Thursday, October 4, 2007

The face of death


So I alternate, as I mentioned earlier, between adult fiction (read GUTS AND GORE) and easy on the heart YA fiction. The last book was YA so guess what this is...

THE FACE OF DEATH by Cody McFadyen (Bantam Books, c2007, ISBN 978-0-553-80466-9) is the 2nd book in the Smokey Barrett series.

In this book, Smokey is starting to clean out the ghosts of her dead husband and daughter and move on with her life with her newly adopted daughter Bonnie when a call comes in - a 16-year-old girl has a gun to her head and is asking for Smokey specifically. This begins the story of Sarah Langstrom, orphaned as a child by "The Stranger" and she has lost everyone she loves since to violent ends. When she asks for Smokey's help, Smokey gives it...Smokey style.

The book starts:

I dream of the face of death.


Although this book didn't SHOCK and AWE me like SHADOW MAN, Mr. McFadyen has been permanently put on my list of authors I will read from here on in. A great storyteller with the ability to draw me right into the book, he has found a new and true fan in me.

2 comments:

Joy said...

Hi! I found you through Lesa's Book Critiques. I whole-heartedly agree ... Mcfadyen is an excellent storyteller. His writing is a bit on the whacked-creepy side, but fabulous nonetheless. :)

I actually liked The Face of Death more than Shadow Man.

Shannon said...

That's one of the best things about talking about books...everyone's opinions differ. I personally enjoyed SHADOW MAN better because it scared the bejeezus out of me and that hasn't happened with a book in a long while, but I did enjoy FACE OF DEATH because I felt a connection with the characters.

Thanks for writing.