Heart of Deception

February 21, 2011
The search of Leo Hoffman, a dashing spy, for his daughter, Maddy, drives Malcolm's engaging, if at times sketchy, sequel to Heart of Lies. After the death of Maddy's mother, Martha, during the Japanese attack on Shanghai in 1937, Leo married a hard-hearted woman he entrusted to take Maddy to safety in the U.S. By 1942, 12-year-old Maddy has come to live with her aunt, Martha's sister, Bernice Mason, in posh Englewood Cliffs, N.J. Bernice hopes to protect her from Leo, a mysterious man she doesn't trust, who by now has reached North Africa. Leo's encounters with such real-life American intelligence figures as Col. William Eddy and Carlton Coon lend verisimilitude to his WWII exploits. Maddy's later romantic travails with Bradley Harrington Gordon IV and New York mobster Gene Mandretti yield unexpected conflicts. Shifting between Leo and Maddy, Malcolm movingly depicts the enduring love of a father for his child.

March 1, 2011
Previously published as Deceptive Intentions (2008), the sequel to Heart of Lies (2010; first published as Silent Lies, 2008), Malcolms debut, continues the story of enigmatic Leo Hoffman, a Hungarian national with a French passport who previously ran a successful business in Shanghai, and his unwavering quest to be reunited with his young daughter, Maddy. After agreeing to work for the Americans in exchange for the tantalizing promise of citizenship, Leo utilizes his unique connections and his mastery of six languages to become a member of an allied spy network in WWIIera Tangier. Meanwhile, Maddys life in New York is rocked by the arrival of a mysterious aunt and the unleashing of the soul-shattering secrets of her fathers past. Malcolm spins a mesmerizing tale of love, deceit, and betrayal as a father and daughter are torn apart by a world increasingly spinning out of control.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)