About Face: A Bill Damen Mystery (Bill Damen Silicon Valley Mysteries) [Paperback]

James Calder (Author)

Book Description

Series: Bill Damen Silicon Valley Mysteries | Publication Date: May 2003

Gene therapy that can stop skin from aging is a breakthrough technology, but before it can lead to eternal youth it leads to murder. In the second book in Chronicle's exciting new Bill Damen mystery series, the filmmaker-turned-detective's investigations again draw him into the dark side of high-stakes science and finance. The players include an executive escort service with a hidden agenda, a biotech company on the verge of either fortune or collapse, and venture capitalists with shady backers. Juggling old and new girlfriends and a car that still won't start, relying on his eye for the telling detail and instinct for danger, Bill must unravel both a double helix and a double identity to solve this murder.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

In his second appearance, filmmaker Bill Damen is shooting an image piece for Algoplex, a data-visualization company in Silicon Valley. Algoplex is ready to sign a potentially lucrative agreement with Plush Biologics, a company whose gene-regulating treatments could revolutionize the skincare industry. At the filming, Algoplex's owner, Rod Glaser, is agitated when his girlfriend, Alissa, doesn't show up as planned. Bill goes with Rod to Alissa's empty apartment, where Rod confesses that Alissa is a hired escort with whom he's fallen in love. Bill agrees to help Rod find Alissa, and then, when Rod is found dead, he launches his own investigation into the murder. Bill's motivation for entering and staying on the case is weak, and the biotechnology detail is not woven as seamlessly into the story as it was in Calder's debut, Knockout Mouse [BKL Jl 02]. Still, Bill is a likable character, there are some intriguing plot twists here, and the idea of a filmmaking amateur sleuth has appeal. Give this series a chance; it has terrific potential. Sue O'Brien
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"Calder tells his story in witty prose that calls to mind Ross Macdonald. Reflecting on his shared past with a colleague, Damen recalls how in college they d made "a couple goofy Super-8 films about existentially perplexed sci-fi insects." And before the murder is solved, Damen mulls insightfully over the question of how deep skin is -- or should be." -Washington Post Book World

"A filmmaker turns sleuth again, rushing recklessly into the cutthroat, and loopy, skincare industry. Shy scientist Rod Glaser hires Bill Damien to create an "image piece" for Algoplex, his skincare company. Rod and Mike Riley, his hearty partner, are on the verge of a merger with industry veteran Plush Biologics, a move promising big profits but not smooth sailing for the easygoing partners. Case in point: Bill's Algoplex shoot goes terribly wrong when Rod's muse, a soulful free spirit named Alissa, blows off the gig, and Rob, unable to reach her by phone, falls apart. So Bill agrees to look for her, first by breaking into her empty apartment. Alissa's trashy mother Wendy, who tries to impersonate her daughter at a high-profile Algoplex event, claims unconvincingly that Alissa is just taking a little vacation. Meanwhile, Bill learns that Alissa works for an escort service called Silicon Glamour. Though Rod sheepishly claims their relationship is strictly platonic, some incriminating pictures indicate otherwise. So does the knife Bill soon finds protruding from Rod's body. As in his debut caper (Knockout Mouse, 2002), Bill is drawn into the case by a combination of duty and empathy. There's no shortage of suspects, and Bill finds dysfunctional corporate families at both Silicon Glamour and Plush Biologics. But the mystery of absent Alissa looms over all. Calder draws sharp, entertaining suspect portraits, and Bill's amiable first-person narration never slackens its pace." -Kirkus Reviews

"Bill is a likable character, there are some intriguing plot twists here, and the idea of a filmmaking amateur sleuth has appeal. Give this series a chance; it has terrific potential." -Booklist

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Product Details

• Paperback: 264 pages
• Publisher: Chronicle Books (May 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811836800
• ISBN-13: 978-0811836807
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 6.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,578,663 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Highly Intelligent and a Great Read!, September 30, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: About Face: A Bill Damen Mystery (Bill Damen Silicon Valley Mysteries) (Paperback)

I'm not normally a reader of detective/mystery books, but a friend insisted I read About Face. It is extremely well written, gripping, hard to put down, and intelligent, too. I recommend it highly.

24 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars About Face better than previous entry in series, August 5, 2004

By 

Kevin Killian (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: About Face: A Bill Damen Mystery (Bill Damen Silicon Valley Mysteries) (Paperback)

I liked KNOCKOUT MOUSE enough to give it five stars, but with ABOUT FACE the talented James Calder raises the bar, producing a detective story with brains and balls. This time around Bill, a documentary filmmaker with an interest in Silicon Valley technology and bioscience that I'm too dumb to understand, must let Rod, the CEO of an emerging company, cry on his shoulder, much in the same way that in THE LONG GOODBYE a good fraction of the action happens in the bonding between Marlowe and Terry. Rod's upset because Alissa has disappeared--Alissa, the enigmatic escort procured for him by Silicon Glamour, Inc.

ABOUT FACE will remind you of Laura, the Otto Preminger film about a detective obsessed with the oil portrait of the woman whose murder he is supposed to be solving--or so he thinks. From another angle, it is Calder's tribute to VERTIGO, and Rod and Bill both must face up to the possibility that their angel-faced Alissa wasn't necessarily the paragon of sex perfection she's cracked up to be.

James Calder peoples his romantic thriller with low lifes in high life and low, people who are truly the bottom of the genome barrel, and the result is a quantum leap over his first novel, which was in itself a very fine book.

What other detective novel would use at its finale the clue of a bowl of carpaccio? It's emblematic of the insanely privileged, harshly competitive world in which Bill Damen makes his living and which shatters his illusions . . . about women, about money, about glamor. Put aside the "Da Vinci Code" and spend a few hours with code-breaker Bill, you'll be glad you did.

There are also some echoes of Billy Wilder's FEDORA, and those who saw that wonderful film will know exactly what I'm talking about. I don't want to spoil any more of the twists and turns of this remarkable bundle of suspense, so I'll stop here, wishing there were six stars I could give this book.

4.0 out of 5 stars Good yarn, June 20, 2011

By 

Fly Guy (Northern California, USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: About Face (Bill Damen Silicon Valley Mysteries) (Kindle Edition)

A good, though not excellent, detective yarn set in the San Jose, California area (Silicon Valley). Prose: well-written though not of the very top shelf. Plot: good, with enough twists and turns to keep one turning the pages (or clicking Next with the Kindle). All-in-all I'd recommend it for a few bucks, and I'll look for more books by the author.