It’s always a big question for an author when they have a successful series. If you change lanes, will it work? It’s a step into the unknown. At Crime Fiction Lover, we really rated the Harry McCall books, which were titled by month, set in the 1970s and culminated with To Die in June. Then, last year Parks released Gunner series, set during World War II, and now he’s added Deception to his Joseph Gunner thrillers.
In Gunner, the former detective was invalided out of the British Army and inveigled by his old boss, Drummond, into investigating a murder mystery involving German POWs in his native Glasgow. A conspiracy led Gunner into some dark waters and into cooperation with the British Secret Service.
Deception sees Joseph Gunner in New York working for intelligence under the guise of the British Overseas Council, tasked with helping to draw America into the War. This is in the run up to Pearl Harbour, so it seems even in 1941 we had a dodgy dossier doing the rounds.
Gunner is teamed up again with Nickerson who got him this job. While his colleague handles sensitive government contacts, Gunner works at street level, generating support, derailing pro-Nazi America First rallies with all manner of dirty tricks. He gets stories into the newspaper and on the radio, and resorts to outright blackmail using local call girls.
The latest target is Joe Kennedy, the eldest son of the Kennedy patriarch. He’s just been caught in a honey trap. Gunner demands he stops with the pro-German or keep-America-out-of-the-War speeches. Joe is scared his domineering father will find out.
Then things go disastrously wrong when the girl employed to ensnare Kennedy is murdered. That means someone knew of the plan. While he’s constantly looking over his shoulder Gunner needs to know if the girl found out something crucial. It all leads to the a Nazi conspirators, dodgy NYPD officers, the New York mafia and worse a cabal of influential politicians.
While Gunner has to figure out who killed 19-year-old Alice Schwartz, he has to fathom how deep the conspiracy runs and work out what Operation Nero is. Of course, he has to keep alive in the process as he is the next natural target. To keep up the urgency, all of this is happening in late November and early December 1941, leading up to the Japanese attack on Sunday 7 December. That is quite a backdrop.
Gunner was a good read, a solid introduction for a new character and a new series. Deception builds on that. Parks is a natural storyteller. He has no problem slipping into the intricacies of World War II, or the New York setting. This is tense and gripping drama, a murder mystery with a strong espionage theme that really has an authentic feel. There is a lot of dark stuff going on here, the stakes couldn’t be higher but there is humour too.
I think Gunner found it hard to live up to the Harry McCoy novels simply because they were so good but it hasn’t taken Parks long to make this series a must read.
Deception proves that Joseph Gunner is a fine creation and that he can carry a series. It is fascinating to think where he might go next to play his part in the War. Parks blends real people and situations with exciting fiction with style. His thrilling story manages to raise moral issues about how we behave in desperate times and about courage and determination in the face of grave threat.
At Crime Fiction Lover we want to be swept up in a story and Parks knows how to make that happen. I can’t wait for the next Gunner novel.
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Baskerville
Print/Kindle/iBook
£12.99
CFL Rating: 5 Stars
