Faceless

by Vanda Symon

A stressed, middle-aged man picks up a teenage escort and commits an unspeakable crime, unaware that a homeless man – her only real friend – will do anything to find her. A shocking, unputdownable standalone thriller from New Zealand’s Queen of Crime.

‘New Zealand's answer to Siobhan Clarke’  The Times

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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…

Hard-hitting, fast-paced and immensely thought-provoking, Faceless – the startling new standalone thriller from New Zealand’s ‘Queen of Crime’ – will leave you breathless.

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Praise for the Sam Shephard series

'Fast-moving New Zealand procedural ... the Edinburgh of the south has never been more deadly' Ian Rankin

'A sassy heroine, fabulous sense of place, and rip-roaring stories with a twist. Perfect curl-up-on-the-sofa reading' Kate Mosse

‘A really strong mystery with a twist that works very nicely … The family dynamic and Sam’s dealing with the trauma are brilliantly observed’  NB Magazine

'If you like taut, pacy thrillers with a wonderful sense of place, this is the book for you' Liam McIlvanney

'Vanda Symon's work resembles Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series she knows how to tell a good story and the NZ setting adds spice'  The Times

'Atmospheric, emotional and gripping'  Foreword Reviews

'A plot that grabs the reader's attention with a heart-stopping opening and doesn't let go'  Sunday Times

'Powerful, coolly assured, and an absolute belter of a read' LoveReading 

'It is Symon's copper Sam, self-deprecating and very human, who represents the writer's real achievement'  Guardian

'Fans of The Dry will love Vanda Symon'  Red Magazine

'With a twisty plot, a protagonist who shines and beautifully written observations of the cruellest things this is crime fiction at its best' Kiwi Crime

'Reads like the polished effort of a genre veteran. More, please'  Booklist

Genres: Crime, Thriller, Fiction

277 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2012

Reviews

[Carol, She's so Novel ꧁꧂ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vanda Symon needs to come back to writing. I don't want to hear any feeble excuses about doing her PHD!

It has been a long time since I read a novel thrilling enough to keep me up to 1am to finish it. Some of the twists and turns I totally didn't see coming.

The very short chapters (which drove me crazy in the previous Symon I read) worked well this time and added to the taut suspense. Part of the reason this worked was because each chapter was headed with the name of one of the characters. That's right - Symon's persuasive writing had me liking, no loving, a multiple POV novel!

A few things seemed highly unlikely to me - but I watched a documentary on a famous NZ murder a few nights ago and real life can be unbelievable too.

Best new-to-me novel I've read this year.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

Faceless is a standalone New Zealand crime thriller by Vanda Symon.

This book is set in Auckland, New Zealand, and it follows four characters: Billy, Bradley, Max, and Meredith. The lives of these people will intersect in more than one way.

Billy is a homeless young woman and her love is graffiti art. To ensure she has enough money to buy supplies and food she occasionally turns tricks.

Bradley is a computer financial analyst responsible representing rich clientele. He is stuck in a rut job, and the same for his marriage. He has a demanding boss where he is over-worked and never appreciated at work or at home by his wife and 2 young daughters. After an extremely stressful day he drives to an area and picks up a young shy prostitute…Billy. But something goes wrong when he attacks and kidnaps her, and holds her in his warehouse. He snapped under pressure and made a mistake and now regrets his actions and isn’t sure what to do next.

Max is another homeless troubled man and his only friend on the streets is Billy. He doesn’t like the fact that she is selling her body, but she always reports in to him where she’s going and when she’ll come back. When she doesn’t return, he immediately knows that something is wrong. He begins searching for her by calling some people from his past which opens up old wounds.

Meredith is a smart and intelligent policewoman, who gets involved in the case of Billy’s disappearance. Will she be able to find her?

How are all these characters connected?

The short chapters alternate from the three main characters' perspectives. You will find yourself drawn into the lives of these three characters and their horrifying lives. Such an emotional sad read.

This fast well-paced standalone dark thriller with a gripping storyline.

Many thanks to the author, Orenda Books and The Book Club Reviewer Request Group (FB) for my digital copy.

[Namita · Rating 5 out of 5]

Told from different POV’S , The Faceless by Vanda Symon was a dark and creepy , addictive thriller which made it a gripping read for me .Thoroughly enjoyable and will highly recommend!

I would like to thank the TBC Reviewers Request Group & the author for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest and fair review

[Fictionophile · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! This is a crime thriller that I absolutely devoured. I wasn't expecting such an immersive reading experience.

The Auckland setting was one I am completely unfamiliar with, though the author did her utmost to make it seem as though I had visited many times.

Each of the characters was so very authentic that I 'knew' them all. At first I felt quite sorry for Bradley, but events soon transpired that my sympathy soon turned to distaste and even repulsion. Bradley morphed from a milquetoast into an angry, domineering, bully concerned solely with his personal power and control over others. Max was a pitiable character who one could not help but feel empathy for. He seemed to hold his secrets close to his chest. Billy was a strong and beautiful young woman. Despite her lot in live, she remains stalwart in her quest for life - a better life. Meredith was formidable - in a good way. I loved her.

This novel spoke to the worldwide homeless problem. It served as a needed reminder that the 'faceless' person you pass in the street, the one whom you can't quite make eye contact with, is a person who used to have a life. What separated them from that life and where they are now could be any number of reasons, but we must remember that they are still valuable - still worth redemption.

This is a novel which I can confidently recommend to all who appreciate an exquisitely written crime thriller. The characters fairly leapt off the pages. The short, tension-filled chapters ensured a fast-paced plot. The ending was perfect. I loved it.

[Craig Sisterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

After kick-starting her acclaimed crime writing career with a series of four good to great novels starring stroppy policewoman Sam Shephard, laced with humour, personality and personal life amongst the crime, Symon’s latest effort takes a decidedly darker turn.

Bradley is an over-worked, under-appreciated office worker trudging through a mundane but high-pressure life. A spontaneous tryst with Billy, a young hooker, turns ugly when, embarrassed, he lashes out. Panicked, he takes her to an abandoned warehouse; leaving her imprisoned while he tries to work out what to do. Max is homeless, a dishevelled shell of who he once was. When his only friend Billy goes missing, he’s forced to reopen past wounds in an effort to save her. Meanwhile, Billy lies shackled, wondering what fate, and a nice-looking man capable of explosive rage, has in store for her.

While readers might miss the lighter touches of the Sam Shephard books, The Faceless is truly a terrific, well-paced, well-plotted dark thriller that delivers not only into a gripping storyline, but delves into issues of homelessness, domestic drudgery, shrivelled dreams, loyalty, grief and loss, and how we can be surrounded by people we don’t really ‘see’. Tense and thought-provoking; highly recommended.

[Zelda FeatzReviews · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a terribly sad story! Maybe that is not the best way to start a review, but this is an emotional, horrible story. The author drops you into the mind of a seriously deranged individual while telling this heartbreaking story. I simply loved it. Orenda Books again brings us a brilliant, pacing thriller you will battle to put down. I found myself racing through this book and reading till after midnight.
Vanda Symon tells this story from the three main characters' perspectives. You jump from one character to the next with every short powerful chapter and experience each one’s emotions. The author managed to capture these characters’ emotions and leaves you overflowing with their fears on every page. I loved the look at events from each one’s view. This left me feeling connected and involved as the story unfolded. This book is a powerful, pacy read that stirs emotions in you on every page. I loved that this book held back no punches and delivered blow after blow in quick succession.
Bradley Fordyce is not a happy man. He hates his job and his wife leaves him feeling insignificant. Driving home from work he takes a detour to avoid traffic and in a spur of the moment, decision decides to pick up a young prostitute. The experience turns bad, he knocks her unconscious and takes her to an abandoned factory where he keeps her locked up.
Max, a bum stuck in a dark space is the one person who notices that Billy is missing. He promised he would look out for her. His concern for Billy’s safety and his desperation forces him to face his past and return to a world he would much rather leave in his past.
Meanwhile, Billy is tied up in the dark, endure abuse and humiliation as she knows that Max is the only one who might come looking for her. She knows Max is troubled and she is afraid to pin her hopes on him. She spends her dark hours remembering her gran and pulling strength from that memory gives her the drive to survive the horrific attacks Brandon dished out.
Can Billy hold on long enough and can Max overcome the horrors of his past to save the young girl who has given him a reason to keep living?
This was a terrible story! But oh boy, the author did a wonderful job of showing the evil, damaged mind of Brandon. A man who finds strength only by torturing someone else. A man who appears to be a normal, loving husband and father while keeping Billy locked away in the dark, treating her in a vile, disgusting manner.
It broke my heart when the author reveal how Billy ended up on the streets. I felt my heart racing as anger consumed me. The author successfully had me furious while reading this part of the story. Max’s story was not much better. He suffered deeply and made choices without considering the consequences to others. As for Bradley – what a despicable man. The author managed to show this warped mind beautifully. This man will leave you feeling disgusted, angry and a need to lean into the pages a slap him silly. I love how beautifully the author drew her characters and how each page just oozed with emotions.
If you are a fan of a pacy, emotional thriller then this is the book for you. You will be drawn into the lives of these three characters and be drowned in emotions on every page. This book will leave you reeling.
I gave this title a five-star rating on Good Reads – it is fast-paced, gripping and full of emotions. I was drawn into the lives of the characters and submerged into their horrific lives from start to finish! I loved it and highly recommend that you add this one to your TBR.
https://featzreviews.com

[Nisha Joshi (swamped, will review whenever possible) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I went into this book absolutely blind just because I loved the cover. But boy! did I love it!

The Story:

Bradley is a middle-aged man working a boring job. He is a total pushover at work and henpecked at home. Absolutely frustrated, he picks a hooker named Billy up after work. In a particular turn of events, he hits her, takes her, and ties her up in an abandoned room. After all, Billy is just another homeless person, he thinks. Who's going to miss her?

But Bradley has reckoned without the tenacity of Max, Billy's fellow homeless dweller. He is worried when Billy doesn't meet him at the stipulated time and place. But what can a homeless, old man do, after all?


The Positives:

1. The story - The story was amazing. I loved the turn of events. Even with such an outlandish plot, the author has managed to turn it into a plausible and even believable story. It also painfully highlights the plight of homeless people, especially women, and prostitutes who have to trust the people they service. The police don't care for them and they are vulnerable to violence and abuse.

2. The characters - Each of the three main characters are so relatable. Billy is independent and fierce but she also knows when to keep her mouth shut. Bradley is a layered character and for some time, I really sympathised with him, even though he was a bad lot. He is one of the best villains I have read about in some time. Max is gritty and is quite the bloodhound. I want to know more about him even now that the book is over.

3. The writing - The writing was fluid and easy. I finished the book in two days.

The Negatives:

1. Length - Given the tautness of the story, the book could have been shorter. It was surprisingly long, though there were no repetitive chapters.

All in all, I loved this book and WHY HAVEN'T I HEARD OF VANDA SYMON BEFORE? Authors from Australia and New Zealand seem to be my current favourites so I am going to look up all her books now and put them on the TBR.

4.5 stars rounded up to 5.

[Katherine Dewar · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a taut thriller, both tender and brutal. I hadn’t read fellow New Zealand author Vanda Symon before but came across her work during a recent visit to her home city of Dunedin. ‘The Faceless’ is set in my own adopted home-city of Auckland and I discovered I could trust and enjoy the novel’s rendition of its familiar streets and neighbourhoods, its moods and aspirations. The narrative shifts between four point of view perspectives, each carrying their portion of their plot, which intersect almost immediately.
Each character’s internal struggles are credible and compelling. They drive their actions and build reader empathy, vesting you in the read, even when, for one character, their doubts and demons start to triumph. Tension and pace are superbly balanced; Vanda knows exactly when to take the reader deeper and when to make them chase forward after the plot.
‘The Faceless’ is a crime thriller, with building violence, but it’s also a novel about friendship and forgiveness, self-belief and redemption. Two of the point of view characters, the kidnapped Billy and the novel’s Detective, are female and the novel artfully plaits in themes of hypocrisy among the religious and of workplace discrimination alongside the potential for women to find power from women of mythology and from their female ancestors.
Having read this shortly after reading ‘The Girl on the Train’ (Paula Hawkins), I found the protagonists more empathetic, the antagonist more convincing and ‘The Faceless’ overall a more compelling read.

[Lesley · Rating 5 out of 5]

The way the story was put together with the characters developing as the plot unfolded made it great. A truly 5 star read for me. Spellbinding!

[Rachel (not currently receiving notifications) Hall · Rating 3 out of 5]

This dark standalone set in Auckland tells the chilling story of just what happens when two very different lives collide and one impulsive decision leads to an unthinkable situation with consequences.

Bradley Fordyce is a white-collar worker and married father of two getting it in the neck at work and at home. Recent cuts at work have seen his overbearing boss strong-arm the remaining staff into working longer hours and when he gets home it is to wife, Ange, who clearly wears the trousers. After a hellish day Bradley makes the decision to pick up street worker Billy, only to lash out at her when he assumes she is mocking his manhood. Suddenly the whole equation has changed and the girl is his captive but after a night scrambling for how to extricate himself from the mess, the buzz from his moment of violence, and the power trip that it gives way to, alters his whole mindset. The chance to release his pent-up frustrations and dominate someone completely unleashes a side of his personality that he has never dared explore in civilised society. Eighteen-year-old Fijian street artist, Billy, turns tricks to fund her art supplies and in the year since she arrived in the same vicinity as homeless Max, a man old enough to be her father, the two have forged a bond. Max knows that if Billy wasn’t intending to return to their regular haunt of a night then she would have told him in advance and he is sure something is wrong. With no one else to fight her corner Max knows it is down to him and looking every bit the down and out that he has become, Max has to face his past in order to help Billy and that means asking ballsy DS Meredith Peters for help and she is one woman who doesn’t suffer fools gladly.

I was expecting a breakneck thriller and was surprised and a little dismayed at how slowly Faceless started. In fact the pace doesn’t really pick up until the final third and although the chapters are short and sharp, with the narrative baton moving between four different characters each of whom give their perspective, the novel is missing a sense of urgency that would have made for a tauter read. I found the writing quite matter-of-fact and although the story was refreshingly different it was never nail-biting tense, perhaps due to the fact that the novel takes time to explore Max’s tragic backstory and why his life has fallen apart. The characterisation, however, is superb and for me this is what made Faceless a compelling read as Vanda Symon does an excellent job of getting into the heads of her cast (Bradley and Billy particularly) and revealing how they are processing the unfolding situation. Faceless shines a light on a number of problems in society including homelessness and how easy it is to slip between the cracks and live on the margins along with the fallout from unchecked mental health issues and toxic masculinity. But for all the worrying issues tackled in Faceless, it is not an unremittingly bleak novel with themes of friendship, resilience and ultimately vindication thrown into the mix.

[Liz Barnsley · Rating 4 out of 5]

A tense standalone thriller that immediately grips.

From several points of view we see a kidnap, a search and eventually resolution. Hugely addictive and beautifully written.

[Miriam Smith (A Mother’s Musings) · Rating 4 out of 5]

New Zealand’s Queen of Crime, Vanda Symon writes thought- provoking and attention grabbing storylines and her latest thriller “FACELESS” has been written to coincide with Women’s Month and Homeless Women’s Day in March.

- A stressed, middle-aged man picks up a teenage escort and commits an unspeakable crime, unaware that a homeless man – her only real friend – will do anything to find her.

Although the main crux to the story in ‘Faceless’ is quite simplistic, it was very well written and certainly hit the mark regarding the plight of the homeless and how they are often shunned by society. So many different circumstances find people without a fixed abode, withdrawing from normal society and it was interesting how the contrast between Billy, a young girl ostracised by her family and her much older male friend Max escaping a huge emotionally traumatic event, compared to each other.
Creating a thriller with a middle aged family man, suffering from work related stress and his unexpected violent reactions after picking up an escort, made this a very thought provoking story regarding mental illness, the survival of the homelessness and the power of friendship and complexities of family bonds.

‘Faceless’ is a slow burn, character driven story where the adage ‘less is more’ truly comes into play and with an increase in tension towards the denouement, I really enjoyed reading this book and would happily recommend.

#Faceless - 4 stars

Thank you to Orenda and TBC Reviewers Request on Facebook for my copy of the book in return for an honest opinion.

[Craig Sisterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Detective Sam Shephard is one of my favourite characters in crime fiction - a headstrong policewoman full of humanity who has starred in four great reads laced with humour, personality, and personal life amongst the compelling crimes, all wonderfully set in the southern part of New Zealand. It's a tremendous series, one of my faves, that's been shortlisted for major writing awards on three continents. I want more of Sam, so wasn't sure how I'd feel about Vanda Symon taking a break and writing a darker, standalone thriller.

But wow. FACELESS is amazing.

An over-worked, under-appreciated office worker trudging through a mundane but high-pressure life. A young sex worker struggling to survive. A homeless man who's a shell of who he once was. Three overlooked people whose worlds collide, violently.

While some readers may miss the lighter touches of the Sam Shephard books, Faceless is truly a terrific, well-paced, well-plotted dark thriller that delivers not only into a gripping storyline, but delves into issues of homelessness, misogyny, shrivelled dreams, loyalty, grief and loss, and how we can be surrounded by people we don’t really ‘see’.

Tense and thought-provoking; very highly recommended.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Woah. Faceless by Vanda Symon is a dark, suspenseful, fantastic read. It was compelling from the first word to the last. I’m just going to tell you, this was a five star read for me. No question about it.

The writing is beautiful. I love the short paragraphs that make this such a fast read. It was hard to put down and easy to say, “one more chapter,” because of how compelling the writing is.

Speaking of compelling, the characters here are just so well written. There are different perspectives to read, and each is distinct with their own struggles and voice. I found this incredibly compelling as well. The mix of a fantastic plot and characters always leads to a book I won’t put down when I start reading.

Alright, I’ve said what I needed to say. I highly recommend giving this dark, compelling read a go!

Thank you to Random Things Tours for the free review copy. All opinions are my own and unbiased.

[Catherine Robertson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thrillers aren't my thing as much as detective fiction but Faceless was particularly compelling - I ripped through it, in most places wide-eyed. Bradley is the villain who kidnaps street kid prostitute Billy after he suspects her of laughing at his non performance. He is creepy but mostly because, hey, he could be your neighbour, that normal looking businessman with a good job, nice house, pretty wife and daughters! Billy has the toughest role as a character, but she is helpless only externally, her internal life is immensely heartening and believable. Max, the homeless guy, the only person who knows Billy is missing, is the most complex character and the one who struggles most with his demons (Bradley embraces his). So will Max be able to find where Bradley has stashed and is abusing Billy? Rip through it and find out

[Brenda Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chilling. So well written - hard to put down. You'll want to cancel work, order food and just read.
Reminiscent of the movie from decades ago - Falling Down, Bradley is tired of trudging through life. His job, his family - sucking the joy out of life. On impulse, Bradley picks up a teenage hooker. Taking things too far, Bradley is at a total loss.
Max is homeless - desperate to find his missing friend. Forced to contact nasty people from his last, Max sacrifices himself to discover the truth.

[Nicki · Rating 5 out of 5]

The plot of this dark and unfortunately far too believable thriller centre's around three authentic,emotionally damaged individuals who resided on opposite sides of the social divide.

The chapters which vary in length rotate between the perspectives of middle aged,middle classed Bradley, eighteen year old, homeless artist and part time prostitute Billy and her fellow homeless friend Max. The night that Bradley picks Billy up in his car is the catalyst for a hard hitting and thought provoking story in which the reader will bear witness to Bradley's gradual mental deterioration as he struggled with his conflicting feelings and emotions. Billy's feisty battle to retain her dignity and stay alive and Max being forced to confront people and events from his past during his desperate search for his missing friend.

During the story, the author raises the frankly disgraceful,demeaning and realistic attitude of many aspects of society towards the unfortunate individuals who find themselves living on the streets. As it also is in reality, in the story, life on the streets is a constant battle, not just against the elements but also the threats of unprovoked violence,intimidation and judgement from all walks of life. People find themselves homeless for a variety of reasons, life can go wrong in the blink of an eye, you never know what fate has in store for you. That homeless person huddled in the doorway, trying to keep warm could be any one of us in the future. There was a unfortunate and shocking sense of realism and reality to the complete change of attitudes towards Max after he was encouraged to smarten himself up by blunt, outspoken, Detective Sergeant Meredith. As well as highlighting the bad aspects of society, the author had also included some scenes in which Max encountered characters who surprised him with their individual acts of kindness and sympathy. Max had only been homeless for a couple of years, what had gone so badly wrong in his past that had caused him to walk away from his career and family and take up a life living amongst the homeless?

I found my anxiety levels became ramped up to the max whenever I came to Bradley and Billy's parts of the story. Witnessing the unravelling of Bradley's psyche, how easily he justified his treatment of Billy and knowing that she was completely at his mercy was a nerve shredding and chilling experience. Billy was a really likeable, feisty character and many of her chapters were permeated with a intoxicating blend of foreboding, fear and her desperate will to survive. But as Bradley's behaviour became more erratic and unpredictable, how long would it be before he lost complete control of his actions? Would Max figure out where Billy was being held captive in time to save his friend? Or was Billy destined to become another addition to the missing faceless statistics?

Wow....just wow, I loved this fast paced, intense, thought provoking thriller that hooks the reader in from the first page, keeps you captivated and glued to your kindle. The characters were a mixed bag of vivid, realistic individuals, some more likeable than others. The story is extremely well written and caused me to experience a wide range of conflicting emotions as the story unfolded and works its way towards its breath taking conclusion which contained a very pleasing dash of poetic justice. I would love to watch a movie or tv adaptation of this outstanding thriller. This is the first book that I have read that was written by this author and it most definitely will not be my last. Worth far more than five stars and very very highly recommended.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A dark and pacy thriller, Faceless follows four main characters in this gripping story that I really did struggle to put down.

Bradley hates his job, his boss and his wife always seems to be giving him a hard time at home, so after a particularly bad day at work he decides to go to a shady part of town where he picks up a young prostitute. But when it all goes wrong, he is faced with a situation he could never have anticipated.

Billy is young, homeless and just desperate to keep herself in food and graffiti supplies. Turning tricks is a means to an end for her, but when she gets into this particular car, it will change everything.

Max is Billy's friend. Also homeless, they have made a pact to look out for each other and although he hates what she does, he still watches out for her. So when she doesn't come back, he knows something bad has happened and will not rest until he has found her.

Meredith is the tenacious police officer tasked with finding out what has happened to Billy, but is hitting obstacles at every turn.

Short chapters from each perspective draw you right into the story and give a great insight into wach character. It was emotional and went to some pretty dark places at times, but what a great read!

[Helen the Bassist · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reader beware. You need a strong stomach for this book! It is, however, totally worth it. A fantastic, if viscerally violent page turner.

Homeless Max's only friend on the street, teenager Billie, has disappeared and he knows something is seriously wrong. He must battle his demons to keep their pact to look out for each other.

Billie was only trying to afford some paint. Now she's alone in the dark, cold, thirsty, and afraid.

Bradley has to deal with the consequences of one stupid decision and one violent over-reaction...but as time passes he becomes less inclined to bring things to a close and more interested in exploiting his position of power.

Meredith must decide whether there is enough to support an investigation into Billie's disappearance. But she and Max have history...

All credit to Symon - at one point in the book, very briefly, for one scene, I even found myself on Bradley's side. That took some very clever writing.

A brilliant exploration of the effects of tragedy, trauma, cruelty and bullying...and the occasional kindness of strangers.

This is the second New Zealand based book I've read recently and there's some great stuff coming from the southern hemisphere!

[Monika Armet · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is set in Auckland, New Zealand, and it follows four characters: Bradley, Billy, Max, and Meredith. The lives of these people will overlap in more than one way.

Billy is a homeless Fijian young woman and her passion is graffiti art. To ensure she has enough money to buy supplies she occasionally prostitutes herself.

Bradley is a married man with two young daughters. He has a demanding wife and even more demanding boss. After an extremely stressful day he drives to an area favoured by prostitutes and picks a shy and unassuming looking girl. However, something goes wrong: he attacks her, then kidnaps her and holds her in his warehouse. He regrets his actions and isn’t sure what to do next.

Max is another homeless man and his only friend on the streets is Billy. He doesn’t like the fact that she is selling her body, but she always tells him where she’s going and when she’ll come back. When she doesn’t return, he immediately knows that something is wrong. He begins searching for her, however, he is harbouring a distressing past and in order to find his friend, he will need to face up to what he has done.

Meredith is a shrewd and intelligent policewoman, who eventually gets tangled up in the case of Billy’s disappearance. Will she be able to find her? How are Meredith, Max, Bradley, and Billy connected?

You’ll have to read this book for yourselves. I cannot say anymore as I would spoil it for you.

This story gripped me from the first page. It is action packed and fast paced – all the hallmarks of a great thriller! It also deals with a serious issue of homelessness, and how homeless people are perceived by the society. To start with, the police weren’t interested in a disappearance of a homeless prostitute, and this book perfectly captures how the most vulnerable people in our society – the homeless – are invisible and unprotected.

My favourite character was Meredith, I loved her no nonsense approach. She came across as strong and someone who you wouldn’t want to mess with. On the other hand, Bradley was a truly despicable character. He started off all weak and oppressed, but eventually he found himself enjoying holding a young woman captive. As I was reading the book, I kept thinking ‘This is how monsters are made!’. Thank you, Vanda Symon, for perfectly capturing the evolution of evil.

This is one of the best books that I have read in 2022.

I definitely recommend it.

[C Mackinnon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic read once again,
I was gripped from the first paragraph to the last chapter, To be honest and IMHO I Would love to see these books made into a TV series’s I think it is a missed opportunity to bring it to the masses and the gripping storyline would have people on the sides of their seats, waiting for the next episode to begin..
Vanda Symon, if you everread this,
I think you are an amazing author, the story line keeps you gripping onto the book and wanting more...
I think you are doing the public a disservice by stopping after 5 books because people need something in their lives to take them away from reality, and help pass the time between going to bed and actually going to sleep, if you don’t have a book, that time takes forever to pass...lol
Please Please come out of writing retirement and give us more of your gripping tales about Detective Sam Shepherd, she is the kind of woman all blokes would love to have as there “sister” girlfriend, wife or lover...not necessarily in that order...lol...
I await your next Wonderful story whenever you should choose to write it, Please don’t keep us to long.....Come On Publishers, make he4 an offer she can't refuse to get more books in the pipeline..

[Joänna · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you enjoy the formulaic nature of Criminal Minds and SVU- this book is for you. It is basically a drawn out episode ready to go.

I started and stopped and restarted this book probably a dozen times. The beginning is so tropey it was impossible to sink into. The 'bady guy' thought in relentless cliches that analyzed his own actions from the perspective of a therapist not self. It made no sense. If he was self aware enough to understand the reason he was acting out, where was the remaining reflection to redirect? I didn't find anything about his thoughts believable, or an accurate reflection of how someone would think if they committed his crimes. I could go into a deep dive on why, but I would rather save my time and start my next book instead.

About 30% in the new characters introduced were better and made the book finishable, but still one trope after another. The pacing was off and nothing unique happened.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

A real change of pace from the previous book I read. No humour, just a portrait of evil and how one simple mistake can lead to truly awful events. Great characters, international appeal too.

Billy is a street kid, who turns the odd trick to get money to survive. Bradley is a family man who makes the mistake of picking Billy up one night. Max is the homeless man who has Billys back, and must at all costs make the police believe she is missing.

[P.D. Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book! I was hooked by the premise and cast of characters in the book — a man who acts on impulse and then discovers he likes feeling the power of violence, a man broken by his past, and a homeless girl caught in the middle.

The book alternates viewpoints, so we follow these three characters through the story. The characterisation is excellent and the plot tight. A page-turner that I couldn’t put down.

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Disturbing, very disturbing. I'm not sure what is more concerning, the utter plausibility of someone spiraling down to such a dark insanity, or how comfortable we have all become with ignoring people like Billy & Max (let alone their sagas). I love the book for its real feel and the fact it makes me uncomfortable.

[Yahya · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is different.
I loved every previous story by Vanda. They have something unique about them. The stories used to be told in good interesting way. However, this book was different. The plot seems to be dull and predictable. The author tried to put some mystery by hidden Max's past-life, which doesn't seems interesting from the glimpses given.

[Crimefictioncritic · Rating 5 out of 5]

Faceless is a stand-alone thriller by New Zealand author Vanda Symon, best known for her excellent Sam Shephard series is quite a departure from her usual crime fiction writing. But in all honesty, as much as I adore the Sam Shephard character and the series, this is my favorite Vanda Symon book because it truly shows her versatile and strong story-telling abilities and illustrates her impressive attention to detail. Here, Symon’s writing is stunning, though this one is not for the squeamish, and her character development and story arc are perfectly paced. With short impactful chapters that shift back and forth between the points of view of all the major characters, she creates in the reader a powerful sense of dread and urgency that feels almost unbearable at times, in this story about the search for a missing eighteen-year-old street girl.

The book opens with Billy, an eighteen-year-old girl living rough on the streets of Auckland, putting the finishing touches on her latest street art masterpiece. But she’s run out of spray paint before finishing. As has become her habit, she resigns herself to turning some tricks to get money for more paint and the other things she needs to survive. We’ll learn later the circumstances that put Billy on the streets alone, which makes her story all the more heartrending. After arriving at her usual corner, a middle-aged man named Bradley, we meet in the second chapter, picks her up. Billy doesn’t know it when she gets into the car with him, but she has just made the worst mistake of her life. For Bradley, life’s demands have become so physically and emotionally overwhelming that he is barely capable of functioning in day-to-day life. Desperate to relieve the stress he is feeling, he decided to pick up a prostitute. Billy directs him to an alley behind a closed business where she plies her trade. But once he’s picked up Billy, he doesn’t quite know how to proceed. Eventually, they agree on oral sex and Billy, in businesslike fashion, attempts to get things over with as fast as possible. But because of the stress and his nervousness, Bradley can’t quite rise to the occasion. When he sees Billy smirk at his performance anxiety, it’s one insult too many atop all those already heaped upon his fragile emotional state by his boss at work and his wife at home. He strikes out, punching Billy in the face and knocking her unconscious. Later she awakens bound to metal pipe with plastic ties inside a darkened, abandoned warehouse. And there her nightmare begins in earnest. Bradley, panicked by the assault, had abducted her and taken her captive while he tried to sort the mess that he had created for himself. Billy fears Bradley intends to kill her. Estranged from her parents and with no one else in her life that cares about her, she pins her thin hopes of rescue on another street dweller, a derelict named Max. Billy and Max have befriended each other and watch each other’s backs. He is the only person who will notice she is missing and thus the only one who might look for her. And when we meet Max, we realize just how thin Billy’s hopes are. We get a sense as we learn more about Max that something horrific occurred in his life that drove him from perhaps some respectable life to living rough on the street and living on whatever he scrounges from refuse bins. And he does indeed immediately suspect something is amiss when Billy doesn’t return to the alley one night that they both call home. And despite who he is, what he is, and how little he brings to the task, Max begins a crusade to find his friend Billy. Unfortunately, the remorse that Bradley felt when he first assaulted and confined Billy in an abandoned out of the way building he owns quickly fades. Seeing the fear in Billy’s eyes he provokes gives him a strange sense of power and control he hasn’t felt in ages. He goes on to discover that abusing the helpless young woman magnifies those feelings even more and relieves his pent-up stress. He intends to hold Billy indefinitely in his makeshift prison. But when Max’s efforts finally bear fruit and Bradley receives a visit at home from the police, he realizes he must get rid of Billy permanently before the cops find him out. As Max continues his fanatical search for Billy and Bradley grows more desperate to rid himself of the young woman who could send him to prison, the tension rises to unbearable proportions. Will our unlikely hero find Billy before it’s too late, or are we watching the proverbial slow motion car crash happening, where our greatest fears get realized? This is not a book for the squeamish, but it’s crack for thriller junkies. If you’ve never read Vanda Symon, Faceless isn’t a bad place to start. It’s a fast-paced edge-of-the-seat thriller where an unlikely hero must face one near impossible situation after another to save a young woman. Best started early in the day because you won’t want to put it down.

[Susan Corcoran · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I picked up Faceless to read I felt a tingling of excitement! Having read her Sam Shephard series, I knew Vanda Symon was an exceptional talent and so I expected great things from this new standalone novel. What I got, was a superbly written thriller, with characters I both loved and hated, best of all a story that gripped my head and my heart.

One of the reasons I loved it so much was that although it is dark and often dramatically so, it also contains themes of friendship, love, respect and loyalty between the two main characters Max and the young homeless girl who becomes his friend. Frame that against Bradley, angry, frustrated and bitter and you have a triumvirate around whom the story swirls. Anxiety flooding the reader, caused by the frightening possibility that his toxic and devastating anger will eventually destroy the lives of the innocents he has targeted. It’s the way the writer balances light and dark that gives this thriller the edge over so many others on the market, it has a sense of humanity, a light shining in the darkness, that made me want to read on!

In amongst the light and shade that the story is constructed from are characters that are flawed and yet complex. There is Max, homeless, lost and damaged, who when he meets Billy, sees in her the chance not just to save her, but redeem himself. Both are victims of a events, betrayed by the actions of others, together they have found friendship and that is why I loved them so much. Vanda Symon writing them in such a way that I desperately wanted them to survive the cruelty that surrounded them. It is a clever writing tool, to create characters that you instinctively love and find yourself rooting for, because it anchors you to them, you feel a sense of fellowship, like you are standing with them against the cruel world.

It is rare in any book to make such a connection to a set of characters and it is what makes Faceless so special. So many writers make the mistake in thrillers of prioritizing story over character, so much so that the theatrics of the constant twists in the tale, leave the reader feeling a little exhausted from the perpetual barrage of content. What we have here is a balanced and nuanced tale of good against twisted, off the back of characters who are the story and not overwhelmed by it, becoming barren husks that the reader forgets the moment they finish the final page. I promise you, you will not forget Max, Billie and even Bradley, they will for weeks after, remind you why the writer has a legion of fans! She has an instinctive grasp of what can turn a person from good to bad and why some flawed as they are, will always instinctively seek out the light, not the dark.

Faceless is a superb and clever thriller, one that does what all great thrillers do, it entertains. Better than that it does so by telling a story around the one thing that connects us all, or shared sense of humanity.

[Terri (BooklyMatters) · Rating 4 out of 5]

*** Four and a half shiny stars

A pulse-pounding, heart-racing ride with the faceless, homeless and forgotten - leftovers from life struggling to survive on the dangerous and desolate streets of Auckland, NewZealand - and in some cases, (perhaps very few) finding comfort and solace in numbers.

Max Grimes, our third-person POV narrator, is destitute, living rough, and prone to unexplainable blackouts. A middle-aged survivor of a recent trauma, Max’s existence is that of an empty and broken shell. With little left inside to drive him forward and keep him breathing, Max is used-up and has thrown his life away - with one remarkable exception.

Billy, a second third-person POV narrator, is an eighteen year old Fijian, a recent inductee to life on the streets, and one not totally lost to the accompanying despair. A talented graffiti artist, Billy has dreams, a vision, a life she would like to lead - and one that may, just maybe, be still viable if she could hang on a little bit longer.

Max and Billy are an unlikely pair - a bonded-unit, whose mutual care and connection offers feeble but essential solace in a setting where very little else provides any form of hope at all.

When Billy suddenly and mysteriously disappears, it is up to Max (pitiable, emaciated and still deeply in the grips of his own unmanaged PTSD) to not only raise the alarm with the not-very-interested authorities, (including the very interesting and somewhat underplayed DS Meredith Peters, presented with her own third-person POV) but must spearhead his own campaign to find her.

Without giving the plot away (no spoilers here), the race to find and save Billy is heart-in-your-mouth stuff - the tight and tense plotting so fast-moving between harrowing POVs that the switch, in many cases, brings the reader instant relief.

A terrifying, lurching look at society’s uneven treatment of the vulnerable, this book is as hard to put down as it is hard to read in some places. As brutally frank in its exploration of power, of pain, of the forces that turn accumulated layers of hurt into rage, violence and hatred, it is equally vivid in its portrayal of the quiet wonder of compassion, of camaraderie, and the spark that keeps us deeply human.

A chilling, suspenseful and unsettling read, this is not a book you will easily forget. I’m looking forward to reading more from this talented author.

A great big thank you to @OrendaBooks for an ARC of this book. All thoughts presented are my own.

[Mandie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am a huge fan of Vanda Symon’s Sam Shephard series, so I was intrigued to get stuck into Faceless. This is a standalone book and for me a whole lot darker than what I had read before from her. This is the story of Max, Billy and Bradley who by chance end up in each other’s lives and not for the better in some cases.
Billy and Max are both living on the streets after having found themselves there for very different reasons. Max took Billy under his wing and over time they became friends always looking out for each other so when she goes missing Max confronts his past head on in order to find her, the question is will anyone believe a homeless man who looks the way he does. Billy is a street artist who has to resort to selling herself to fund her passion and stay alive which brings her into the path of Bradley. On the face of it Bradley is a normal overworked married man who is just looking for an escape for the night. This spur of the moment decision doesn’t end well, and he finds himself in a situation he is not sure he can get out of, and we start to see a darker side to this man.
I have to say that reading this book there were times when I was left feeling a little uncomfortable especially when it came to Billy and her suffering at the hands of Bradley, but I think that was the point. Even with what she was going through, when she believed that she would not get out if it alive, she still had a spirit that couldn’t truly be broken as she focused on the good things that had been in her life and her friend Max. As I learned more about why Max was now homeless I couldn’t help but feel for the man he once was and who he had become. The attitudes towards him show just how bad society can be to people who have fallen on bad times or see no other option to drop out of what is considered normal, so it was warming to see him push past the prejudices and make himself heard.
The short chapters that captured the story from the different characters points of view ensured that the story did not lose any of its pace or intensity and shows the reader just how good Vanda’s writing is.