The Conductor Book

The Face Of Death is the second book in the Smoky Barrett series. I had read book one on high recommendation so thought it was high time that I undertook book two.

Time has moved on since the last book and Smoky is now faced with a new challenge. (Gotta say, I'm still struggling with the name .... but hey ho!). We know from the blurb that a sixteen year old girl asks for Smoky at a crime scene. It's not clear initially what has gone on, is the girl a killer or a victim? But as the book progresses all becomes clear. In this instance it's difficult to talk about plot line without giving too much away. What is clear, however, that this is an exciting rollercoaster thrills and spills with gruesome touches of a read. It doesn't hold back at times on the gruesome factor and I actually found it quite chilling in places; senses alarminghly heightened when reading in the dead of night. Here I'm going to admit to turning on an extra light as I was feverishly turning from right to left. My bravery levels are impressive!

I was glad to see that there was less character background as all that had been fleshed out in the previous and it really focused more on storytelling. There is no doubt that McFadyen writes extraordinarily well with much interweaving and never really giving anything away until near the end. It's more of a FBI procedural that's done very well giving us information on the requisite agencies and databases used. Smoky's story too moves on and we get to see where her adopted daughter, Bonnie, is now. I just love her, a real favourite character of mine.

The Face Of Death really is a heart stopping, not for the fainthearted, thrilling read that never lets up until the very last page. I enjoyed it hugely (when I was able to breathe that is!) and went straight onto book three in the series.

Yeah, I know, I'm a sucker for a good book!!