I'm so pleased to be taking part in the blog tour for Faceless, the new standalone thriller from Vanda Symon. Taut and tense, this was a great read. Big thanks to Anne Cater at Random Things Tours for inviting me and to the publisher for my review copy.
Publication coincides with International Women’s Month and Homeless Women’s Day, with a percentage of profits to SHELTER.
The Blurb
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…
My Review
I've read three of Vanda Symon's Sam Shephard series (Overkill, The Ringmaster and Containment) and really enjoyed them all so was excited to read this standalone. And I wasn't disappointed.
Billy is a young Polynesian woman who has found herself living in the streets of Auckland. She is a talented artist and spends much of what little money she has on spray paint to create beautiful pictures on empty walls. But to make that money she has to turn tricks. She has one friend on the streets, Max, an older man she met in the early days and the two of them look out for each other. Max hates it when Billy works and when she disappears he is convinced something bad has happened and knows he must help her. But to do that, he must confront some of his own demons...
The story is told from four perspectives, that of Billy, Max, office worker Bradley and police officer Meredith. Bradley Fordyce is a put upon man - his wife seems to view him as pretty useless, he doesn't see enough of his daughters and although he works long hours in a thankless job, his bosses show no appreciation. But after things go awry with a young prostitute, he discovers what it's like to have a bit of power and control. And he likes it. A lot. We meet Meredith later in the story, a stand up kind of woman who knows how to do the right thing. Four wildly different characters but Symon has weaved some magic by throwing them together into an awful situation.
The chapters are short and fast paced, with the perspective changing each time, so the reader never gets bored. The chapters with Bradley are often hard to read - he is awful, toxic and the pleasure he takes from what he's doing is abhorrent. I loved learning Billy's back story and admired her quiet inner strength. But it was Max I felt for most. What a beautiful, heartbreaking character Vanda Symon has created - and there were times he brought tears to my eyes. He is so well written (as are all the characters) and, whilst it could be argued that he's not the character that suffers the most but, for me, his journey is the most powerful one. He's a character that will stay with me.
Faceless is a dark, tense and fast moving thriller full of menace and threat. It shines a light on the plight of the homeless, how they are rejected, abused or simply ignored. It's full of toxic masculinity, power and violence but also friendship, love and redemption. Vanda Symon has created characters and story that you will really care about. It's a powerful book that has really touched me.
The Author
Author Social Media Links
Twitter: @vandasymon
Instagram: @vanda-symon
Facebook: @vandasymonauthor
Website: www.vandasymon.com
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