Sunday, 1 June 2025, 1500 hours, Miraflores, Lima, Peru
It’s a quiet afternoon here in Miraflores. A sea breeze moves through the window just enough to shift the curtain. Outside, traffic sputters in waves, and somewhere nearby, a dog has been barking at the same motorbike for the last twenty minutes. Welcome to Lima. You either get used to it or you leave.
It is 1500 hours. That’s three in the afternoon for those who don’t use military time. The date is Sunday, 1 June 2025. By 1353 tomorrow, I will receive my manuscript back from my beta reader. When that happens, I will disappear for a while. If you hear from me, it will be brief. My focus will be where it belongs, on the novel.
Before I go quiet, I want to say something. Something that matters.
Trapped in Deception is fiction, but it’s rooted in emotional truth. It’s about betrayal, control, fear, and the long road back from manipulation. Some people think stories are invented. Mine was uncovered, dug out, exposed like a raw nerve.
Shawn Larson, the central character, is not a figment of a twisted imagination. He’s a reflection of real people I’ve known, people who could charm you while robbing you blind. He doesn’t twirl a villain’s mustache. He shakes your hand, makes you laugh, and convinces you to trust him, until it’s too late.
Every con has a mark. But the most dangerous cons are the ones that make you question your own reality.
You’ll see it in the way Diane second-guesses herself, in the way Eddy gives up more than he should, in the moments when the truth is right there, but no one wants to believe it. Because the greatest deception isn’t what someone else does to you, it’s what you convince yourself to ignore.
This book is about waking up. About choosing truth over comfort. It’s a psychological thriller, yes, but it’s also a warning. A mirror.
So if you’ve ever been lied to, used, or manipulated, and if you made it out, this book is for you. And if you’re still inside something that feels off but you can’t quite name it, maybe this story will help you see it.
I’m not writing for fame. I’m writing for clarity, for healing, for justice.
Back to work tomorrow.
Ken Webb
kenwebb69.com