I’m delighted to welcome you today to my stop on the blog tour for brilliant standalone thriller Faceless by Vanda Symon. Thank you as always to Anne Cater and Orenda Books for giving me the opportunity to read and review this fantastic book.
About the book:
Publication coincides with International Women’s Month and Homeless Women’s Day, with a percentage of profits to SHELTER
Worn down by a job he hates, and a stressful family life, middle-aged, middle-class Bradley picks up a teenage escort and commits an unspeakable crime. Now she’s tied up in his warehouse, and he doesn’t know what to do.
Max is homeless, eating from rubbish bins, sleeping rough and barely existing – known for cadging a cigarette from anyone passing, and occasionally even the footpath. Nobody really sees Max, but he has one friend, and she’s gone missing.
In order to find her, Max is going to have to call on some people from his past, and reopen wounds that have remained unhealed for a very long time –
and the clock is ticking…
About the author:
Vanda Symon is a crime writer, TV presenter and radio host from Dunedin, New Zealand, and the chair of the Otago Southland branch of the New Zealand Society of Authors.
The Sam Shephard series has climbed to number one on the New Zealand bestseller list, and also been shortlisted for the Ngaio Marsh Award for best crime novel.
She currently lives in Dunedin, with her husband and two sons.
Twitter @vandasymon, Instagram @vanda-symon, Facebook, @vandasymonauthor, http://www.vandasymon.com.
My Review:
Faceless is the new standalone thriller by Vanda Symon. Much darker than her brilliant Sam Shephard series of books, this is a tense and fast moving read that will keep you gripped from beginning to end.
A dark and twisted page turner of a read, Faceless tells the story of three very different people, all troubled in their own way, beaten down by life and trying to survive in an unrelentingly difficult world. First there’s Billy, a homeless teenage artist who has turned to prostitution in order to survive. Then we have middle aged Bradley, a man worn down by a job he hates and a demanding family life, who commits a horrifying crime and now doesn’t know what to do. And finally there’s Max, homeless and sleeping rough, eating out of bins and cadging cigarettes from anywhere he can get them, even from the floor on occasion.
But then when Billy goes missing, her one and only friend will stop at nothing to find her. Max will find himself having to revisit places and people he had turned away from a long time ago, reopening old wounds as he is confronted with a past he thought he had escaped from.
All three are the invisible people of an increasingly cruel and intolerant world. As one man’s mind fractures possibly beyond repair, another is reminded of the life he once had and the man he used to be. And then there’s Billy, trapped in the middle of a terrifying nightmare with seemingly no escape…
Vanda Symon has written yet another intricately plotted tale that draws you in from the very first page and doesn’t let go until the final page has been turned. Aptly titled, Faceless gives a voice to those invisible people amongst us who are largely ignored by society but are desperate to be heard. You would have to have a heart made out of stone not to be moved by the incredible writing and blistering social commentary of this dark, gritty and fast paced thriller.
With short, punchy chapters that keep you riveted to the page, the tension ratchets up to breaking point as Max does everything in his power to find Billy before time runs out. Faceless is as horrifying as it is devastating, taking the reader through a tumultuous rollercoaster of emotions as the story moves forward. I honestly can’t even begin to describe how this book made me feel, other than to say it is quite possibly Vanda Symon’s best work yet.
Faceless is a powerful, intense and thought provoking thriller that I would highly recommend.
Simply superb!
Faceless by Vanda Symon is available to buy now:
Check out what these other fabulous bloggers have to say about this book:
Cal Turner Reviews 