Mass Effect: Deception Novel Arrives on January 31

The latest in a series of novel tie-ins of the Mass Effect video game franchise, called Deception, is set to go on sale on January 31, with readers able to follow the story of Gillian, the biotic powered protégée of Grayson, the character introduced in the Retribution novel.

It’s not yet clear whether the Illusive Man, who has become a fully fleshed-out character in the Mass Effect novelizations, will again be featured or Commander David Anderson, the only major character to feature both in the books and all the video games, will play a starring role in Deception.

The new novel is written by William C. Dietz, who has taken over writing duties from Drew Karpyshyn, who is now more involved with his video game development work at BioWare.

Mass Effect 3, the conclusion to the story of Commander Shepard and the Reapers, is set to launch in early March on the PC, the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3.