Author Jacqueline Randolph skillfully manages to tie together the Spanish Inquisition, a 1966 major U.S. nuclear accident in Southern Spain, and the family history of her "Deception Series" heroine, Drug Enforcement Administration agent Skye Matthews. Skye Matthews is a strong, independent, beautiful, Spanish, black woman who has survived many dangerous adventures across the globe as an undercover agent for the DEA. The action-packed, romantic "Deception Series" (fourth book planned) is semi-autobiographical because much of the material was inspired by Randolph's own travels and experiences as a U.S. Air Force Officer, pilot, and part- time missionary.

Deception’s Fury

Jacqueline G. Randolph
Fultus Corporation (2005)
ISBN 9781596820463
Reviewed by Paige Lovitt for Reader Views (1/08)


In the interim between “Deception’s Guard” and “Deception’s Fury,” Skye and Rhys have married and have three young children.  Skye’s life has become very low-key and she is enjoying her role as a wife and mother.  When Skye discovers that her talents are needed in another mission, she resorts to some questionable tactics to get assigned to the case.  It was supposed to be an easy, in and out mission, however, she is captured.  When she doesn’t return home, Rhys goes in search of her and finds her being held captive and brutally beaten.  He helps rescue her.  Skye is determined to finish what she started, especially since the agents that were with her were murdered. 
         
Holding to her promise of confidentiality, she cannot tell Rhys how vital the mission is to the safety of the United States.  Seeing only part of the picture, Rhys begins to have doubts about what kind of woman and mother Skye really is.  Their relationship is severely affected.  This is incredibly painful for Skye because she knows the truth and cannot tell it to the man that she loves. 
       
“Deception’s Fury” will keep you reading late into the night.  There is a lot of brutality that is difficult to read in this story.  Ms. Randolph relies extensively on her own personal experience to make this story very realistic and exciting.  Her own personal resume and a mention of the Deception Series being semi-autobiographical, make the adventure even more incredible.  There were two underlying threads that run through the story that I really appreciated and could relate to. The first is an underlying faith in God.  I loved that this was incorporated into the story.   As the hero and heroine were going through some incredibly rough times, they didn’t abandon their faith in a higher power. 
         
The other thread that ran through the story was Skye’s insistence and need to hang on to her individuality as a person.  Unlike many relationships, she didn’t sacrifice her sense of self in this story.  Rather than having issues of giving up who she is, as a woman, she has issues of her husband having to deal with her individuality.  He had to come to terms with this issue.  Skye knows who she is and that she is a person of integrity.  Her husband needed to come to terms with this and trust her.  I think that a lot of women can benefit from reading of Skye’s strength. She was not selfish getting involved the mission; she had to look at the entire picture as a whole.  If the safety of the country is at risk, so is the safety of her children.
       
I thoroughly enjoyed “Deception’s Fury” and look forward to reading the next book in the series.  Don’t miss this one!