Consumed by Deception Audiobook – Deception Trilogy, Book 3

I found myself listening to “Consumed by Deception” on a misty Sunday morning, curled up under a heavy blanket while rain pattered against the window. There’s something about gloomy weather that makes me gravitate toward darker stories, and Rina Kent’s finale to the Deception Trilogy is as shadowed and storm-lashed as any tale I’ve heard this year. Right from the first haunted confession of its enigmatic narrator—a man who calls himself both husband and monster—I knew this would not be your typical romance.

As an American woman who has always been fascinated by love stories that dig below the surface, I was utterly drawn in by how Kent blurs the line between affection and obsession. Listening to Lia’s story unfold alongside her dangerously devoted partner, I felt echoes of all those moments in life when desire turns frighteningly intense—when someone loves you not just tenderly, but with a kind of desperation that can suffocate. While I haven’t lived anything quite as extreme as what Lia endures here (thank goodness), there are still universal threads: fear of losing yourself in another person; reckoning with secrets; questioning whether passion can ever justify pain.

Kent writes with prose that feels like velvet over steel—beautiful on first touch but unyielding beneath—and her characters’ raw emotions ring out sharply through every chapter. The psychological tension rarely lets up, creating a sense of unease so tangible it kept my heart rate elevated even during mundane tasks like folding laundry or prepping dinner. It’s dark stuff: the bargains struck between these lovers skirt the boundaries of morality and sanity, making me both repulsed and weirdly compelled to keep listening.

The narration adds tremendously to this claustrophobic atmosphere. Jason Clarke gives the male lead a gravelly vulnerability tinged with menace—he switches seamlessly from murmured devotion to cold ruthlessness in ways that left goosebumps on my arms more than once. Desireé Ketchum brings real warmth and trembling uncertainty to Lia; together, their performances make every whispered secret and shouted argument pulse with authenticity.

My favorite aspect was how Kent isn’t afraid to examine uncomfortable truths: sometimes love devours rather than nourishes; sometimes people we trust most become our nightmares. That said, listeners should know going in—this audiobook does not shy away from darkness or disturbing power dynamics. If you’re looking for pure escapist romance or easy answers about right and wrong, “Consumed by Deception” may feel too harrowing or morally ambiguous.

But if you’re willing (as I was) to follow Kent into emotional gray zones—to sit in discomfort while questioning your own limits—you’ll find this final installment hauntingly satisfying. Even now, days later, certain lines echo back at me whenever rain clouds gather outside: “He sacrificed everything for love… but at what cost?” Like all great audiobooks do, it lingers well past its closing words.