Leo Hoffman, the central character of M. L. Malcolm’s Heart of Lies (2010) continues his role as the spy who can’t come in from the cold in the upcoming April 5, 2011 sequel, Heart of Deception. This second work chronicles the reluctant espionage agent’s involvement in World War II and his subsequent career in the CIA. Although Leo Hoffman was the primary focus of Heart of Lies, both he and his daughter, Maddy, share the spotlight in Heart of Deception.
After Leo's wife, Martha, is killed during the Japanese attack on Shanghai in 1937, Leo sends their seven-year-old daughter to New York with Maddy's new stepmother, Amelia. Leo had married Amelia after Martha’s death solely to insure Maddy’s safety, a fact which Amelia continues to resent.
On their arrival in New York, Amelia demonstrates her lack of interest in Maddy by putting her in the care of Margaret O’Connor, the mother of Maddy’s best friend, Katherine. Five years later, Maddy goes to live with her mother’s sister, the wealthy Bernice Mason. Bernice had been searching for Maddy ever since Martha’s death, and she holds Leo responsible for that loss.
Leo’s desire to join Maddy in New York is all that keeps him in the spy game as World War II continues. Leo barters his work with the Allied Forces in North Africa for a promise of a visa to travel to New York when the war ends. He finally arrives there in 1945 to find that Maddy believes he had deliberately abandoned her. When she rejects him, he returns to the life of an espionage agent, now working for the newly formed Central Intelligence Agency.
Leo does not see Maddy again until 1963. By that time Maddy has married and has had a daughter, Annie. She has also become involved with Gene Mandretti, a man whose family’s mob connections play a pivotal role in the novel’s conclusion.
One cannot fail to be impressed by the historical backdrop of Heart of Deception or by the revelations of the skill with which Leo executes his undercover assignments. This work goes beyond the boundaries of historical or espionage novel, though, in its primary emphasis on a father’s enduring love for his child and of a child’s stumbling path toward acceptance of that love.
Although the April 5 publication of Heart of Deception will mark its first release under this title, the work was originally issued as Deceptive Intentions in 2008. Similarly, Heart of Lies appeared in 2005 as Silent Lies. Malcolm has not yet indicated whether she will extend her Leo Hoffman series. However, she has seeded the ending of the novel with enough intriguing possibilities to make readers hope for its continuation.
FTC disclosure: A review copy of this book was provided by its HarperCollins publisher.
Mystery Series Examiner's Note:
A list of this month's other hardcover and paperback mystery series releases can be found on Stop, You're Killing Me!
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