'The Face of the Assassin'
By: David Lindsey
(Hardcover / 416 Pages / Warner Brothers Publications / ISBN: 044652929X / $25.95)
Description: Paul Bern, a forensic artist, has a fascinating job: re-creating the facial features of homicide or accident victims. But his job gets even more fascinating when a woman shows up at his door with a skull in a bag. She believes it's the remains of her husband, and she wants Paul to confirm her suspicion. Paul soon learns some things about himself that shock him, and in no time he's railroaded by the U.S. government into helping them ferret out a group of terrorists in South America.
Verdict: There are certain authors one simply cannot get enough of. They regularly turn out a book a year. But one wishes they could spin them off once a month. David Lindsey is top of my personal list and his new work, 'The Face of the Assassin' will keep him there. In a word the book is just superb. Its enormously inventive, credible despite being incredible, and impressively researched to boot. (You might have to look up "frenulum" in the dictionary. And don't bother checking him out on extracting mitochondrial and nuclear DNA from bone if you're an amateur forensic nut - I'm a scientist; he's correct). The book bears his trademarks of psychological suspense and his frequent exploration of the many shades and facets of violence, and again features his wonderful ability to bring south Texas and Mexico alive in his pages. Lots of luck trying to put this down before you're done!
Reviewed by Carnie Maxwell
www.twbookmark.com