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The Face is Phil Whitaker's third novel. When he's not writing, he works as a GP and forensic medical examiner. It shows. The book is appalling in its detail, steady in its gaze, and deeply penetrating in its insight into flesh and blood.
Whitaker's first novel, Eclipse of the Sun (1997), was well crafted and intriguing. His second, Triangulation (1999), was well crafted and charming. The Face is a major advance on these two: it's well-crafted and utterly sickening. This is a recommendation.
Ray Arthur is a retired police detective. He's dead: killed in a car crash involving no other vehicles that may have been accidental or may have been suicide. But what reason would someone like Ray, a good cop and a loving father and grandfather, have to do himself in?
The book is narrated alternately by Zoe, Ray's daughter, and Declan, a former police artist and friend of Ray's, who worked with him in Nottingham back...