Hidden Faces Ser/Hidden Faces Bk 2 [Paperback]

Incredibly exciting reading. As in "Brink of Death," the novel opens like the gentle prelude to a symphony, then screeches off like a tire-burning corvette disappearing down the street. I started reading it Sunday afternoon and couldn't stop until I finished that night.

Annie Kingston's character was complex, and I could relate to her inner fears, spiritual questions and maternal ferocity. She was not a superwoman performing feats of courage or displaying acute intellectual insight. She was a real woman like me or anyone else, caught in a dire situation. Her questions about God echoed what I asked when I was seeking Him, and the minor characters answered with gentleness, honesty, and empathy.

The villain Bland was drawn with such vivid description that I could envision his face, hear his voice. He character had immense depth and richness. Annie literally crawled into his head and dragged the reader with her as she discovered who he was under the surface, what made up the mind of this ruthless man.

Even the minor characters--Annie's children, her sister, etc.--had that aura of realism that made them colorful and varied. I could name someone I knew who reminded me of each character. This aspect drew me into the story quickly because I felt like I knew these people, they were familiar to me.

There was a doozy of a plot twist near the end, and Brandilyn did a very good job leading up to it. However, I think I've read too much Agatha Christie, because I guessed the plot twist in the first quarter of the book. But that being said, it didn't make the ending any less heart-pounding, nail-biting, or satisfying.

You don't really need to read the first book to enjoy this sequel, but "Brink of Death" does add to the backstory and introduces character relationships that, in this novel, are subtly shifting and growing. While "Brink of Death" was more plot-driven, "Stain of Guilt" is definitely more character-driven. It's primarily the cast of this play that keeps the reader's attention, with the story action as background movement.

In all, I highly recommend this title. A very engrossing read.

Six months after the events of BRINK OF DEATH, protagonist Annie Kingston returns in Book #2 of the Hidden Faces series. In the throes of her sixteen-year-old son's rebellion, Annie agrees to draw her most ambitious composite sketch yet - a fugitive update. Requiring every ounce of her skill, can she complete the drawing for the television show American Fugitive before the killer can get to her?

I picked up STAIN OF GUILT unsure if Brandilyn could keep from re-hashing the plot of Book #1. I wasn't disappointed. Although starting a bit slower than BRINK OF DEATH, after a few chapters I was immersed in Annie Kingston's world. Spiritually, Brandilyn once again gently leads readers toward God (without preachiness) as we follow Annie's believable spiritual journey.

The Hidden Faces series is a wonderful addition to Christian suspense fiction. With it's first person narration and thrilling storyline it has the feel of many secular crime novels, but without the swearing, excessive gore, and sex. I've already recommended it to a Sue Grafton fan. I am thoroughly hooked and eagerly anticipating #3, DEAD OF NIGHT available this spring.

A double murder comes back to haunt forensic artist Annie Kingston in STAIN OF GUILT, the stand-alone follow-up to BRINK OF DEATH in Brandilyn Collins's "Hidden Faces" series.

Divorcee Annie Kingston's career as a forensic artist is about to accelerate when the television drama "American Fugitive" hires her to research and draw an updated portrait of the accused at-large perpetrator of a heinous crime that took place two decades ago. She has given a description of Bill Bland, a humorless control freak, intricate planner, and lover of mystery novels. The cold, arrogant Bland is accused of embezzling money from Emily Tarell's husband's business, and Emily, whose husband was one of the two men killed at the murder scene, wants justice.

Emily's son Edwin, who witnessed both murders, is more hesitant, cautioning Annie to refuse the assignment unless she can complete it successfully. Yet Annie's fear is less of doing a poor job portraying an aged Bland than her horror of descending into the mind of the murderer --- something she must do if she is to complete her task of drawing him successfully. "My mind ran its own movie projector on a daily basis, envisioning in screaming color any stray thought that ventured its way. I could only imagine the insanity it would wreak upon me if I embarked on this assignment," Annie realizes. "The deeper I dug into understanding Bill Bland and his murderous brain, the more I would `see' every picture in my head."

The over-stressed Annie's personal life is also in a tangle. She has her hands full bringing up her two children alone, with her rebellious teenage son Stephen's proclivity for the wrong friends and smoking pot, and her adolescent daughter Kelly's newfound love for church, something Annie hasn't yet fully embraced for herself. Yet, ever since her neighbor Lisa Willit was killed ten months previous (in BRINK OF DEATH), Annie has committed to God to seek him. Throughout the book, she continues her soul-searching.

As Annie begins her research on Bland, strange things start to happen. Someone delivers a dozen dead roses to her door. And is someone watching her house --- and her children? Threats are made. Could Bland have become aware of her assignment? If not, then who doesn't want Annie to complete her task? What evil force is at work? "People want to think evil looks monstrous, Ms. Kingston," Sergeant Justin Delft tells her. "It doesn't. Evil is the guy next door."

Underlying the story is Annie's own wrestling with her "stain of guilt" from which the novel takes its name --- her failed marriage, her troubled son, the tragedy that had befallen her neighbors less than a year ago. It's only when Annie gives her guilt to God in a detailed conversion scene that she finally discovers peace for her circumstances. And she'll need it --- more mayhem is right around the corner.

Collins handles changes in point of view adeptly, switching back and forth from Annie in first person to the point of view of the anonymous killer. She also handles flashbacks creatively, allowing the reader to place themselves in earlier scenes involving Bland. However, readers may find Collins sometimes overdoes her descriptions (chills "traced spindly fingers" between shoulder blades or a chill "coiled itself around the length of my spine and hung there, flicking its tongue," or "a sudden shiver clutched at my spine" or shivers "snaked down my spine") and has a few strange word choices ("The question fisted around my heart," "Immediate fear spritzed down my nerves."). By page 50, some readers will have figured out what will be the surprising twist to the story, as this reviewer did. But even if the ending is not a surprise, Collins makes the fast-paced novel still worth the read.

Those who like a little romance with their suspense will enjoy the developing relationships between Annie and Detective Ralph Chetterling, and Annie and her strong Christian widowed neighbor Dave Willit. Although readers looking for romantic resolution will be disappointed, Collins does a good job leaving them hanging for the third installment in the series, which should be eagerly anticipated by Collins's fans.

--- Reviewed by Cindy Crosby (phrelanzer@aol.com)

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