Review of A Grave Deception

[Erin Dydek]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "A Grave Deception" by Donald McKeon.]

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3 out of 4 stars

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Father O’Neill of the small community of Honesdale, Pennsylvania, has been commissioned by the Pope to carry out an important task. The priest needs to keep the mission secret, so Father O’Neill must bring in help from someone he can trust. Recently retired Dorothy Kallighan is the perfect candidate for the job, and her creativity and connections will be the key to completing the task with success. But will the dynamic duo be able to keep Father O’Neill’s gossip-loving secretary out of the loop?

Discover all the juicy details in A Grave Deception, a historical fiction story by Donald J. McKeon. My favorite thing about this quick, engaging story was how well McKeon blended the historical information into the short story. I’ve often noticed that while I enjoy historical fiction, there are times when the author hits too heavily with all the dry facts, making the novel feel more like a history report than a fictional narrative. But A Grave Deception left me feeling like I had learned about the event through a suspenseful tale with a bit of humor. I think it helped that McKeon is a relative of the family featured in the book. His familiarity brought a natural tone to the writing and made for a pleasant read.

However, I have two minor complaints about the story. Although the nature of the mission is severe and the stakes are high, I didn’t fully get that sense from the characters as I read. I didn’t quite connect to the emotions expressed through their reactions, which may have hindered my understanding of the severity of the situation. The stakes may also have been lowered for me because I am not a practicing Catholic. The story centered around members of the Catholic Church, and I’m not as familiar with how serious certain practices and behaviors are within that faith. While I don’t think you have to be Catholic to enjoy this book, I certainly appreciated the story from a historical aspect; I believe that it may help to be familiar with Catholicism to understand the seriousness of the circumstances more thoroughly.

The other thing that made it more challenging to enjoy the story was how the author wrote the dialogue. As the characters conversed, the same character would often say two things in a row, separated into individual sets of quotation marks. For example, Father O’Neill would make a statement, and the quotation marks would close. The very next line was the start of a new piece of dialogue also spoken by Father O’Neill. The conversations would become confusing because I thought a different character was speaking, following an alternating pattern, and I had to reread the dialogue to understand better what was happening.

Other than those two things, the book seemed to be edited well and had a conclusive ending. Therefore, I gladly give A Grave Deception three out of four stars. The book was appropriate for all ages, although the subject material would appeal more to an adult audience. The religious aspects of the book are part of the historical information presented and not intended as a source of trying to convert or influence the reader’s beliefs. I’d recommend this short story to anyone interested in small-town family history, genealogy, and carrying out secret tasks.

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A Grave Deception
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[MsH2k]

It must have been quite a special task for the Pope to commission it! This sounds like an interesting historical read. I like the fiction feel with characters like the gossip-loving secretary.
Thank you for your review and recommendation.

[Apple 7]

The gossip loving secretary may pose a serious threat to the mission commissioned by the pope, would like to find out...nice review...... thanks....

[Helen Otuburu]

It s one big mission for the pope and finding an assistant for a secret mission isn't something to easily go by.

[Shivansh_007]

Father O'Neill has a tough job in my opinion. Really liked the insightful review and it seems the story is quite interesting as well. Thankyou.