessary.
January 22, 2013
Meade'in özgünlüğünü yeterince ortaya koyamadığı kitap. Bradenburg,Şeytanın müridi ya da Kar kurdu kadar iyi değil. Benzeri bol ama,okunması rahat hızlı bir polisiye.
May 26, 2013
Predictable but enjoyable read. Main female character was ever so slightly annoying.
April 25, 2014
A real page turner!!
July 31, 2014
Keeps u on the edge..Be prepared for some really thrilling twists and turns..
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August 19, 2015Okumasam da olurmuş ama işte kafa boşaltmak için aksiyon filmi izlemek gibi bazen...
Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews