Review of Deceptive Calm

[Ashley Thompson 27]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Deceptive Calm" by Patricia Skipper.]

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2 out of 5 stars

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Patricia Skipper's Deceptive Calm is set in the opposite worlds of the Deep South and the more progressive West Coast. She does a marvelous job of setting the scenes, and her knowledge of the Charleston and San Francisco areas shine in the imagery she portrays. We begin in Charleston, South Carolina, and follow the two heroines through their lives and separate journeys to the heart of San Francisco, California.

Both women are originally portrayed as strong and opinionated, but it becomes quickly apparent that the only one of the two who has a backbone in this story is Trish, who ultimately falls 2nd in importance to Vanessa, who the story follows much more closely. When I began this book, I was prepared for a litany of racial crimes and discretions thrown Vanessa’s way because of her heritage and a desperate attempt at escape. What I was instead introduced to was a bratty girl who didn’t like how things had turned out and instead committed a felony to run away from her “problems”. It seems like every one of her problems had a lot more to do with the fact that she was a woman rather than being mixed race, and her reactions came off as melodramatic rather than a last attempt to start again.

The pacing of the book was stop and go, parts of which dragged on with the characters’ monologues about American history, and others which I felt needed more attention but were barely brushed over, especially toward the end. I was overall very disappointed in the both the character and plot development as it really felt forced toward the end, with the antagonists obviously evil with at least one graphic rape scene, the heroines obviously in the right but helpless, and the final scene of the book being so abrupt it felt like if I didn’t have the electronic copy that I must have lost some pages. Because of all these issues that pulled me from what could have been a very good story, I cannot give this book more than 2 out of 5 stars.

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Deceptive Calm
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