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77 of 79 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Unexpectedly Great!!, April 24, 2009
I love a good mystery as much as the next person. The only problem is that is it exceedingly difficult to find one. I mean, when you have figured it out within the first five chapters, the book quickly becomes irrelevant. No matter how well the characters are developed or how engagingly the book is written. Luckily, "Face of Betrayal" was a good mystery. One that actually kept me guessing from the first page to the last. Because the characters begin to draw you in from the very beginning, where you are introduced to Allison Pierce. She is a no-nonsense prosecuting attorney who soon finds herself deeply entrenched in the mysterious disappearance of a 17-year old Senate page, Katie. With the help of her friends Cassidy (an up and coming television reporter) and Nicole (an FBI agent), Allison attempts to unravel the twisted threads of Katies life and bring her abductor to light. Over the course of the investigation, it is discovered that Katie may have been carrying on an adulterous affair with a U.S. Senator, which suddenly transforms a missing person case into the story of the year. (In fact, the entire story feels vaguely familiar. It's as if Lis Wiehl took the most sensational parts of the biggest news stories of the last year or so and combined them into one.) I am not going to say anything that could be a spoiler, but the entire plot of the story is fantastic. Everything flows, the characters are very well developed, and all of the sub-plots are very relevant and come together in the end. (There's nothing worse than a story full of pointless filler plots and red herrings.) And you will find yourself surprised at the twist at the end when the whodunit is exposed. Honestly, I didn't have the highest of expectations for "Face of Betrayal." I mean, Wiehl is a legal analyst for FOX NEWS. I was actually a little bit afraid (tic). But I changed my tune before I finished chapter one, and I would recommend this book to anyone. Easily 4 ½ out of 5 stars. And this is only book one of the Triple Threat Series. I will now be anxiously awaiting the release of book two, "Hand of Fate" in April of 2010.
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52 of 57 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good but not Great, May 11, 2009
I was really looking forward to reading this book on a long international flight. It promised to be fast paced and thrilling and that's what it turned out to be. Face of Betrayal is quite a gripping book and after reading a few pages and having identified with the characters, I wanted to keep reading till the end. The story is about a 17 year old girl, Katie, who on a Christmas break at home goes missing. The story continues with three women, a reporter, a Federal Prosecutor and a FBI special agent, who keep adding pieces to the puzzle revolving Katie's sudden disappearance. An investigation that starts with theories of kidnapping or running away quickly turns into a murder investigation when Katie's blog reveals her relationship with a Senator. Storyline is pretty fast paced and keeps one glued for more. What I did not like about the book was intermittent short story lines that never added to the whole plot. I believe these were attempts by Author to establish the character of the three protagonists. Although for me, these were not required as they never made any sense when seen with the bigger picture of Katie's story. As a reader, I did not care too much about the personalities of the protagonists who were not as impressive as the storyline itself. And they were tied to a proper end in themselves. Also, this book kept me going with a curiosity to know what finally happened to Katie, but in the end I was a bit disappointed with the way the story folded. Author calls it a `Shocking and satisfying twist' but I was seriously unimpressed. There are too many subjects that Author has tried to deal with in this book - ranging from child molestation, teen sex, and domestic abuse. Sometimes I was confused as to what the book actually was about. All in all, I was quite satisfied with the book. It could have been better but I don't regret it at all. I will not call it a must read, but it's a good read.
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22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Multi Faceted Mystery, May 23, 2009
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
Face of betrayal has a lot going for it, but before I talk about that. let me expound briefly what I didn't love. "Face of betrayal" is not of the caliber of a Dennis Lehane , or James Patterson novel. It isn't quite as tense or near as gritty. Ms. Wiehl has (in this story) an unfortunate habit of using animals for comparison, i.e. "he looked like a wolf", "her face reminded her of a horse", "he moved like an otter" etc. , which may not bother you, but it did me. "Face of betrayal" had some passages that dragged a bit, but not badly. Now let me talk about the good stuff. Author Lis Wiehl, is a brilliant (and attractive) woman. She has a Harvard law degree, is a former law professor, is a former federal prosecutor, a working wife and mother, and is a working legal analyst for Fox News , and I often enjoy watching her debate legal issues with Megan Kelly. She is also a devout Christian, and normally that wouldn't come up in a review of mine except for this. Crime stories are often bulging with torrid sex, and graphic violence to serve as the vehicle for the plot. Usually, when faith enters into a novel, it is either smaltzy and preachy, or demeaning. Ms. Wiehl manages to do something so simple but so unusual that I had to comment. The main protagonist of the story is a([n] attractive of course) prosecutor, who happens to be a devout Christian, who doesn't preach out in monologues, but to whom faith is an important part of her character, and in the story, her faith helps her to live her life in a way that makes her happy and fulfilled. With most of the people I know, faith is a part of what they think, and to a lesser or greater extent, affects what they do. So I say bravo to Ms. Wiehl for including us in the world of her story. Lastly, "Face of Betrayal" works on a few other levels, it is a story about friendship that manages to fit in a crime mystery mingled with exploration of a few social issues that had a few twist worthy of discussion, which the former professor Wiehl thoughtfully provides after the end of the book for "Book Club Discussion" So is "Face of Betrayal" the best mystery I ever read? Well, no it's not. Is it the best mystery novel with a faith driven protagonist? Maybe!
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