Deception

A Joseph Gunner Thriller

Alan Parks

New York City, 1941. A city preparing for war. When the head of the Japanese intelligence section is murdered, detective Joseph Gunner is plunged into a world where no one can be trusted and nothing is what it seems.

New York, December,1941. A city preparing for war. Troop ships and trains of full of young conscripts arrive every day. All of them set on one last party before being sent overseas. The bars and clubs are packed. Every night is like New Year’s Eve.

Gunner and Nickerson are working for the BSC, a section of the British Secret Service tasked with covertly encouraging pro-war sentiment. They are stationed at the Hamilton Princess Hotel, a huge censorship operation. Every wire, parcel of mail, or radio broadcast to Britain is listened to for coded messages.

When the head of the Japanese intelligence section is murdered and his flat ransacked, Gunner tries to find out why. Who needed to silence the victim? As the investigation continues, he finds some messages aren’t being intercepted after all. There’s a traitor in their midst. A traitor prepared to kill.

As the clock ticks down towards the 7th of December, Gunner races to solve the crime before he becomes the next victim.

Alan Parks is the award-winning and acclaimed author of the Harry McCoy series, which has won the McIlvanney Prize for Scottish Crime Book of the Year, the Prix Mystère de la Critique award, and an Edgar Award. Gunner and Deception are the first two novels in a new international crime series set during World War II, featuring Joseph Gunner. Alan lives in Glasgow, Scotland.

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Endorsements & Reviews

Praise for Gunner:

"Great stuff. A vivid sense of place and time and what a main character!” Ian Rankin, #1 bestselling author of the Rebus series

"A notably original protagonist swept up in a high-level conspiracy reaching from Whitehall's corridors of power to Berlin and Rudolf Hess's doomed flight to Scotland. Enthralling." Financial Times

"This well-researched historical thriller, which perfectly captures the chaos, danger and moral mess of a world turned upside down by conflict, is sure to attract new ones too.” - The Guardian

"A brilliant milieu, fantastic characters, an exciting story—in other words another typically great Alan Parks novel.” Adrian McKinty, New York Times bestselling author of The Chain

"Parks's characters jump out at you and the story fizzes with history and colour. A brilliant thriller to kick off a new series.” - The Sun (London)

"[A] compelling story. You have the ingredients of a striking drama that is destined for a series and, possibly, for television, but with a sharper, darker edge.” Scottish Daily Mail

"An auspicious debut for Parks' new detective, and drenched in a murky, quite enthralling atmosphere of paranoia in which nothing can be taken at face value.” - Scottish Herald

"Great storytelling, and a gripping insight into war-torn Glasgow. I loved it.” Peter James, #1 bestselling author of the Roy Grace Series

"Gunner brings World War noir to the mean streets of Glasgow, setting a jaundiced eye onto a slice of history rarely explored in crime fiction. A lean, mean and ruthlessly readable thriller.” Vaseem Khan, author of City of Destruction

"A superb thriller with a gripping, constantly surprising plot, vividly realised characters and brutally authentic descriptions of both Glasgow's Blitz and the bleak realities of war on the Home Front. Parks's new series is one to watch.” Andrew Taylor, author of The Shadows of London

"What a fantastic start to a new series. It's meticulously researched, but with a beautiful light touch that transports you to the streets of war-torn Glasgow. A gritty, immersive, genuine page-turner. And what a compelling hero we have in Gunner: hardbitten, battle-scarred and far from perfect, but striving to do the right thing in a world riddled with corruption and deceit.” Bridget Walsh, author of the Variety Palace mysteries

"A fabulous read. I loved every minute of it. Alan's storytelling pulls the reader in from page one. Wonderful, gutsy writing. Gunner is a tremendous character, as tough as a Glaswegian shipyard hammer.” David Gilman, author of the Master of War series

"Parks has garnered a reputation for authentic, lived-in worlds, populated by flawed but compelling characters. The story has a fantastic ability to turn left just when the reader thinks things are going right. This is a living, breathing, loveable but punishing World War II mystery and we can't wait to see where it goes next.” Simon Ward, publishing director at Ian Fleming Publications