Skip to main content

Looks are Deceiving by Bill VanPatten

What's It About?

With a title like Looks Are Deceiving, readers immediately are on alert for whatever, or whomever, is not what it seems, understanding that there’s a massive deception in store and an anticipated ending that hopefully will be, well, pleasantly unanticipated.

Knowing all that about Bill VanPatten’s fast-paced thriller, which revolves around a series of apparent hate crimes in a small California community, my antenna was up from the beginning, and I was on the lookout — and I still guessed it wrong.

It all starts when our protagonist Will Christian stumbles upon a dead, mutilated body during a morning bicycle ride. The victim, as it turns out, is young, Latino and gay. While Will reports the crime to the authorities, something in his makeup — Will too is Latino and gay — prompts him to investigate the matter himself, under the guise of writing an article for a local publication. 

INVESTIGATION DRIVEN BY CURIOSITY AND PERSONAL TRAGEDY

He visits the home of the victim, befriends a family member, asks questions more appropriate for the police or a professional detective, and becomes obsessed with locating the killer. Will is driven not only by pure curiosity but by a tragic event earlier in his life when he lost a best friend to an unsolved crime.

The brutality doesn’t end with the first death — more killings come, and victims fit a pattern that is not only disturbing to Will but motivates him to carry on and dig deeper. Could the murders be a series of hate crimes against Latinos and gays, and if so, how would that help shape the likely suspects?

VanPatten introduces a host of effective supporting characters — ranging from family members and community friends to stereotypical, old-school rednecks clearly not welcoming to certain minorities. He also takes us into the world of gay online dating apps as Will assumes a fake identity in order to lure potential suspects.

Speaking of which, why are the cell phones missing from all the victims?

ADDRESSING SOCIAL ISSUES MAY HELP CRACK THE CASE

VanPatten has a natural, easy-flowing writing style that smoothly advances the plot, raises questions about the investigation and touches upon social issues that the characters must address and that might, in fact, lead to the solution.

And the author creates an effective vehicle, almost from the outset, of interjecting a conversation that the killer is having with someone (unidentified) in which he or she describes background thoughts and motivations, with perhaps a clue or two along the way.

In one such stream of consciousness, the person says, “You can develop lying, get better at it. Must be the years of experience hiding feelings, desires and all the stuff we don’t want people to know about us. We even keep things from the people closest to us. Behind every smile, behind every kiss, lies and secrets lurk. Remember that.”

As one of the characters advises near the end, “Never rule out anyone in a murder case.” That’s because looks are deceiving.

Looks Are Deceiving is available for purchase here.

 

Buy this Book!

Amazon
Looks are Deceiving by Bill VanPatten
Genre: Crime, Fiction, Mystery, Thrillers
Author: Bill VanPatten
Jim Alkon

Jim Alkon is Editorial Director of BookTrib.com. Jim is a veteran of the business-to-business media and marketing worlds, with extensive experience in business development and content. Jim is a writer at heart – whether a book review, blog, white paper, corporate communication, marketing or sales piece, it really doesn’t matter as long as he is having fun and someone is benefitting from it.

Leave a Reply