Author: Jacqueline G. Randolph

ISBN: 1596821027

Two principle historical settings, the Spanish Inquisition and a nuclear accident that occurred in Spain in 1966 provide the impetus for a compelling novel in Jacqueline G. Randolph’s third book in her Deception Series.  

Deception’s Legacy begins when we learn about an actual incident in 1966 concerning an American B-52 bomber carrying four bombs that packed more than a megaton of power or one hundred times more powerful than Hiroshima and that collided with a supply plane above the village of Palomares in south-eastern Spain. As a result, a crew made up of over 1, 600 American and Spanish soldiers were assigned the task of cleaning up the mess.

Within hours the crew was successful in locating three of the bombs that landed on the shore however it was eighty days before they located the fourth one.

Unfortunately, high explosives in two of the bombs detonated on impact spreading plutonium dust over several hundred acres. It was determined that four of the seven crew members parachuted to safety. However, another crew member, an African-American, Capt. James E. Matthews, was never logged on the mission manifest and was not reported to be missing in action. Matthews was eventually found by a girl, Rosita who was not more than fourteen and who couldn’t speak English and a boy, Jut, who was not more than ten. As we later discover all of these characters will play pivotal roles in the novel’s conclusion.

Both of these youngsters help Matthews survive his wounds. However, what amazes Matthews was that the young children, who together didn’t weigh much over a hundred pounds, were able to drag him to safety into a cave. Moreover, Matthews was stunned when he noticed that the girl, who was pregnant, also had several cuts, bruises and wounds all over her body. When he demanded that they seek help for Rosita, Jut indicated to Matthews that she is for Don Cristobál and he is not a gentleman that you would want to cross. As we later learn, Cristobál is a notorious criminal and drug lord whose ancestry dates back to the hideous days of the Spanish Inquisition.

Fast forward to the year 2030 where we meet Tristan, a young undercover agent for the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), who is on his first mission to Spain, and who has been assigned to participate on a special joint Spanish-American Interpol investigation pertaining to drug trafficking in Spain. As part of the mission, Tristan is required to check out a three-story castle-like mansion located in the village of Palomares that is owned by the Cristobál family.  It is here where he discovers eerie underground catacombs containing centuries-old torture contraptions used during the era of the Spanish Inquisition. Dominating the main chamber he finds a shrine dedicated to one of the most evil historical figures, Tomas de Torquemada, the head of the Spanish Inquisition in 1483. Randolph fills us in on some of the gruesome background history of the Inquisition where Jews and Moslems were slaughtered even long after the death of Torquemada.

We also are apprised of the fact that the prime suspect in Tristan’s investigation is Silòe who he refers to as Cristobál junior and who is a nasty piece of work. What is very worthy of note is that Tristan, in order to further his investigation, disguises himself as a debonair Spaniard, Rodrigo Alejandro Tenorio, who is dating Silòe’s niece and ward, Carmen Isabella- something that very much displeases Silòe.

A facet of the novel that plays a key role is the fact that Tristan is the son of a former DEA agent, Skye, who together with her husband Rhys, manages to secretly keep an eye on her son’s activities while he is stationed in Spain. In addition, after Tristan winds up as a nameless person in a Spanish hospital, he undergoes DNA testing which ultimately induces Skye to search out her own ancestral roots leading to a shocking discovery-something she hadn’t anticipated.

Shifting back to 1966, our American pilot Matthews is shipped back to the USA along with Rosita, who is disguised and dressed in a green fatigue Army uniform sporting the name tag Diaz, and who turns out now to be married to Matthews. As we later find out, all of these events come out in the wash and fit into Randolph’s jig saw puzzle that fittingly suits the book’s title- Deception’s Legacy.

The historical background side of Deception’s Legacy is quite interesting and doesn’t slow down the pace and development of the story. However, at times I felt that Randolph was a trifle clumsy and seemed to be struggling in trying to coherently interweave her themes.

When I interviewed Randolph and asked her if her work was improvisational or did she have a set plan, her reply was an emphatic improvisational! Perhaps, if Deception’s Legacy was planned out, this clumsiness would have been avoided. But despite this shortcoming, Deception’s Legacy does manage to come out a winner and proves to be quite a read with a great deal of suspense. Once again Randolph has shown herself to be quite adept at writing entertaining, fast-paced thrillers in under 200 pages that linger long after the reading is over.

Click Here to read Norm's interesting conversation with Jacqueline Randolph

 The above review of the ARC copy was contributed by: NORM GOLDMAN:  Norm is a Retired Title Attorney and now is the Editor & Publisher of Bookpleasures. Here are  Norm Goldman's Reviews