The Illusion of Innocence

By Jacqueline Jacques

Sequel to The Colours of Corruption.

Three people on a crowded train, brought there by the same crime.

Archie Price, painter and police artist, blessed with a photographic memory, is travelling to Chelmsford to testify in a murder trial.

The accused, Freddie Porter, is under police escort in the guard’s van.

Freddie’s sister, Polly, is desperately trying to escape her brother’s gang before they realise what she’s done, unaware he’s on the same train.

When the locomotive is derailed, Archie and Polly are injured, and put up by the same local family while they recover.

Where is Freddie?

Polly is so terrified she is driven to desperate measures and Archie finds himself being drawn into her nightmare...

• Language: English
• Publisher: Honno Press
• Release date: Nov 5, 2015
• ISBN: 9781909983403

Jacqueline Jacques

Jacqueline Jacques was born in Anglesey, North Wales but, having a close affinity with postwar Walthamstow, East London and nearby Epping Forest, is moved to set her novels in the area she knows best. Her working life as a teacher came to an end when the itch to write full-time became unbearable. Since then she has called herself a ‘writer’ though, nowadays, she finds other interests jostling for her attention, her long-suffering husband, Peter, not least among them. She busies herself, in shielded lockdown, with painting, crafting, working in the garden and on the allotment, attempting to convene the Buckhurst Hill U3A Bookclub on Zoom, and keeping their Creative Writing Group up to speed via email. Then, there are family and friends to enjoy, at a safe social distance, via WhatsApp and Zoom. Sadly, travel, holidays, theatre, concerts and art galleries are now relegated to being virtual pursuits. But the writing goes on, come heat wave or the hell of pandemic, while there’s breath in her body and juice in her iPad.

Reviews for The Illusion of Innocence

[fictionzeal · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This story opens up in 1897 in a rural area near London, in the middle of a crime taking place … one that will end the life of Jeremiah Fitzell, an elderly man, who was viewing his collection of hundreds of antiquated porn postcards. It was the photos that Freddy was seeking. After stabbing Jeremiah, he virtually ripped the box out of the dead man’s hands. Having eyed something suspicious, Constable Tomkins was waiting for the burglar to make his escape. But Freddy took care of him too, leaving him for dead. Tomkins doesn’t die though and was able to provide Archie with a rather detailed description of the man. Archie, a sketch artist for the police, was able to draw a very good likeness of the man now wanted for murder.Then, the reader meets Freddy’s sister, Polly. They couldn’t be any more different. Her family had felt sorry for Freddy when he was only a child and adopted him. They were never able to bring out the good in Freddy, who even now continued to dominate and terrorize Polly. But, Polly is made of much stronger fiber. She can’t be kept down; she’ll continue to fight. Her father had taught them both about photography and it had become Polly’s line of work.The flow and pacing of this novel were wonderfully done. I loved the hint of romance between Archie and Polly. I enjoyed that Polly continued to be such a strong character knowing how dangerous her brother could be. Early, Freddy is arrested but the story is far from over as he manages to escape during the derailment of his train ride to Chelmford for his trial. Both Archie and Polly are aboard the train. The author is new to me, but I’m quite sure this won’t be the last book I read by Jacqueline Jacques. Illusion of Innocence is a sequel to The Colours of Corruption, but stood on its own quite well. Rating: 4 out of 5.