The Face of Death (2007)

I picked up this book by chance at the book exchange, the cover caught my eye and the blurb sounded okay and I had the credit to burn. Boy am I glad I picked up this book!

This is without a doubt the best new author I've discovered/read this year.

Whilst this is actually the second book in the series it doesn't at all suffer if you, like I, have missed the first book. There's enough background information and cross referencing for you to not feel left out.

What's it about? The blurb on the back doesn't give too much away - it's the story of a twisted serial killer who aims to mould a young girl into a twisted spectre of himself.

It's dark, confronting and whilst not graphic per se it does deal with subject some people may not feel comfortable with - torture, rape, molestation, et cetera.

A very captivating book, certainly paints a vivid picture. ( )

Another great book. The best author I've discovered in 2009. ( )

This is the first book of this series I picked up. Now will go back to book one[Shadow Man]. When they call a book "Hard Boiled Mystery" this one fits that in Capitals.

Smokey has dealt with more pain in her life then most yet has the strength to keep going. As she is finally coming to terms of the loss of her husband and child she gets pulled into a new case. Sarah who lost her parents at 6yrs old is now 16 and is holding a gun at her head. She claims it was not a murder/suicide but murder by "The Stranger". Smokey is the only person she will put the gun down for and requests that her diary be read to understand how she got to the point of having her foster parents and their son dead in the house she now lives. I have to agree this is not a story for some. It is very graphic. Yet in 452 pages it never lagged and actually keep me up most the night. I kept telling myself when this part slows down I will turn out the light. That didn't happen. The characters that make up Smokey's FBI team all have their part to play and they carry the story along. I'm sure they play a bigger part in the previous and future books to this series.

The most interesting part of this book is how developed the characters are. I could feel their strength and caring thru the whole story.

Wait till you meet Kirby....She is my kind of bodyguard. I hope she returns in another book! ( )

This was an excellent follow up to Shadow Man. A very dark story and more than once I was thinking, geez-- what does it say about me that I'm reading this? I truly would hate to think there was someone out there capable of such madness. I think it's a credit to McFadyen that he can capture it so vividly and make it seem so realistic. I had absolutely no idea as to which character was indeed the Stranger until it was revealed. I do hope some of the hints dropped with regards to members of Barrett's team do develop into major storylines in future books and I would like to see Barrett involved in Sarah's future as well. ( )

Very dark, very thrilling, very good read. ( )