The Face of the Assassin
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5.0 • 3 Ratings
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
When a mysterious woman arrives at the home of Paul Bern, a forensic artist who lives in Austin, Texas, she brings him two things: a human skull that she smuggled out of Mexico and an incredible secret that brings Paul face to face with the unimaginable.
Clearing up the gruesome murder of an American in the shadows of Mexico City's underworld, Paul Bern of Austin, Texas, finds himself facing the unimaginable. A forensic artist by trade, an expert at reconstructing the features of the mangled dead, Paul discovers a mirror image of himself. Separated at birth, Paul's twin went on to work at the other end of the forensic spectrum and has paid for his choice. Now, Paul is being blackmailed into standing in for the brother he never knew, committing acts of violence he never thought possible. Long-dormant instincts and talents awaken as he is submerged in this terrifying new life. Struggling to survive, Paul will come to know his lost brother even more intimately than if they'd grown up together.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Forensic artist Paul Bern uses his impressive talents as a sculptor to reconstruct a face on an anonymous skull brought to him under mysterious circumstances in Lindsey's latest in a long line of expertly constructed thrillers (The Rules of Silence, etc.). The more Paul works on the skull, the more he's convinced that there's something distinctly disturbing about the emerging features. Soon after he figures it out (long after the reader has done so), he finds himself caught up in a murky world of spies, smugglers and international terrorism. Forced to abandon his idyllic central Texas home, he travels to Mexico City, where he must impersonate his own, recently murdered, CIA agent twin brother. Heavy Rain is the code name of the mission; the purpose is to capture or kill the world's most feared terrorist, Ghazi Baida. There's a beautiful agent, Susana Mej a, and the usual collection of Mexican hoods, but the real showstopper is Vicente Mondrag n, a man whose entire face has been removed in a drug vendetta, leaving him with nothing more than exposed muscle, bone, gristle, protruding lips and a naked pair of googly eyes. This horror is kept antiseptic by a thin transparent membrane that Vicente must spritz at regular intervals. The novel's suspense lies in Paul's ongoing efforts to maintain his identity as his own brother and at the same time attempt to uncover Baida's terror plan. The plot is deftly handled, the characters are sharp and memorable, there's a shocker twist at the end and the background information on faces, or the lack thereof, is fascinating.
