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The Deceivers
Keegan is back at sea in the days of tall ships and high adventure. It's an age when sail and steam are at war. The thousand-year tradition of the tall ships is coming to an end. Men like Bill Ryan and Jim Hale are caught in the jaws of change, in a world where survival depends on courage, strength and a willingness to take terrible risks. 1862, on the English the railway has destroyed the coastal shipping trade; lines like Eastcoast Packet are dying. Jim is about to inherit Eastcoast and the schooner Spindrift ... if he and Captain Bill Ryan can survive the explosive North Sea storms, and the schemes of the shipwrecker, Nathan Kerr. Always dangerous, Kerr has a score to settle with them. For men who have the courage to love in this time and place, the struggle is dire, the rewards astonishing. Meticulously researched, fabulously detailed, THE DECEIVERS will be treasured by readers who loved 'Fortunes of War.' WINNER OF THE 2003 STONEWALL FACT AND FABLE AWARD.
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First published April 22, 2009
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About the author
Mel Keegan
52 books71 followersA self-confessed science fiction and fantasy devotee, Keegan is known for novels across a wide range of subjects, from the historical to the future action-adventure. Mel lives in South Australia with an eccentric family and a variety of pets.
Every Mel Keegan book is strong on gay or bisexual heroes (also, often, on gay villains), and some of these heroes are the most delicious in fiction: Jarrat and Stone from the NARC series, Bill Ryan and Jim Hale from The Deceivers, Neil Travers and Curtis Marin from Hellgate, and many more unforgettable characters. Because Mel's books feature the same sex relationships, the partnership at the core of each book is integral: this is the relationship driving the story, and it can be very powerful indeed.
Every Mel Keegan book is strong on gay or bisexual heroes (also, often, on gay villains), and some of these heroes are the most delicious in fiction: Jarrat and Stone from the NARC series, Bill Ryan and Jim Hale from The Deceivers, Neil Travers and Curtis Marin from Hellgate, and many more unforgettable characters. Because Mel's books feature the same sex relationships, the partnership at the core of each book is integral: this is the relationship driving the story, and it can be very powerful indeed.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
October 13, 2018
Richly detailed and well crafted, if a little grim for my tastes. I tend to prefer just a leeeetle less realism in my historicals, but this is an adventure more than a romance, and the times were certainly grim, so this well-researched story can be forgiven for not including more sunshine and rainbows.
August 25, 2018
It’s no fluke that this book won the 2004 Stonewall Fact and Fable award. Simply stated, this might be the best historical novel I’ve read, gay or not. I’m trying to think of another to match it, and can’t, though I’ve read shelves of every kind of historical. The Deceivers gave me everything I long for. By turns, it’s an adventure, a thriller, romance, mystery, packed with incident and action, peopled by characters who live in one’s memory for years afterward.
And throughout, it’s an incredibly accurate depiction of a place and era, right down to the honest, truthful portrayal of the gay men of the time, and the social brick wall they were up against. These are exceptionally strong men, heroes both -- Bill Ryan and Jim Hale -- but one can’t fight the whole world. Keegan’s depiction of how such men survive and prosper, with the tide of social opinion and even the law ranged against them, is poignant, laced in places with pain, underpinned by courage and a ferocious optimism that won’t be beaten down.
(A note to romance readers: Deceivers is not wholly a romance, though the relationship between Jim and Bill is the story’s essential thread. If you’re actually hunting for one of those thinly-sketched storylines which connect a plethora of truly epic, sizzling sex scenes, you won’t find that here. Yes, Deceivers has some steamy scenes, but if you actually want m/m erotic romance, browse further.)
One of the heroes of this novel is the world if the 1860s itself, crafted with such astonishing attention to detail, it seems to have a heartbeat of its own. Yet Keegan wreaks this alchemy without the work ever sounding like a textbook. You smell the salt sea wind, feel the roll of a deck under your feet, see the dark, jagged coastline of England between Whitby and Scarborough. Thinking back on the book, it’s as if you’ve been there, visiting a time as well as a place, about a century and a half ago.
And throughout, Keegan’s prose is powerfully evocative. This, from Chapter Two, where a ship wrecks on Jim Hale’s own shore, with Bill Ryan aboard: “Like a dragon in the sky, the northeasterly gale howled over the cliffs of Scarborough, rattled the window panes, tested the roofing and shouted in the chimneys." And later, with Bill heading back to sea in “ship-wreckers’ weather” -- “The Adelaide loomed up out of the fog as he drew closer, looking for a moment like a ghost ship, the skeleton of a vessel that had been half-swallowed by the ocean.” The whole book sings with such narrative, coming alive. I’ll jump back to Chapter Two and the shipwreck: “Jim had heard the squeals of twisting, wrenching timbers moments before. There was a special sound as a keel twisted, deformed itself under unimaginable pressures and stresses. As it bent in directions never intended, the carlins, chines, garboard stakes, everything tore out of its socket. Just as a man would scream his life away on the rack, so a ship screamed in her death throes. And the Mascot had begun to die.” The whole novel crackles with a life of its own, through this kind of writing, which won’t let the reader languish as an observer, but catches you, hauls you in.
Bill Ryan is what used to be termed “a man’s man.” Rugged, down to earth, master of his trade, secure in what he knows, infinitely confident of his abilities. But he has a history, a background, that’s about to come back and haunt him. The mystery of Ryan is made clear when old enemies appear in town. Very real danger gathers around him and Jim Hale, while young Jim is at the epicenter of a mess of his decrepit old father’s making. Hale Snr. is ruining the family shipping business, there’ll be nothing left for Jim to inherit, before their final hull -- the schooner of your fantasies -- is launched. Jim is up against his bigoted, bull-headed father, plus the unforgiving English social morality of the time -- and the ship wreckers. In fact, the load he’s carrying makes Ryan’s job look easy, until … we’ll, I’m not telling. Read the book!
Adventure, mystery, romance, hair-raising thrills, The Deceivers dishes up all of these, and more. I think I’ve read it half a dozen times in the fourteen years since it appeared ... great books welcome you back like old friends. Highly recommended for anyone who loves a “tall ships and iron men” story, with the delicious twist of gay romance and a truly astonishing look into the world of the 1860s. Five stars and a big grin.
And throughout, it’s an incredibly accurate depiction of a place and era, right down to the honest, truthful portrayal of the gay men of the time, and the social brick wall they were up against. These are exceptionally strong men, heroes both -- Bill Ryan and Jim Hale -- but one can’t fight the whole world. Keegan’s depiction of how such men survive and prosper, with the tide of social opinion and even the law ranged against them, is poignant, laced in places with pain, underpinned by courage and a ferocious optimism that won’t be beaten down.
(A note to romance readers: Deceivers is not wholly a romance, though the relationship between Jim and Bill is the story’s essential thread. If you’re actually hunting for one of those thinly-sketched storylines which connect a plethora of truly epic, sizzling sex scenes, you won’t find that here. Yes, Deceivers has some steamy scenes, but if you actually want m/m erotic romance, browse further.)
One of the heroes of this novel is the world if the 1860s itself, crafted with such astonishing attention to detail, it seems to have a heartbeat of its own. Yet Keegan wreaks this alchemy without the work ever sounding like a textbook. You smell the salt sea wind, feel the roll of a deck under your feet, see the dark, jagged coastline of England between Whitby and Scarborough. Thinking back on the book, it’s as if you’ve been there, visiting a time as well as a place, about a century and a half ago.
And throughout, Keegan’s prose is powerfully evocative. This, from Chapter Two, where a ship wrecks on Jim Hale’s own shore, with Bill Ryan aboard: “Like a dragon in the sky, the northeasterly gale howled over the cliffs of Scarborough, rattled the window panes, tested the roofing and shouted in the chimneys." And later, with Bill heading back to sea in “ship-wreckers’ weather” -- “The Adelaide loomed up out of the fog as he drew closer, looking for a moment like a ghost ship, the skeleton of a vessel that had been half-swallowed by the ocean.” The whole book sings with such narrative, coming alive. I’ll jump back to Chapter Two and the shipwreck: “Jim had heard the squeals of twisting, wrenching timbers moments before. There was a special sound as a keel twisted, deformed itself under unimaginable pressures and stresses. As it bent in directions never intended, the carlins, chines, garboard stakes, everything tore out of its socket. Just as a man would scream his life away on the rack, so a ship screamed in her death throes. And the Mascot had begun to die.” The whole novel crackles with a life of its own, through this kind of writing, which won’t let the reader languish as an observer, but catches you, hauls you in.
Bill Ryan is what used to be termed “a man’s man.” Rugged, down to earth, master of his trade, secure in what he knows, infinitely confident of his abilities. But he has a history, a background, that’s about to come back and haunt him. The mystery of Ryan is made clear when old enemies appear in town. Very real danger gathers around him and Jim Hale, while young Jim is at the epicenter of a mess of his decrepit old father’s making. Hale Snr. is ruining the family shipping business, there’ll be nothing left for Jim to inherit, before their final hull -- the schooner of your fantasies -- is launched. Jim is up against his bigoted, bull-headed father, plus the unforgiving English social morality of the time -- and the ship wreckers. In fact, the load he’s carrying makes Ryan’s job look easy, until … we’ll, I’m not telling. Read the book!
Adventure, mystery, romance, hair-raising thrills, The Deceivers dishes up all of these, and more. I think I’ve read it half a dozen times in the fourteen years since it appeared ... great books welcome you back like old friends. Highly recommended for anyone who loves a “tall ships and iron men” story, with the delicious twist of gay romance and a truly astonishing look into the world of the 1860s. Five stars and a big grin.
October 21, 2015
This story was insanely well researched. A wonderful 'Age of Sail' Novel if there ever was one. Although this book chose to take place in the interesting and rarely depicted era of the mid-19th century where steamers and sailing ships were competing on the oceans.
Young Captain Bill Ryan, an experienced skipper for the Eastcoast Packet Company in Scarborough, has a secret. He rarely speaks about his time in the Navy and is rather fond of his life on the sea, delivering cargo all over Europe or beyond. He is a true sea dog and he is in love - with the son of his employer. Which complicates things a bit.
Still, this story is not a full on romance. Ryan's 'boyfriend' (for lack of a better 19th century term) Jim Hale has suffered under his father's scrutiny for all of his 25 years and even though the old man and founder of Eastcoast Packet Company is ailing and sometimes more dead than alive, he manages to put stones in his son's path more often than not, ruling his enterprise with shaking hands from his deathbed, not allowing Jim a single decision in the family business.
Jim is an accountant. He doesn't know the world, but dreams of adventure. What he does know is that his father's company is going downhill due to the competition of steam ships that are more efficient, especially on short-distance routes, than sailing vessels. Like a true seawife, he waits weeks or months for his partner to return from sea - and then they have to hide their love from the curious and unforgiving eyes of the townsfolk of Scarborough and Jim's father.
As if things were not complicated enough, Jim and Ryan realize that Scarborough harbors a group of dark wreckers who sink ships deliberately with the purpose of claiming the cargo and a reward for saving passengers and crew off a sinking ship - which was actually a legal business back then. However, it was of course not legal to sink a ship by placing a saboteur among the crew.
Jim and Ryan try to investigate, but they need proof before they can inform the authorities and the closer they get to obtaining real evidence, the more likely they are to lose their own lives in the process.
The Deceivers is a book rich in atmosphere and offers a strong sense of place. The author clearly knows the area where the story takes place.
I really liked Jim and Bill and I hope that their adventures come true. Tahiti is waiting, guys :-)
Young Captain Bill Ryan, an experienced skipper for the Eastcoast Packet Company in Scarborough, has a secret. He rarely speaks about his time in the Navy and is rather fond of his life on the sea, delivering cargo all over Europe or beyond. He is a true sea dog and he is in love - with the son of his employer. Which complicates things a bit.
Still, this story is not a full on romance. Ryan's 'boyfriend' (for lack of a better 19th century term) Jim Hale has suffered under his father's scrutiny for all of his 25 years and even though the old man and founder of Eastcoast Packet Company is ailing and sometimes more dead than alive, he manages to put stones in his son's path more often than not, ruling his enterprise with shaking hands from his deathbed, not allowing Jim a single decision in the family business.
Jim is an accountant. He doesn't know the world, but dreams of adventure. What he does know is that his father's company is going downhill due to the competition of steam ships that are more efficient, especially on short-distance routes, than sailing vessels. Like a true seawife, he waits weeks or months for his partner to return from sea - and then they have to hide their love from the curious and unforgiving eyes of the townsfolk of Scarborough and Jim's father.
As if things were not complicated enough, Jim and Ryan realize that Scarborough harbors a group of dark wreckers who sink ships deliberately with the purpose of claiming the cargo and a reward for saving passengers and crew off a sinking ship - which was actually a legal business back then. However, it was of course not legal to sink a ship by placing a saboteur among the crew.
Jim and Ryan try to investigate, but they need proof before they can inform the authorities and the closer they get to obtaining real evidence, the more likely they are to lose their own lives in the process.
The Deceivers is a book rich in atmosphere and offers a strong sense of place. The author clearly knows the area where the story takes place.
I really liked Jim and Bill and I hope that their adventures come true. Tahiti is waiting, guys :-)
February 15, 2022
4.5 stars. This book is a bit slow to start as it lays out the setting and plot points, but the story itself is so well written that the slowness is easy to forgive. While it moves at a rather stately pace, the writing is brilliant, the characters are believable and lively, and the setting descriptions are visceral in the best way. I’m a sucker for stories - especially queer ones! - that feature the Age of Sail, and this one, which takes place on the cusp of that age ending as steam and rail charge in to take its place, really hit the mark.
The main relationship is wonderful and refreshing. Jim and Billy are so devoted to one another, so committed, that every single one of their interactions warmed my heart. In a story filled with uncertainties about both the present and the future, their rock-solid relationship provides a steady undercurrent to a twisty read that features betrayal, risk of discovery, and looming death.
I really appreciated that, while the story explores the risk for queer folks in the time period in which it takes place, the characters never once doubted their love for one another. It’s refreshing to read a story with queer characters that isn’t ripe with internalized homophobia. Yes, it is a real thing that people experience, but so much historical queer lit places such emphasis on that perspective that it feels a bit like being beaten over the head with it sometimes.
Overall, while this took me far longer than expected to read, this book was a thoroughly enjoyable read, and explored a perspective on the Age of Sail I have yet to encounter anywhere else. I highly recommend it!
The main relationship is wonderful and refreshing. Jim and Billy are so devoted to one another, so committed, that every single one of their interactions warmed my heart. In a story filled with uncertainties about both the present and the future, their rock-solid relationship provides a steady undercurrent to a twisty read that features betrayal, risk of discovery, and looming death.
I really appreciated that, while the story explores the risk for queer folks in the time period in which it takes place, the characters never once doubted their love for one another. It’s refreshing to read a story with queer characters that isn’t ripe with internalized homophobia. Yes, it is a real thing that people experience, but so much historical queer lit places such emphasis on that perspective that it feels a bit like being beaten over the head with it sometimes.
Overall, while this took me far longer than expected to read, this book was a thoroughly enjoyable read, and explored a perspective on the Age of Sail I have yet to encounter anywhere else. I highly recommend it!
March 28, 2024
Bill Ryan and Jim Hale are lovers, one a ship captain, the other the son of the man owning the shipping company Bill works for. Both working in the shipping commerce, they also live in a world where sail is not as popular anymore, while steam is taking control of the seas.
The book is intensely researched, and it is easy to see that Keegan is a big fan of the age of sail, of ships and historical accuracy. I learnt a lot about the end of the big age of sailing, and this was my favorite part of reading this novel.
As often in Keegan’s novels, the relationship between Bill and Jim is written delicately, this is true love existing in a world where it is considered illegal and they might both be destroyed by the secret being found out. This book is slightly more sexual than Home from the sea, but still, not too much. Probably a great choice for anyone loving the age of sail!
The book is intensely researched, and it is easy to see that Keegan is a big fan of the age of sail, of ships and historical accuracy. I learnt a lot about the end of the big age of sailing, and this was my favorite part of reading this novel.
As often in Keegan’s novels, the relationship between Bill and Jim is written delicately, this is true love existing in a world where it is considered illegal and they might both be destroyed by the secret being found out. This book is slightly more sexual than Home from the sea, but still, not too much. Probably a great choice for anyone loving the age of sail!
July 12, 2013
From Our Story GLBTQ Historical Fiction www.glbtbookshelf.com
This is easily our favorite Mel Keegan novel, and if you know just how many he has written, you know there was a lot of quality for this one to top! The exhaustive historical and technological research that went into this highly gratifying work is only matched by the great love story and the tense and dangerous situations the characters face.
Bill Ryan failed to save a ship he commanded and was stripped of his Royal Navy rank. An old friend of his father’s takes a chance on him and hires him to pilot for his coastal shipping company. Bill has done extremely well, but his employer’s trust in him flies out the window when the old man discovers Bill is romantically involved with his son Jim. The two lovers are forced to separate just as the shipping company needs Bill the most.
Let’s just say it’s a lousy time to be in the shipping business in England. The tall ships are on their way out and steam shipping taking over, though both technologies face a common rival, trains. In the meantime the Kerrs are making a swift profit from salvaging the cargoes of ships that have struck the coastal rocks and sunk. Bill and Jim have concluded that the Kerrs are somehow arranging the accidents. But how can they work to defeat the sabotage when old man Hale, Jim’s father, is so hung up on their relationship he can’t see the real threat.
The lovers in this story are not colorful pirates or dashing swordsmen, but rather average men who have the courage needed to face not only the threats to their lives and livelihoods but to the very love that brings them together. This courage will come to save the necks of others caught in the maelstrom.
One particularly lovely scene is when an inspired Jim figures out a way to squelch one of his tormenters who is spreading rumors about his relationship with Bill. The book is a tremendous read, but it would be worth the read just to see what he does.
This is Keegan at his finest, in our humble opinion. The Deceivers is easily one of our favorite all time gay historicals.
This is easily our favorite Mel Keegan novel, and if you know just how many he has written, you know there was a lot of quality for this one to top! The exhaustive historical and technological research that went into this highly gratifying work is only matched by the great love story and the tense and dangerous situations the characters face.
Bill Ryan failed to save a ship he commanded and was stripped of his Royal Navy rank. An old friend of his father’s takes a chance on him and hires him to pilot for his coastal shipping company. Bill has done extremely well, but his employer’s trust in him flies out the window when the old man discovers Bill is romantically involved with his son Jim. The two lovers are forced to separate just as the shipping company needs Bill the most.
Let’s just say it’s a lousy time to be in the shipping business in England. The tall ships are on their way out and steam shipping taking over, though both technologies face a common rival, trains. In the meantime the Kerrs are making a swift profit from salvaging the cargoes of ships that have struck the coastal rocks and sunk. Bill and Jim have concluded that the Kerrs are somehow arranging the accidents. But how can they work to defeat the sabotage when old man Hale, Jim’s father, is so hung up on their relationship he can’t see the real threat.
The lovers in this story are not colorful pirates or dashing swordsmen, but rather average men who have the courage needed to face not only the threats to their lives and livelihoods but to the very love that brings them together. This courage will come to save the necks of others caught in the maelstrom.
One particularly lovely scene is when an inspired Jim figures out a way to squelch one of his tormenters who is spreading rumors about his relationship with Bill. The book is a tremendous read, but it would be worth the read just to see what he does.
This is Keegan at his finest, in our humble opinion. The Deceivers is easily one of our favorite all time gay historicals.
March 10, 2013
SlashReaders: This book starts out a little slow with a lot of details of the time period and descriptions and such. But Keegan does a good job of getting into the mood and the setting of the book. After the first couple of chapters the book does pick up. It wasn’t as good as some of his other ones however. The time period, was well researched that much was obvious as was the area that it was set in. Which gave it a good air of believability, however I think that the story needed something more to it.
Let’s see how to say this. I think that he put too much time in the research and not enough time into developing the plot. It was much more straightforward than I’ve come to expect from his work. While it was still a good story there weren’t really any hidden surprises coming nothing happened was unexpected.
So while it was well written, and believable it lost something in the plot line, though the rest was almost enough to make up for it. As usual his characters were well developed and believable perhaps even more so in parts of this than in some of these other words. Because he sticks with the ideals of the time period, though sometimes things got a little too wishy-washy he still managed to pull them off without loosing points with his characters.
If you‘re looking for a good historical read, this is a decent book just don‘t expect too many surprises. Though Billy Ryan and Jim Hale are good characters and definitely enjoyable as are the side characters such as Joel and Mike Hutton both interesting men in their own right. There is also the possibility for future endeavors with these characters, though I don‘t know if Keegan is going to peruse it or not. It would be interesting to see what would come of them if he did.
Let’s see how to say this. I think that he put too much time in the research and not enough time into developing the plot. It was much more straightforward than I’ve come to expect from his work. While it was still a good story there weren’t really any hidden surprises coming nothing happened was unexpected.
So while it was well written, and believable it lost something in the plot line, though the rest was almost enough to make up for it. As usual his characters were well developed and believable perhaps even more so in parts of this than in some of these other words. Because he sticks with the ideals of the time period, though sometimes things got a little too wishy-washy he still managed to pull them off without loosing points with his characters.
If you‘re looking for a good historical read, this is a decent book just don‘t expect too many surprises. Though Billy Ryan and Jim Hale are good characters and definitely enjoyable as are the side characters such as Joel and Mike Hutton both interesting men in their own right. There is also the possibility for future endeavors with these characters, though I don‘t know if Keegan is going to peruse it or not. It would be interesting to see what would come of them if he did.
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