Deceit was a good, but not great story. Siegel has a gift for creating great characters with plenty of depth. His protagonist in this story, like the one in Derailed, is a likable, smart guy with a flaw that's his undoing. Siegel's dialog is excellent. Read it aloud and you'll find yourself performing... that's the sign of a good storyteller. Why only 3 stars? Deceit was a little weaker than Derailed. There were a couple of places where I had to suspend reality in order to make it work. Then there was the cardinal sin of getting the details of a 1960s TV show wrong. The sheriff calls Tom Valle, "Lucas" as in Lucas McCord, the disgraced Army officer accused of cowardice in the TV show Branded. He's saying that Tom is a liar-- which he is, or has been. Neat touch that I liked. But then Siegel incorrectly refers to the battle where McCord was accused of running as Bull Run, NOT Bitter Creek. Wrong battle, wrong war. There are a few things you have to get right-- references to guns, music, movies and TV shows. I had to fight not to put it down. I'm glad I didn't. I give Deceit 3 Stars.