Face of the Devil
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4.3 • 3 Ratings
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- £2.99
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- £2.99
Publisher Description
Suzie Gray is only fifteen when she is stabbed to death within metres of her uncle's yacht on the Isle of Wight. Her body is found in the blood-smeared arms of Olly Matken, a family friend who grew up with her. Schizophrenic and vulnerable, he presents a serious challenge to the police.
'I didn't hurt her!'Olly protests. 'All I did was keep her from the devil.'
DCI Charlie Trench turns to forensic psychologist Karen Taylor. She knows she should ignore his call, but she cannot. Curiosity and, although she would never admit it to her partner, Will, a dangerous attraction to the brooding detective, push her into a deeply troubling case.
Is Olly capable of murder? His own psychologist doesn't think so, but his father does. The only way to find the truth is to identify Olly's devil. And Karen has demons of her own.
Customer Reviews
Some good twists and turns..
I thoroughly enjoy these novels around forensic psychology - it makes a refreshing change from the CSI style which we've become so familiar with.
However I'm trying to work out why I enjoyed this marginally less than the previous two. Perhaps the plot was overly complex, perhaps the ending fell flat - you find the characters talking through the outcome rather than living through it and discovering it with them. Then there are factual errors that made some narratives confusing for anyone with just a passing knowledge of the Isle of Wight - the Red Jet is not a hovercraft and you cannot put cars on it. Plus in the opening scenes the owner of a beautiful yawl intends to drop his niece in Lymington and meet up with business partners east of the Hamble 30 minutes later. This is not possible - you'd struggle even in a high powered RIB. It's a good 2-3 hours by sail.
It's a novel of course and I've no problem with changing things and poetic license (though I'd like to visit the Goose inn!) but these errors are simply a lack of basic locational research and spoil the appeal of the regional backdrop that draws readers with some local knowledge.
That said, it's a good story and the complexity of the plot may merit a second reading - and I'm not one for reading books twice.
I look forward to the next one.