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1.91 AVERAGE
1.91 AVERAGE
slow-paced
I will start with the positives: interesting plot concept, good humor at times, enjoyable characters. Now for the negatives, there are a lot to list. First, the narrative is all over the place in this book. I feel like we switched view points/characters in the middle of chapters with no indication. Second, the timeline was all over the place. Some portions of the book dragged on when they didn’t need to, while other parts of the book were rushed. This book could have been executed better if the progression of the story was smoother. Third, the writing by the author is very immature in my opinion. It just didn’t read like a book intended for adults. Lastly, and this might be the biggest negative for me personally, is that this is a white author writing mainly a black person’s story. Now I can tell that the author researched a lot in terms of history for this book, but it still doesn’t sit right with me when a white author writes about things that happened to black people as if the author can understand the issues in full.
Overall, I think the concept of this story is interesting. I wish this were executed better because I do think it could have been a really good book. Some of the plot twists are predictable for someone who is an avid reader. The book was easy to read and it did address some important yet difficult topics in a respectful way, but I’m still not sure I would recommend this to my reader friends.
Overall, I think the concept of this story is interesting. I wish this were executed better because I do think it could have been a really good book. Some of the plot twists are predictable for someone who is an avid reader. The book was easy to read and it did address some important yet difficult topics in a respectful way, but I’m still not sure I would recommend this to my reader friends.
adventurous
emotional
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Fast-paced page turner with a fascinating premise, needs editing for sometimes cliche characterization and issues with negative stereotypical portrayals of characters of color, particularly Black women, aside from the MC, who is a white-passing ravishing beauty. Ends abruptly. Compelling in its own way, but also deeply disturbing.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Medical content, Abortion
Moderate: Addiction
addiction tag for workaholism and sex addiction
emotional
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Abortion
Moderate: Racial slurs, Rape, Car accident
Rarely have I had such a visceral reaction to a book as I did with Deceptive Calm by Patricia Skipper. This is a novel that not only failed to deliver but left me deeply unsettled for reasons that go beyond its poor writing. At its core, something about this book just did not sit right with my soul—primarily the fact that a white woman authored a story about the plight of a Black woman passing for white. It felt unnecessary, and at times, the narrative came across as a vehicle for the author to gratuitously use racial slurs under the guise of storytelling.
The plot—if you can call it that—is riddled with holes, inconsistencies, and juvenile writing. The story is incoherent, with random time jumps and jarring transitions that made no sense. It reads more like an unedited brainstorming session rather than a novel. A prime example of this chaos is the bizarre scene in the library where Vanessa, the main character, and her friends are researching the term "illegal immigrant." This inexplicably leads to the sudden, absurd idea to steal a dead white baby’s birth certificate as part of a "high school prank." Who in their right mind steals someone’s identity as a prank? The leaps in logic throughout this book are astounding, and not in a good way.
And then there’s Trisha, the friend who inexplicably takes up several chapters of the book—chapters that serve no purpose to the main storyline. In fact, at one point, I began to wonder if Deceptive Calm was actually supposed to be about Trisha and her career, given how much the author lingered on her job and personal life. Her character’s significance is never made clear, and her presence ends up adding to the overall sense of disjointedness.
The writing style itself is juvenile at best and frustratingly lazy at worst. There’s no continuity or congruency between scenes, and Skipper frequently refers to established characters with unnecessary labels. For example, Vanessa, the main character, is established early on as an orphan, but two sentences later, she’s randomly referred to as “the orphan,” as if we hadn’t just spent the entire book getting to know her. Dr. Hale, who is already identified as a surgeon, is similarly referred to as "the surgeon" in later passages—again, completely unnecessary and jarring. This clumsy writing only serves to further disrupt any sense of immersion.
The structure of the plot is equally disappointing. After dragging the reader through Vanessa’s monotonous career climb and personal life, it’s only about 60% into the book that the actual synopsis starts to take shape. Just as the storyline starts to gain momentum, it falls apart again. Vanessa marries a wealthy, racist man, has a child, and discovers that her baby has sickle cell anemia—this is when Vanessa’s true racial identity as a Black woman is revealed. From here, the book takes a nosedive, attempting to cram as much drama and action into the final chapters as possible.
By the time the story reaches its climax, Vanessa’s husband and father-in-law have concocted a plan to “get rid of” her and her child to avoid the shame of having Black family members. Ten pages from the end, there is still so much unresolved. The husband and father-in-law are arrested, Vanessa’s friend Trisha is mysteriously stabbed with a toxin, Vanessa’s love interest Barry is injured, and they’re all in various states of peril. Despite all this tension, the book abruptly ends with Vanessa and Barry professing their love in his hospital bed—no closure, no resolution, and not even an epilogue to tie up the loose ends.
The inclusion of bizarre, awkward sex scenes throughout the book only adds to the mess. Many felt forced and irrelevant, as if the author just decided to drop them in for shock value or filler. These scenes did nothing to advance the plot and only contributed to the feeling that Skipper was trying too hard to make the story more “edgy” than it needed to be.
All of these issues—the lack of continuity, the forced drama, the gratuitous racial slurs, and the shallow character development—make Deceptive Calm one of the most frustrating and unenjoyable books I have ever read. By the time I reached the end, I was left with nothing but regret that I’d wasted time and money on this book. I’ve seen some shockingly high ratings for this novel, and frankly, I have to wonder if those readers and I experienced the same story.
If you're looking for a well-written, insightful exploration of race, identity, and social issues, I strongly urge you to look elsewhere. Deceptive Calm is a chaotic mess that feels exploitative, with no real purpose or payoff. Save yourself the time and money. Or, if you're feeling adventurous, read it and come find me—maybe we can commiserate together.
The plot—if you can call it that—is riddled with holes, inconsistencies, and juvenile writing. The story is incoherent, with random time jumps and jarring transitions that made no sense. It reads more like an unedited brainstorming session rather than a novel. A prime example of this chaos is the bizarre scene in the library where Vanessa, the main character, and her friends are researching the term "illegal immigrant." This inexplicably leads to the sudden, absurd idea to steal a dead white baby’s birth certificate as part of a "high school prank." Who in their right mind steals someone’s identity as a prank? The leaps in logic throughout this book are astounding, and not in a good way.
And then there’s Trisha, the friend who inexplicably takes up several chapters of the book—chapters that serve no purpose to the main storyline. In fact, at one point, I began to wonder if Deceptive Calm was actually supposed to be about Trisha and her career, given how much the author lingered on her job and personal life. Her character’s significance is never made clear, and her presence ends up adding to the overall sense of disjointedness.
The writing style itself is juvenile at best and frustratingly lazy at worst. There’s no continuity or congruency between scenes, and Skipper frequently refers to established characters with unnecessary labels. For example, Vanessa, the main character, is established early on as an orphan, but two sentences later, she’s randomly referred to as “the orphan,” as if we hadn’t just spent the entire book getting to know her. Dr. Hale, who is already identified as a surgeon, is similarly referred to as "the surgeon" in later passages—again, completely unnecessary and jarring. This clumsy writing only serves to further disrupt any sense of immersion.
The structure of the plot is equally disappointing. After dragging the reader through Vanessa’s monotonous career climb and personal life, it’s only about 60% into the book that the actual synopsis starts to take shape. Just as the storyline starts to gain momentum, it falls apart again. Vanessa marries a wealthy, racist man, has a child, and discovers that her baby has sickle cell anemia—this is when Vanessa’s true racial identity as a Black woman is revealed. From here, the book takes a nosedive, attempting to cram as much drama and action into the final chapters as possible.
By the time the story reaches its climax, Vanessa’s husband and father-in-law have concocted a plan to “get rid of” her and her child to avoid the shame of having Black family members. Ten pages from the end, there is still so much unresolved. The husband and father-in-law are arrested, Vanessa’s friend Trisha is mysteriously stabbed with a toxin, Vanessa’s love interest Barry is injured, and they’re all in various states of peril. Despite all this tension, the book abruptly ends with Vanessa and Barry professing their love in his hospital bed—no closure, no resolution, and not even an epilogue to tie up the loose ends.
The inclusion of bizarre, awkward sex scenes throughout the book only adds to the mess. Many felt forced and irrelevant, as if the author just decided to drop them in for shock value or filler. These scenes did nothing to advance the plot and only contributed to the feeling that Skipper was trying too hard to make the story more “edgy” than it needed to be.
All of these issues—the lack of continuity, the forced drama, the gratuitous racial slurs, and the shallow character development—make Deceptive Calm one of the most frustrating and unenjoyable books I have ever read. By the time I reached the end, I was left with nothing but regret that I’d wasted time and money on this book. I’ve seen some shockingly high ratings for this novel, and frankly, I have to wonder if those readers and I experienced the same story.
If you're looking for a well-written, insightful exploration of race, identity, and social issues, I strongly urge you to look elsewhere. Deceptive Calm is a chaotic mess that feels exploitative, with no real purpose or payoff. Save yourself the time and money. Or, if you're feeling adventurous, read it and come find me—maybe we can commiserate together.
2 stars for "it was okay." It was okay, but absolutely not GOOD. Shoddy workmanship and a decent idea that was just really poorly executed.
TL:DR
Well, it wasn't good, but it wasn't awful. I was intrigued and ready for the concept of the book; but the first few pages were so confusing as to what was going on that I worried. My worry was founded, as for a 280+ page book it tried to tell a much bigger story, just poorly.
Yes, there is absolutely sexual content. It isn't SUPER graphic, but it is clear about what is happening. The sexual content is also of a nature that is rough, unwelcomed, and strangely . . . sterile. There was a focus on using actual biological terms which, while appreciated is absolutely not what people say. The husband also told the wife he"likes to fornicate" at a certain time/place. Um, no one says that. I'd rate the sexual content 3.5 of 5. It isn't particularly romantic or a turn on.
- Typos and Unintentional Grammar Errors: (1)I'm not sure if this counts, but on page 86, Sister Roe uses "Till the cows come home" twice nearly back to back. It doesn't seem to be done for emphasis and seems to have been an oversight. I'm having trouble tracking specific examples, but I also found many where the syntax was so unusual that it was hard to tell who she was talking about in the sentence, Vanessa or Trisha when she'd just use "she."
(2) Page 98 refers to the great MLK, Jr. as Marin Luther King, Jr.
(3)Page 129 we have a very awkward (and pointless to the overall story) exchange with Trisha and her "promiscuous" roommate about herpes, or is it crabs? Crabs are pubic lice and herpes is not the same thing. Then Trisha seems to still not have a clue what it is though Carrie told her is a veneral disease (crabs isn't actually) and says "Crabs! They crawl on South Carolina beaches?" Is Trisha legitimately confused? Why are they two separate sentences?
(4)Page 144 - in the middle of a sentence calamari is capitalized like a brand name.
(5) page 173 we have confusing grammar. Suzanne Von Westerkamp "had never acted so charming before, speaking to Antoinette in fluent French, which she had never done." She had never spoken in French before? Or is it fluent French? Or never French to Antoinette before?
(6) Pointless banter & sentence makes no sense - page 192 - Tod: "If that Black man shows up in his dreadlocks, my mother will have heart failure." Vanessa: "Good, I mean that we can have tests run to make sure never has heart trouble." What is Vanessa saying? What do these words even mean, but also why? That's where the section ends.
(7) I'm counting this in grammar/typos, but really it's a huge oversight. Page 206 Vanessa goes to confession and all she says to the priest is "I hate my husband, Father!" He tells her this is blasphemy and she repeats herself. He then tells her that men have different sex drives and you'll learn what makes him tick. But, Vanessa didn't tell the priest that she hated Tod because of his crazy sexual predation of her!
(8) On the very next page that section ends with "Trisha's interpretation of what happened in Zermatt . . ." When did Vanessa call Trisha? How does Trisha know? Not mentioned at all.
(9) It crosses two different, but nearby pages. When Brett is born, (page 228) "Alexander studied his grandson's face, 'Brett is pure Von Westerkamp,' he announced. Just a few pages later (240) Tod learns he has sickle cell anemia and isn't pure Von Westerkamp like his "crazy mother" said he was. Um, no sir, that was your mean old pop that said that he was pure Von Westerkamp.
(10) I think I skipped some, but wanted to save a real egregious one for my 10th. The coppers are flying from Charleston to San Francisco and leave at 5AM, and arrive in San Fran at 10AM. Yeah, it's a 6+ hour flight, but going from East to West, his arrival time would not be 10AM in San Francisco.
- Profanity - primarily it starts around page 231/232 when we learn about Brett having sickle cell. The book's back promises us things will start to unravel, but really the family is the only person who cares, not her millions of fans watching her on the news (they never find out she's Black!). Anyway, the Von Westerkamp men are real classy gents using B**ch quite a bit.
All in all the story suffers from being rushed in placed and so overworked in others that it makes no sense. At one point we spent so much time on Trisha that I thought maybe it was as much her story as Vanessa's. That business with the immigrants at the tomato shed sure didn't seem to go anywhere, especially when 20 years later she's not able to communicate with their rescuer, a Hispanic gardener. It's just mentioned her "rusty high school Spanish" how was she so fluent back then and can't remember a darn thing now. He's also referred to an old man, but then later he takes them to his family and his aunt is "old" and "withered." I mean, sure some aunts aren't that much older than you and can be younger; but this just didn't make sense.
Sister Roe doesn't talk like a normal human being. Vanessa is the orphan, the orphan, the orphan. She's referred to in the third person as "the orphan" so many times it's maddening. Tod doesn't speak like a normal human when (page 218) he says in a conversational tone that he wants to "procreate after golf" and then two sentences later, same convo says "I really want to fornicate after dinner too." Wow, that's so, un-sexy and no sex-addict is going to talk like that. He'd want to boink, release, explode, just not procreate and fornicate.
The end is where the action picked up and the book went more quickly, but it did not get better by any means. There were ridiculous fight scenes in a basement of a hospital where files are kept for two years, but also old gurneys are in the same room as these files. Not just gurneys folks, but also trays and heck, even a scalpel. These tools were just left lying around in a hospital basement? Please, I beg you, come up with something more creative. As I mentioned, some things are just mentioned so quickly in passing that it's like it's no big deal. Dr. McCoverUp just "falls to his death." That's all you need to know. Earlier on in the novel MLK, Jr's death is mentioned in some detail that makes sense and then the last sentence in that section is like "Oh, yeah, also Robert Kennedy died too, I forgot to say that but need to include it because I put that on the back cover of the book as to why 1968 was a summer of strife and I haven't mentioned it yet!"
I don't know what else to say without getting myself more agitated about how poorly this was developed. I'm glad it wasn't more than 286 pages (GoodReads and B&N say it's 294) because my brain hurt, but it would have taken more skill and/or more pages to really flesh out some of what was just left to dry up.
TL:DR
Well, it wasn't good, but it wasn't awful. I was intrigued and ready for the concept of the book; but the first few pages were so confusing as to what was going on that I worried. My worry was founded, as for a 280+ page book it tried to tell a much bigger story, just poorly.
Yes, there is absolutely sexual content. It isn't SUPER graphic, but it is clear about what is happening. The sexual content is also of a nature that is rough, unwelcomed, and strangely . . . sterile. There was a focus on using actual biological terms which, while appreciated is absolutely not what people say. The husband also told the wife he"likes to fornicate" at a certain time/place. Um, no one says that. I'd rate the sexual content 3.5 of 5. It isn't particularly romantic or a turn on.
- Typos and Unintentional Grammar Errors: (1)I'm not sure if this counts, but on page 86, Sister Roe uses "Till the cows come home" twice nearly back to back. It doesn't seem to be done for emphasis and seems to have been an oversight. I'm having trouble tracking specific examples, but I also found many where the syntax was so unusual that it was hard to tell who she was talking about in the sentence, Vanessa or Trisha when she'd just use "she."
(2) Page 98 refers to the great MLK, Jr. as Marin Luther King, Jr.
(3)Page 129 we have a very awkward (and pointless to the overall story) exchange with Trisha and her "promiscuous" roommate about herpes, or is it crabs? Crabs are pubic lice and herpes is not the same thing. Then Trisha seems to still not have a clue what it is though Carrie told her is a veneral disease (crabs isn't actually) and says "Crabs! They crawl on South Carolina beaches?" Is Trisha legitimately confused? Why are they two separate sentences?
(4)Page 144 - in the middle of a sentence calamari is capitalized like a brand name.
(5) page 173 we have confusing grammar. Suzanne Von Westerkamp "had never acted so charming before, speaking to Antoinette in fluent French, which she had never done." She had never spoken in French before? Or is it fluent French? Or never French to Antoinette before?
(6) Pointless banter & sentence makes no sense - page 192 - Tod: "If that Black man shows up in his dreadlocks, my mother will have heart failure." Vanessa: "Good, I mean that we can have tests run to make sure never has heart trouble." What is Vanessa saying? What do these words even mean, but also why? That's where the section ends.
(7) I'm counting this in grammar/typos, but really it's a huge oversight. Page 206 Vanessa goes to confession and all she says to the priest is "I hate my husband, Father!" He tells her this is blasphemy and she repeats herself. He then tells her that men have different sex drives and you'll learn what makes him tick. But, Vanessa didn't tell the priest that she hated Tod because of his crazy sexual predation of her!
(8) On the very next page that section ends with "Trisha's interpretation of what happened in Zermatt . . ." When did Vanessa call Trisha? How does Trisha know? Not mentioned at all.
(9) It crosses two different, but nearby pages. When Brett is born, (page 228) "Alexander studied his grandson's face, 'Brett is pure Von Westerkamp,' he announced. Just a few pages later (240) Tod learns he has sickle cell anemia and isn't pure Von Westerkamp like his "crazy mother" said he was. Um, no sir, that was your mean old pop that said that he was pure Von Westerkamp.
(10) I think I skipped some, but wanted to save a real egregious one for my 10th. The coppers are flying from Charleston to San Francisco and leave at 5AM, and arrive in San Fran at 10AM. Yeah, it's a 6+ hour flight, but going from East to West, his arrival time would not be 10AM in San Francisco.
- Profanity - primarily it starts around page 231/232 when we learn about Brett having sickle cell. The book's back promises us things will start to unravel, but really the family is the only person who cares, not her millions of fans watching her on the news (they never find out she's Black!). Anyway, the Von Westerkamp men are real classy gents using B**ch quite a bit.
All in all the story suffers from being rushed in placed and so overworked in others that it makes no sense. At one point we spent so much time on Trisha that I thought maybe it was as much her story as Vanessa's. That business with the immigrants at the tomato shed sure didn't seem to go anywhere, especially when 20 years later she's not able to communicate with their rescuer, a Hispanic gardener. It's just mentioned her "rusty high school Spanish" how was she so fluent back then and can't remember a darn thing now. He's also referred to an old man, but then later he takes them to his family and his aunt is "old" and "withered." I mean, sure some aunts aren't that much older than you and can be younger; but this just didn't make sense.
Sister Roe doesn't talk like a normal human being. Vanessa is the orphan, the orphan, the orphan. She's referred to in the third person as "the orphan" so many times it's maddening. Tod doesn't speak like a normal human when (page 218) he says in a conversational tone that he wants to "procreate after golf" and then two sentences later, same convo says "I really want to fornicate after dinner too." Wow, that's so, un-sexy and no sex-addict is going to talk like that. He'd want to boink, release, explode, just not procreate and fornicate.
The end is where the action picked up and the book went more quickly, but it did not get better by any means. There were ridiculous fight scenes in a basement of a hospital where files are kept for two years, but also old gurneys are in the same room as these files. Not just gurneys folks, but also trays and heck, even a scalpel. These tools were just left lying around in a hospital basement? Please, I beg you, come up with something more creative. As I mentioned, some things are just mentioned so quickly in passing that it's like it's no big deal. Dr. McCoverUp just "falls to his death." That's all you need to know. Earlier on in the novel MLK, Jr's death is mentioned in some detail that makes sense and then the last sentence in that section is like "Oh, yeah, also Robert Kennedy died too, I forgot to say that but need to include it because I put that on the back cover of the book as to why 1968 was a summer of strife and I haven't mentioned it yet!"
I don't know what else to say without getting myself more agitated about how poorly this was developed. I'm glad it wasn't more than 286 pages (GoodReads and B&N say it's 294) because my brain hurt, but it would have taken more skill and/or more pages to really flesh out some of what was just left to dry up.
This book isn't exactly.poorly written, but it swit he's between 3 different genres and plot changes a good 2 or 3 times. It's not a terrible read.. but I would not recommend it.
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Blood, Grief, Abortion
Minor: Death, Pregnancy
Reviewed for onlinebookclub.org
Just an awful book, through and through. Would not have finished if it wasn't for review.
Just an awful book, through and through. Would not have finished if it wasn't for review.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Abortion