Face Blind
A Mystery
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
A man with a neurological disorder that prevents him from recognizing human faces confronts an enigmatic killer in Chile's Atacama desert - the most lifeless place on earth
Gabe Traylin is face-blind, unable to tell one person from the next. Content to earn his living well away from civilization, he works as an astronomer at an observatory in the earth's driest desert, where no rain has fallen in 400 years. But when he witnesses a murder that he's unable to stop or comprehend, Gabe finds himself drawn into an investigation with disastrous consequences. Unable to provide a description of the killer to the police or explain his own erratic actions, he becomes their suspect in a series of horrific and unexplained mutilations. To discover the truth before he's arrested for crimes he didn't commit, he must put his trust in three strangers: a young traveler with a purpose, a washed-up novelist who believes he's bulletproof, and an alluring woman with a face he'll never see.
Together they unearth the secrets of Chile's fascist past, a time of kidnappings, torture, and political turmoil and venture further into the desert, discovering the secrets of revenge as well as the secrets of themselves. Moody, atmospheric and compulsively readable, Lance Hawvermale's Face Blind is in a class of thriller all by itself.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Gabe Traylin, the hero of this well-paced mystery from Hawvermale (The Discretionist), works at a research outpost in the Chilean Atacama Desert and has managed to cover his inability to recognize human faces by relying on voices, clothing, and other signals. While walking one night, he sees a mysterious figure who seems to get murdered, but when he calls in the authorities, the body has vanished, and his further investigations only anger his employers and bring more questions from the authorities. He eventually crosses paths with Mira Westbrook, who has traveled to Chile with her severely dyslexic twin brother, Luke, to find a reclusive science fiction author, Ben Cable, with whom Luke, who can't read, has become inexplicably obsessed. Hawvermale throws in plenty of action while allowing characters time to discuss and explore the series of mysteries they face. If the plot gets decidedly muddled and it seems unnecessary for Gabe's condition to be the focus of the title the unusual setting and well-drawn characters still intrigue.
