I am a member of the American Library Association Reading List Award Committee. This title was suggested for the 2020 list. It was not nominated for the award. The complete list of winners and shortlisted titles is at <a href="https://rusaupdate.org/2020/01/2020-reading-list-years-best-in-genre-fiction-for-adult-readers/">

Synopsis/blurb.....

A rescue dog, an ex-Marine, and an ex-convict are caught in the crosshairs of a ruthless gang in remote Washington state, in this "first-rate thriller" (Associated Press) for "fans of CJ Box and Michael Koryta" (Booklist).

Former US Marine Jess Winslow reenters civilian life a new widow, with little more to her name than a falling-down house, a medical discharge for PTSD, and a loyal dog named Lucy. The only thing she actually cares about is that dog, a black-and-white pit bull mix who helps her cope with the devastating memories of her time in Afghanistan.

After fifteen years -- nearly half his life -- in state prison, Mason Burke owns one set of clothes, a wallet, and a photo of Lucy, the service dog he trained while behind bars. Seeking a fresh start, he sets out for Deception Cove, Washington, where the dog now lives.

As soon as Mason knocks on Jess's door, he finds himself in the middle of a standoff between the widow and the deputy county sheriff. When Jess's late husband piloted his final "fishing" expedition, he stole and stashed a valuable package from his drug dealer associates. Now the package is gone, and the sheriff's department has seized Jess's dearest possession-her dog. Unless Jess turns over the missing goods, Lucy will be destroyed.

The last thing Mason wants is to be dragged back into the criminal world. The last thing Jess wants is to trust a stranger. But neither of them can leave a friend, the only good thing in either of their lives, in danger. To rescue Lucy, they'll have to forge an uneasy alliance. And to avoid becoming collateral damage in someone else's private war, they have to fight back -- and find a way to conquer their doubts and fears.
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My take.....

All the prime ingredients here for an explosive read.

An ex-convict, a PTSD suffering ex-Marine, widowed to boot, a kidnapped companion dog and a cabal of crooked local cops involved in drug running.

Mason - the ex-con has done one good thing in his life. He trained Lucy, a companion dog for a service veteran. He gets wind of the dog's imminent demise after she attacked an officer of the law. El pronto he heads to Deception Cove to try and save her.

Jess is Lucy's owner. She's damaged, grieving, and in dispute with the local cops. Her dead husband has ripped them off and they want their missing parcel back, or they themselves will be feeling the blunt end of the stick from the next level up in the drug cartel they've been working for.

The cops came a calling and Lucy got protective, threatening to the bite the asshole of their asshole chief. He's now being held as leverage for the return of the drugs about which she knows nothing - the initial transaction and her husband's subsequent death happening while she was away with the military. Jess with her companion gone is feeling more isolated than ever.

I really enjoyed this one. I enjoyed the set-up and the development of a relationship between Jess and Mason. Hostility and frost from Jess slowly thawing as Mason gradually proves himself to be worthy of her friendship, both of them trying to save their dog's life.

I liked the initial feeling out of the players. Mason the stranger in town, the first meeting with Jess, the first meeting with the cops, the bar visit trawling for information, getting run out of town, running straight back in again, their alliance, the desperation of the police to get out from under, the bully boy tactics, the quirky minor characters - each with a role to play to advance the tale. Lots to like, quite busy, but never confusing.

Small town corruption, dodgy cops, drug operations, other small town low lifes, run-ins, threats, intimidation, fear, a Mr Fix-it, a death to focus the mind, arson, an ally or two, a boat trip, a confrontation, the dusting off of some military skills, an island battle and an outcome.

Setting - tick. Deception Cove, Washington (real or fictitious? don't know) - isolated, coastal setting, small town

Main characters - likeable, interesting, one flawed and damaged, one open, honest and regretful - tick.

Plot - tick - conflict a good vs evil battle in a nutshell.

Pace - tick. Fast-moving, but never rushed. Time taken to develop the characters and events without losing any urgency.

Length - tick - 339 pages my version, but a quick read.

Resolution - tick. Bang on. They all lived happily ever after - not quite everyone, but ok for the ones that mattered - satisfying!

4.5 from 5

Deception Cove was my first time reading Owen Laukkanen, but not my last. Just as well really as I have a few more from him on the pile.

Read - July, 2019
Published - 2019
Page count - 339
Source - Net Galley, courtesy of Mulholland Books
Format - ePub

http://col2910.blogspot.com/2019/08/owen-laukkanen-deception-cove-2019.html

The nitty-gritty: Thrilling and fast-paced, emotional and heartwarming, Deception Cove has everything I look for in a good story, and more.

Why don’t I read more mystery/thrillers? I ask myself that question every time I read a good one, and Deception Cove was the perfect thriller to remind me what I’m missing. I loved the hell out of this book! It had a wonderful combination of tense action, mystery, emotionally driven characters, and best of all, a dog that I absolutely loved. And for all you dog lovers out there who balk at reading anything where the dog might be injured or mistreated or doesn’t make it out alive, then—spoiler!—you’ll be happy to know that Lucy, the dog in Deception Cove, is just fine at the end. I have to admit I was surprised by some of the elements in this story—don’t let that brooding, peaceful scene on the cover fool you—but Laukkanen seamlessly combined these elements into a page-turner of a story that I devoured in just over a day (and if you know how slow I read, you’ll understand what a feat that was for me!)

The story revolves around several main characters. First is Jess Winslow, a marine vet who came back from her time in Afghanistan with PTSD. Jess returns to the small Washington town of Deception Cove where she had hoped to pick up life with her husband Ty, only to find out that he’s drowned in a boating accident. Widowed and traumatized, Jess is given a service dog named Lucy as a companion who calms her when she has nightmares, which happens nearly every time she falls asleep. One day the town’s deputy, a power hungry man named Kirby Harwood, knocks on her door asking if she knows where Ty might have stashed a particular package. Jess has no idea what he’s talking about, but when Harwood turns aggressive, Lucy takes action to protect her owner and attacks him.

Harwood and his fellow deputies Sweeney and Yancy decide to use Lucy as leverage—and to get back at her for biting Harwood—and they snatch her away from Jess, threatening to put her down if Jess doesn’t cooperate and reveal the location of the hidden package.

Meanwhile, ex-convict Mason Burke has just been released from the Chippewa State Penitentiary after a fifteen year stint on a murder charge. Right before his release, Mason and his fellow inmates were involved in a service dog rehabilitation program where they were each assigned a rescue dog to train for six months. Mason’s assigned dog Lucy changed his life for the better and gave him a reason to hope that he might actually have a decent future. Now he just wants to know that Lucy has found a good home and is happy. But Mason is shocked and saddened to find out that Lucy has recently attacked someone and is about to be destroyed.

Mason isn’t about to leave things alone, however, and he winds up in Deception Cove where he meets Jess and teams up with her to rescue Lucy. What follows is a fast-paced race to find the dog, solve the mystery of Ty’s missing package and stay alive, all while being caught in the middle of a drug deal gone bad.

Laukkanen gives us well-rounded characters on both sides of the spectrum—good and evil—and he does a great job of portraying them as real people, avoiding clichés and caricatures. Jess comes across as hard at first, a woman who has been through a lot and has a long way to go with the healing process. But meeting Mason is a big step in that direction, since his insistence that she not give up on Lucy spurs her out of her comfort zone and proves how strong she is. Mason is not what you might expect. He’s an ex-con who is honestly sorry for what he did and he wants to make up for it. I loved the two of them together, both damaged in different ways, but both possessing the drive to make things better for themselves. I also loved a couple of side characters, who were surprisingly just as well fleshed out and three dimensional as Jess and Mason. Shelby is a young woman in a terrible position who just wants to protect her bedridden mother. And the hotel clerk, a man named Henry Moss, is sympathetic to Mason when he comes to town and starts asking too many questions. Henry also plays an important role near the end of the story.

Harwood and his gang were suitable nasty, although the story takes a turn at about the halfway point and we meet a new, even nastier character named Joy who makes Harwood look like a bumbling idiot. Best of all, Laukkanen uses these characters to show a dying, economically challenged small town, where desperate people turn to the drug trade when they have no other options.

And then there’s Lucy. I just love it when a dog brings two people together, and Laukkanen does a great job of setting up this scenario in a completely believable way. The author is definitely focused on his human characters, so don’t expect an anthropomorphized dog in this story. Lucy is a big part of the plot, but she is still a dog. Her only superpowers are her sensitivity to Jess’s anxiety attacks and her ability to calm Jess down. Nevertheless, Lucy is the glue that makes this story work. Without her, there wouldn’t be a story. Laukkanen does a great job of showing the healing power of animals and a dog’s talent in particular for making humans want to do good. Oh, Lucy’s charm doesn’t work on everyone, though. Harwood, Joy and the rest are just too evil to benefit from her goodness, and frankly they don’t deserve her anyway.

Laukkanen uses flashbacks to explain what happened to Jess in Afghanistan, as well as to show Mason’s time in prison, how he survived, and ultimately how he came to meet Lucy. I thought these were really well done and they slotted in nicely with the parts of the story that take place in the present. At about the forty percent mark, the action really takes off and the last half becomes an exciting game of cat-and-mouse as Mason, Jess and Lucy, who are trying to find the hidden location of Ty’s stolen package, try to stay one step ahead of Harwood.

This was a tense, exciting story, perfectly paced and hard to put down. I was thrilled to find out that this is the first in a series. The ending was hugely satisfying and I can hardly wait to revisit these characters and follow them on their next adventure.

Big thanks to the publisher for supplying a review copy.

A terrific thriller replete with a female ex-soldier, an ex-con, and a dog. The action is compelling and the setting fully brought to life. A great summer read.

Desperation and a need for saving reeling you in the formations of events unfolding, dog bonded with human with courage and empowerment, there will be a therapy dog in spot of trouble.

A companion animal, a VA doctor placed Lucy with Jesse an ex-marine, Lucy a therapy animal, a mutt partly pit bull terrier, saved from a den of fighting pit-bulls of many found dead.

Mason Burke, out from doing fifteen stretch inside trying to make a break, find some footing and worth.
Lucy the dog he trained as part of a jail rehabilitation program, he spent six months training this nervous dog and then the dog would go out and help others, is now in trouble and a situation arises to give him that meaning again like when he first partnered with Lucy.

Ex-con, ex-marine, ex-pit-bullfighting rescued dog, amidst a web of corruption and murder, with all the complexities and memories of shadows of the past and ones fortitude in making things right with saving and safety running through this tale.

Three broken hearts and souls need saving through tragedy and conflict with things turning bad on the island Deception Cove in this great tale pulling you in with hopes of justice and peace for the three by the end.
The author has crafted a solid tale successfully building empathy within reader for these memorable characters.

Mason Burke has spent the last fifteen years in prison in Michigan for committing murder. Towards the end of his sentence, he was put in a program to train dogs. Lucy, the dog he was assigned, was scared and timid when she arrived at the prison but became a great therapy dog six months later.

Lucy was given to Jess, a Marine veteran, who keeps reliving her time in Afghanistan, seeing her best friend get killed. When Jess arrived home in Washington, she has PTSD and is a widow (her husband, Ty, had gotten drunk and drowned while she was away). All she has left is the rundown house and Lucy.

The local deputy was involved in a scheme ... and Ty had stolen some drugs from him. The deputy thinks Jess knows where Ty had hidden the drugs before he died. With his life on the line, he does all he can to pressure Jesse for the information and even takes her dog from her, promising to kill Lucy.

When Mason is released from prison, he just wants to make sure that Lucy is okay and in a good home before he can start his new life. When he hears that she is about to be put down for attacking a police officer, he heads to Washington to do all he can to save Lucy ... and gets himself involved in trying to save Jess' life too.

I've read many books by this author and have liked them ... though I tried to like this one, I couldn't get into it. I enjoy reading books about and with dogs so was cheering for Lucy and that's what kept me reading. Maybe I didn't find the story interesting? I didn't find myself drawn to the characters and didn't find them overly believable. As I was reading, I found myself hearing them talk and act like backwood hicks in a bad movie.

It's written in third person perspective with a focus on the various characters. As a head's up, there is swearing.

This book is a powerful start to a new series. The characterizations are excellent! The author engages you and you can relate with each character, good or bad.
Jess and Mason are both “broken” but they can each help the other. Right now, they need to save Lucy, the dog they both love.
May thanks to Mulholland Books and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

This book grabbed me from the start. Why? Glad you asked.

1. The characterizations are superb.
Jess and Mason both battle with doubts, fears, and wounds. They battle in different ways, though. Jess tends to plan and shoot, and considers the possibility of suicide. Mason, who reluctantly read the Bible in prison, lets it guide his actions. The tension between the two is clear from the start and it builds throughout the book.

It’s interesting that Laukkanen gives little-to-no physical description of either Mason or Jess. The only thing he mentions is that Mason is muscular. We’re given more physical description of sweet floppy-eared Lucy than our human protagonists! Yet my imagination filled in that gap and I had a distinct mental image of both Jess and Mason. I bet that if I compared mental descriptions with other readers’, our ideas would be different but they’d all be equally valid. I rather like this technique. It’s refreshing not to have a female protagonist’s appearance described in detail, and it’s refreshing to see both genders treated the same in this regard. Their appearance simply doesn’t matter for this story; their personalities and characters do.

2. The antagonists aren’t one-dimensional “bad” guys.
Laukkanen gives us their points of view and we see people like Kirby, his other officers, and the ironically-named drug trafficker Joy as people with aspirations and goals, dreams and fears.

They all have moments of humanity, moments when we, the readers, can identify with them. Who hasn’t dreamed of great accomplishments, only to find the world harder to conquer than we’d realized? Who hasn’t lived with the disappointment of not fulfilling their potential? Or made a wrong decision and lived to regret it? Or want a better life for their family? Or desperate to solve a problem? I can identify with these things. So can the antagonists. It makes them human and desperate, but not beyond redemption.

The terrific characterizations don’t stop with the major characters, though. Even minor characters, such as Shelby (Kirby’s secretary and Ty’s fling), have a surprising amount of depth. Sure, she was screwing Ty while his wife was deployed, but she’s capable of loyalty, courage, and sacrifice.

3. Lucy is a well-developed canine character.
Lucy has her own battles to fight. She was rescued from abusers who planned to use her for dogfights. Thanks to flashbacks to the prison training program, we get to see her grow from a terrified dog, unwilling to leave her kennel, to a loving, if skittish, dog whose loyalty to her troubled owner puts her at risk.

But she’s not one-dimensional, either. She can act perturbed at certain . . . um, bedroom activities, or distressed at Jess’ nightmares, or playful with Mason. She even acts the “traitor” by cozying up to minor characters (to the disgust of her owner) and “helps” Jess and Mason get more information than they otherwise would’ve received. Dogs are natural icebreakers.

4. Laukkanen flips gender expectations.
Without giving away major plot points, let’s just say that there are times when Jess is more knowledgeable about traditionally “male” things than Mason. But Mason has the courage to ask for help and is willing to accept Jess as a leader. That endears him to her and to us.

5. Laukkanen raises the stakes throughout the book.
It’s not enough just to make the situation bad. He has to keep making it worse. And right when I thought things couldn’t get worse, guess what? They do. Plenty of action. Plenty of twists and turns.

This is a powerful novel. The possibility of redemption runs throughout the story. People lose their way, sometimes through their own fault and sometimes not, but they can be rescued. Like Lucy, the rescue dog, they need others to give them a chance. Deception Cove isn’t just another adrenaline rush thriller, easily read and forgotten. This is a story that will haunt you, move you, and make you look at others differently.

(Note: I received a copy of Deception Cove in exchange for an honest review. This review also appears on Goodreads. It will also appear on my blog after 5/10/19.

Well done suspense/thriller. Almost a bit of role reversal. Jess the tough marine and Burke, the “killer ex con” who has never fired a gun. And of course Lucy the rescue dog trained by Burke.
The local deputies are terrorizing Jess for something her dead husband has stolen from them and in walks Burke to check on his rescue dog and all hell breaks loose. But not to fear because Jess will help Burke with shooting lessons, and Burke will help Jess with her PTSD. And we are left to hope everything turns out and there are enough people left to complete a sequel.
Good read. Thank you netgalley.

I received a free copy to read/review from the awesome NET GALLEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have been a fan since he wrote "The Professionals".

Here we find what has become his trade mark of great characters and even a likeable bad guy or two. I was worried about the whole dog thing but it becomes so much more than that as the violence spins out of control and in middle America the stakes can suddenly get awfully high. Then of course my sorrow when I saw this was the beginning or a "serial" and for true thriller fans like me that can be a "serial" killer of good writing but who knows?

ANYTHING, by Owen Laukkanen is well worth reading. He is a clear, seamless writer with an all-round excellent approach to characters and plot. This book is no exception, and the inclusion of Lucy, a rescued dog, is stellar. Lucy is the name of Laukkanen's own rescue dog and she is well loved on Instagram under MissLucy604.

Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to read Deception Cove by Owen Laukanen.
This is Owen's new standalone book with new characters that is absolutely one of his best. From his first book, the Professionals, I have been a fan.
This book centers on three main characters - A young man newly released from prison, a young widow suffering from PTSD from her recent tour in the Middle East, and a dog, Lucy. Lucy was trained by prisoners at a program to help rehabilitate prisoners, and at the same time, integrate the dog back into society. Mason Burke did just that, and when he gets released from prison, he tries to find out how the dog is doing. He finds out that Lucy is ready to be put down because she bit someone. Mason can't believe it and he tries to find out where the dog is and what happened. Mason finds himself on the way to Deception Cove to investigate Lucy's future, and he there meets Jess WInslow, a recent widow, and a police force that is unwilling to help Mason save Lucy's life. As a matter of fact, they want Mason gone and back where he came from.
Mason and Jess love Lucy and are willing to risk their lives to save a dog that has saved their lives. But something is going on in Deception Cove, and now Jess, Mason, and Lucy have to fight for their lives to live there in peace. From start to finish, this book will have you on the edge of your seat. And, I think we have met a new couple for Owen to bring new stories to us that I am sure will be as good as this one.
RECOMMEND...5 stars.