I received an advanced review copy for free from NetGalley

From celebrated young adult author Teri Terry, 'Deception: Book 2 (Dark Matter)' is a second in her latest thriller series, following on from the events of last years' 'Contagion'. While it probably would be possible to follow the plot of 'Deception' without having read 'Contagion', I would strongly recommend that you read them in order.

The epidemic which was unleashed upon the U.K. in 'Contagion' has decimated the population of areas of the country, and left behind only those immune to the pathogen; those who were isolated and avoided exposure; and survivors (including protagonist Shay) who had the illness but survived, albeit altered. As in the previous volume, the chapters are narrated in an alternating manner by Shay, Callie, and also this time by Kai. Shay, believing that she was the reason for the spread of the epidemic, had turned herself in to the authorities, leaving Kai on his own and Callie with no means of communicating with him. The authorities, however, have an agenda of their own, and it's up to Kai to find her.....

Exciting and well-written, I enjoyed this thoroughly and can't wait for the third volume. There is one twist that I really didn't see coming AT ALL, which changes things a lot. The novel introduces new characters which add depth to the story, and the overall mystery continues to unravel slowly. Brilliant, highly recommended.

Thanks so much to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with this E-Arc. All new releases as of February 2021 will be featured on my blog.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. Thank you NetGalley.

Deception is book two in the series, and you absolutely should read book one to understand what's going on.
With that said, I LOVE this series... truly. It puts a unique spin on the "typical" epidemic / sci-fi storyline.

In this book, you'll meet other survivors and read through some awesome storyline .

Seriously, check it out.

‏I was provided with a complimentary copy of this book so I could give an honest review.

Deception is the 2nd book in the Dark Matter series by Teri Terry. I was given the opportunity to review the 1st book, Contagion, and thoroughly enjoyed it. When offered the 2nd book, I jumped at the chance.

Deception starts where Contagion ends. Shay, believing she is the carrier of the epidemic, surrenders to the army. Kai is heartbroken and feels betrayed because Shay left. After discovering survivors like Shay are not carriers, he is desperate to find her.

I enjoyed the 1st book more than the 2nd. Because it is a YA book, there is the obligatory love triangle. Still, it is worth reading. We are introduced to other groups. They are survivors, those hunting the survivors, and those behind the epidemic. One of the people we learn more about is Dr. Alex Cross, Kai's hated stepfather and Callie's father.

The 3rd and final book in the trilogy, Evolution, is available for pre-order. Its release date is August 11, 2020. I am looking forward to seeing how the trilogy ends. Will Kai and Shay end up together? What will happen to Callie? Will she get her revenge?

View my review of Contagion at http://philomathinphila.com/2019/08/11/200-word-review-of-contagion-by-teri-terry/.

This 200-word review was published on Philomathinphila.com on 1/16/20.

I was unable to get into the first book of the series, so I unfortunately won’t be reading this sequel.

Thank you to NetGalley, Teri Terry, and Charlesbridge Teen for the opportunity to read Deception in exchange for an honest review.

Deception is the second book in the Dark Matter Trilogy, originally published in the UK and now set for publication in the U.S., and rightly so!

The first 30% or so of the book was a bit hard to get back into, since it has been a while since I finished the first book. Once it hit around 30%, this book was nearly IMPOSSIBLE to put down!

Deception picks up exactly where Contagion left off. For those of you who HAVE NOT read the first book yet, SPOILERS regarding book one as it leads into book two shall follow.

You have been warned.

So book one ended with one of the main perspective characters, Shay, leaving her newfound friend (and lover), Kai, behind with his ghost sister Callie. Shay knows she must turn herself over to the government officials working to find a cure for this strange epidemic that has made its way over Scotland. Shay put two and two together and figured out she is the carrier of the epidemic because everywhere she has gone, the disease has spread, killing hundreds and thousands of innocent people.

Meanwhile, Kai is rather infuriated that Shay would use her power to keep him asleep while she departed, so he goes after her. When he reaches the base where Shay was going to go, everyone is dead, killed by the disease. What Kai doesn't know is that everyone was wearing bio suits, including Shay. So how did they get the epidemic?

Callie, unable to communicate with immune like Kai, but able to communicate with epidemic survivors, figures out quickly that she is actually the carrier. When Kai goes to London to find a girl who claims to be a survivor amongst the millions of the city, people say she is a liar. But Kai knows there's more to her story, and he needs to find out the truth, and ultimately, Shay.

Shay ends up in a facility with other survivors of various ages, but even the workers don't seem to know where they are. Shay meets Spike, a boy around her age who can telepathically communicate with her, as well as all the other survivors. Survivors of the epidemic seem to generate strange new powers, including telepathy, mind manipulation, self-healing, and even DNA alteration.

Callie wants revenge on Dr. 1, the man she deems responsible for the outbreak of the disease in the first place. She can't wait to infect him and watch him slowly die in her revenge. But Dr. 1 is closer than she thinks, and he's not who she expected him to be.

A fantastic, fast-paced young adult thriller with excellent apocalyptic elements and X-men-like qualities. The new characters are rather interesting and watching how Shay, Kai, and Callie change over the course of the novel is intriguing. When Dr. 1 is found, he is more than one might think. While the twist was actually what I expected, it led to an ending that wasn't quite what I thought it would be.

I highly recommend this series to teens looking for something to satiate their reading hunger. Also recommended to those interested in the microbiological science field. The science of the novel is vastly interesting. I am excited to see how this series ends!

Deception by Teri Terry is book two in her Dark Matter trilogy. The trilogy is billed as young adult, but don’t let age stop you. It’s an interesting read for all adults, young or otherwise. Deception picks up right where book one, Contagion, left off.

Epidemic survivor, Shay, has left her friends and traveling companions, Kai and Callie. She believes she is a carrier of the disease that has decimated the UK, though Callie is really the carrier. Shay and twenty-three other survivors are now being held and experimented on in a secret government location. The survivor facility is attacked and Dr. Alexander Cross, Kai’s stepfather, Callie’s father and leader of the shadow group, Multiverse, saves as many of the survivors as he can.

Kai and Callie meet other survivors while searching for Shay and the scientist, Dr. 1, that Callie believes started the epidemic. Eventually all the groups converge and the action is intense. Will they be able to overlook their differences and forgive personal betrayals in order to trust each other long enough to find the answers they need for continued survival?

Deception is very well written. The story is told through the alternating viewpoints of Kai, Callie and Shay, which the author handles nicely with appropriate chapter headers, though Callie does interrupt the other two occasionally, with no warning. We learn a bit more about the characters in this second installment of the series. There are still enough plot twists to fully engage the reader’s attention. The ending satisfies and sets the stage for the finale of the trilogy, which I am excited to read. I rate this novel 4 out of 5 stars and recommend it to young adult readers and anyone who likes a well-written sci-fi mystery/thriller.

My thanks to Charlesbridge and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this book. However, the opinions expressed in this review are 100% mine and mine alone.

I daresay this book was better than its predecessor ! Obviously, the gist is still the same: Oh crap, the apocalypse plague is taunting Scotland! But the stakes are honestly somehow even higher, which is pretty hard to do in the literal end of the world, so kudos to the author there! I also grew to care much more about the main characters than I had in the first book, which is probably the reason for my greater enjoyment of it. Things get pretty emotional for the main characters, and I think they really grow and develop, too. Also, it's a pretty fast-paced book, which I devoured quite quickly!

The negative? This may be a personal thing (actually, I'm almost sure it is) but when a huge plot point is a lie of omission, I just get stabby. I can't help it. It's like guys, communication would solve so much of this!

Bottom Line: It's an entertaining series with an interesting take on the apocalypse (and it all begins in Scotland, no less!), and I will definitely be needing to see how this series ends!

Shay, believing herself a carrier of the deadly Aberdeen Flu, flees her boyfriend, Kai, in the night to turn herself in. She's imprisoned with a group of other survivors under the management of physicist Dr. Alex Cross, Kai's hated stepfather.

Although angry Shay abandoned him, Kai can think of nothing but finding her. However, with no leads, he decides to find Freja Eriksen in London—a mysterious woman who has been posting videos disputing that survivors are contagious. Callie, Kai's "cured" sister who can only be seen by survivors, follows him.

Deception expands the cast of characters from the first novel in the Dark Matter Trilogy, Contagion, and explains more about the mechanisms of the Aberdeen Flu as well as the surprising powers of the survivors.

With Freja, Shay and Kai enter a love triangle made complicated by distance and distrust as well as the survivors' new capabilities. Dr. Cross's motivations remain suspicious—and while Shay is willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, Kai is certain he is a malevolent force. Meanwhile, Callie must confront uncomfortable truths about her situation.

The Dark Matter Trilogy, written for a young adult audience, offers an entertaining series that engages questions of identity, difference, and power. Deception is a satisfying continuation, and I look forward to the final volume, Evolution.

Don’t we all just enjoy a killer epidemic once in a while? I have been on a kick of dystopian books lately and I can’t say that I am upset about it. After fantasy, dystopians are one of my absolute favorites. This began after reading The Giver by Lois Lowry and the dystopian genre has just gotten better ever since. Deception brings that typical story of something epidemic-like to the world and I love it—just like the first novel Contagion. I love seeing the world drown into chaos that leaves little pockets of humanity left because I LOVE seeing how groups of people live after the fact. One of my favorite TV shows was Jericho (post-apocalyptic/not epidemic) but still LOVE the survival aspect.

The characters in Deception are again not written as well as they should be because of how excellent the plot and setting are written in all the books thus far. I am once again upset with the writing of the characters and wish there was more to them. I enjoy that they are from Scotland and this takes place there, but I wish the characters had a little bit more depth, again. I really like that Shay submitted to the Army and gave herself in—it always gives us a lot of conflict and chaos when you add the military and politics into a book. I’m enjoying that part of the book immensely. I do think Shay and Kai’s character development has evolved here just a little bit more then the rest which is good, the character development is STILL not where it should be but here it is getting just a tad bit better.

This book would do well in my library and I cannot wait to have it to give to my students.

Whenever a book has the mention of a virus, contagion, disease, etc. I know I'm going to have to read it. This story was no different and after reading book 1 I was so glad NetGalley gave me the chance to read book 2. This is one of those books that I'm frustrated about reading as it publishes because it leaves me wanting more.

This book picks up right where they left us at the end of book 1. This book just keeps developing an even deeper plot and when I think they may be done exploring another level gets revealed. I love how elaborate this supposed virus really is and how the survivors continue discovering more about themselves as time passes. This virus seems to have a mind of its own and I can't wait to find out who the real villain of this story is.

I enjoy how much we get to know the characters from their own perspectives and minds to the views and minds of others. I can't help but love Callie, Kai, and Shay and want nothing but the best for them. It's such a struggle to watch them be separated throughout this story when you saw them building a future in book 1. Every time a new girl gets introduced in Kai's life or a new boy comes into Shay's life I'm so scared that the life Shay and Kai had before is gone.

The twists in book 2 just keep getting better and as more is revealed you as a reader keep guessing what's going to happen now. So much of this book scares me because of how invested I am in certain people and storylines. I love hearing more about Alex, Shay and Callie's father, and finding the story about this virus unravel as we get to know him.

I cant wait to see what happens next to all my favorite characters and to this virus.

In this the second book of the Dark Matter Trilogy, Shay, Kia, and Callie are each in their own way hunting for answers to the mysterious flu epidemic and each of their role in spreading it or in the game it seems someone is playing with them. But the further they go the more questions they have and still no answers to the ones they started with, but the one they are figuring out real fast is they can't trust anyone except themselves. But will they ever find each other again?

This book is so fast that you can't blink or you will miss a ton, of action, suspense, plot twists, and what is going on. I missed a lot by missing out on the first book but quickly caught up on the jist of things, not that I wouldn't mind going back and picking up the finer points of book one, but you can just read this one and be cool. These characters are so well developed and work well with the story as are the others, and the story line is so smooth this is such a wonderfully written book.


This review will appear on my blog Oct 29th

The epidemic is still going rampant and it has a 95% death rate. Unfortunately, the 5% who do survive are left with powers that can be dangerous. At least that is what the government says as it takes the survivors into custody for everyone’s protection. As the pages almost turn themselves, Kai is looking for Shay and Shay is looking for the truth behind this epidemic. Will either of them reach their goal? What is really behind this disease?

Deception is the second book in the Dark Matter trilogy. Events in this book pick up closely behind the ending of Contagion and readers will have no problem remembering the events that have already occurred. This book has everything readers are looking for: relatable characters, lots of action and a few twists along the way. I recommend Deception to everyone who enjoyed Contagion. If you haven’t read Contagion yet, then go get it.

DNF @ 41%

I wasn't fond of the first book, Contagion but wanted to give this series a second chance to redeem itself. While the pacing does pick up, the plot lacks a sense of urgency and the characters are still the same one-dimensional people. I am not invested in this series and have no plans to continue it.

*Thank you to NetGalley and Charlesbridge Teen publishers for providing a free ARC

Book 2 in the Contagion series. Teri Terry plunges us back into the aftermath with a vengeance. Our favorite characters are back and still struggling to understand what happened and how. They each take a different path to the solution, but which one is the right one? The relationships build and merge to the point that you are left wondering where the author could possibly take them and how the next book could be any better. Let's hope she figures it out because the waiting is not going to be fun!

Deception picks up right where Contagion left off. Shay is convinced she is the cause of the epidemic, not realizing it is really Callie. So Shay has turned herself in to the Army who of course want to whisk her away to do secret research on her. So Kai and Callie are on their own and Kai of course can't see or hear Callie. Callie knows she is the true cause of the epidemic. It is following in her wake and millions are dying around her. So what does she do? Of course, follow Kai to heavily populated areas.

We also meet other survivors and those who are hunting them. The average human believes the survivors are somehow the cause of the epidemic and want them dead and burned. The shadowy army guys are hunting them to hide their tracks. Then comes the love triangle as Kai meets another survivor who has the hots for him. Of course he just loves Shay...or does he?

We also get to know more of the people behind the epidemic like Kai's stepfather, Callie's father and mysteriously also Shay's father. He is super suspicious and I am not sure why anyone would consider trusting him, but they do. I liked the addition of the other survivors rescued from the facility where Shay was being held. I didn't like Kai's new love interest or how quickly that turned south. But I am still eagerly awaiting the third book in this series to figure out how this is going to end. Not well is my guess!

Again I was blown away I love how this fitted in with the first book teri is a brilliant writer. This book is a easy read and is really hard to put down. The book the book tells the story from each person. Still loving the romance between kai and Shay. And love the new characters,
Also callie is really jenna the cat and callie still missing. Book finishes on a cliffhanger again so really can wait for next book.

I enjoyed this book overall. I liked that I was able to follow the story and figure out what was going on even though I hadn't read the first book in the series. I also liked the short chapters and how the narrative switched between the different characters' point of view, it helped the story move quickly. Nothing was really resolved though, so it is definitely part of a series, which is a little disappointing. I would have liked more of a stand alone plot that was involved in the trilogy, rather than just a bridge between 2 other books.

First off, I just wanna say that I appreciate the scifi without too much science talk. It does a great job of explaining without making you feel confused, which is something other books of this sort of plot lose me on. Unfortunately, I still didn't get a good feel for the characters and overall story. The first book left me with very confused feelings on our characters, Shay especially. I just couldn't get myself to really care for them during the epidemic. I had hoped that in this book it would've turned around, but I sadly didn't really start to enjoy it until the last third. That's a bit too long for me, considering there was a whole book before this. As of right now, I can't see myself continuing with the next book. I may do a reread in the future, but right now I'm just not feeling it.

Thank you Netgalley for my review copy of this book for an impartial review.

This series sucks you in and doesn't let you breath for a minute. Completely annihilated this book in one night. Loads to take in and characters that are actually believable for a change. The theories behind the breakouts are a little confusing (lots of physics etc - not my strongest suit) but I'm just about following. Last book needs to be as good as this....