Book Review: Forgery by Deception

Reviewed by Erin Britton

A tantalizing crime mystery that asks if a drug-smuggling operation can really be 100% foolproof

A crime novel with a wide-ranging scope and an impressive collection of illegal activities, Gene Piotrowsky’s Forgery by Deception centers on a complex plot involving the South American drug trade and some seriously huge profits in the United States. With an intricate web of conspiracies and plenty of lies and double-crosses, there is much for the forces of law and order to unravel to bring the criminals to justice.

In a luxurious hacienda in Cali, Columbia, dapper young American Richard Brock is awaiting a meeting with Enrico Sanchez, “a middle-aged, balding, and slightly overweight drug lord. He has been an established supplier of drugs to the United States for the last ten years.” The Columbian government and the US DEA have recently been causing problems for Sanchez, preventing his drugs from making it to the States, but the plan is for Brock to use the connections made through his role with the First National Bank to arrange the smooth transport of the drugs. 

Never short of a big idea, Brock believes he should take charge of the entire operation. Fortunately, he has spent the last two years working on just the kind of plan that is required, and it will only take another year for him to put it into action.

A year after that fateful meeting in Columbia, a three-man team is getting ready to leave Washington, DC for the weekly “two hour run to the U.S. Treasury printing plant located in rural Maryland.” However, while the job is normally a milk run, things are a bit different this time. More specifically, Senior Treasury Agent Sam Carver has decided to sell out his companions and aid in the theft of their cargo,   although the plan doesn’t work out well for him in the end: “As the other two men continue to clean the area of any clues, the man with the air-pistol turns and now shoots a very surprised Sam.”

The cargo in question is so sensitive and the likelihood of a mole occupying a senior position in the Treasury is so high that the decision is made to appoint an outside party as an investigator. Enter former Treasury Agent John Paxton. During his last undercover operation, his team was betrayed by an informant and led to his retirement. Paxton is tasked with figuring out how the heist was accomplished, identifying the inside person or persons, and determining what the wider plan for the missing cargo is.

Investigative reporter Cynthia Blaine is also on the case, although her focus is on how Enrico Sanchez has been able to flood the streets of New York with drugs in the last year. She’s done a lot of digging and has some idea as to how the drugs are being brought into the country, but she hasn’t discovered the details of the operation or who is responsible.

When a mutual acquaintance who happens to work for the CIA puts them in contact due to the likelihood of their investigations being linked, Paxton and Blaine team up to bring down the organization responsible for the audacious series of crimes, stop the flow of drugs into the United States, and recover the Treasury’s missing property.

Forgery by Deception is best characterized by its impressive scope and intricate detail of the drug-smuggling operation. While the bare bones of the plan are made clear from the outset, the specifics of the crime—What is the legitimate product being used to ship the drugs? What was stolen from the Treasury van? What is Brock’s ultimate aim?—are kept hidden, being teased out as the story progresses. This ensures that the story remains suspenseful and that there is plenty to guess at alongside Paxton and Blaine’s investigation.

As for the investigators themselves, they are believable and interesting people. Paxton still bears the physical signs of his injury, but he doesn’t let that limit him when it comes to pursuing the criminals. In fact, he still enjoys a spot of rough and tumble when the situation permits. 

For her part, Blaine is a canny researcher and a very good reporter, having cultivated the kinds of connections on both sides of the law that are necessary when investigating high-level drug smuggling and the associated criminal activities. 

Together, they make a formidable team, although their budding romance isn’t quite as convincing as their crime-fighting activities.

Another aspect of the novel that isn’t quite as convincing is the dialogue, which sometimes comes off as unnatural and fails to convey the excitement and danger of some pretty hairy situations. Piotrowsky’s execution doesn’t always match up to his explosive and compelling plotting.

Although drug-smuggling is an inherently criminal activity that goes hand in hand with violence, and while the criminals’ willingness to kill is clear from the initial Treasury van robbery, the actual criminal enterprise is a surprisingly civilized one. Brock and his co-conspirators are all Harvard Business School graduates, and, while they certainly have the big ideas, they are not so keen on getting their hands dirty. They also seek to insulate themselves from the day-to-day activities by structuring the enterprise in a very business-like way, which makes for an unique approach in the crime genre. Cartels and gangsters are involved, but they’re kept in check by business interests.

With exciting locations in both the United States and South America as well as several strong action sequences and surprising twists, Forgery by Deception is an explosive crime novel where even the details of the crime will keep the reader guessing. There is plenty to unravel and various red herrings to fish out. Piotrowsky has crafted an intriguing set of central mysteries that helps the future remain uncertain and absolutely tantalizing.

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