“A MASTERPIECE OF THRILLER AND MYSTERY. Blake Pierce did a magnificent job developing characters with a psychological side so well described that we feel inside their minds, follow their fears and cheer for their success. Full of twists, this book will keep you awake until the turn of the last page.” –Books and Movie Reviews, Roberto Mattos (re Once Gone) FACE OF DEATH is book #1 in a new FBI … #1 in a new FBI thriller series by USA Today bestselling author Blake Pierce, whose #1 bestseller Once Gone (Book #1) (a free download) has received over 1,000 five star reviews.
FBI Special Agent Zoe Prime suffers from a rare condition which also gives her a unique talent—she views the world through a lens of numbers. The numbers torment her, make her unable to relate to people, and give her a failed romantic life—yet they also allow her to see patterns that no other FBI agent can see. Zoe keeps her condition a secret, ashamed, in fear her colleagues may find out.
Yet when a serial killer strikes across the Midwest, strangling women in remote places and seemingly at random, Zoe, for the first time, is stumped. Is there a pattern? Can there be no pattern at all?
Or is this killer as obsessed with numbers as she is?
In a mad race against time, Zoe must enter the diabolical mind of a killer who always seems to be one step ahead of her, and stop him from claiming his next victim before it’s too late. At the same time, she must keep at bay her own demons, which may ultimately prove to be even more threatening.
An action-packed thriller with heart-pounding suspense, FACE OF DEATH is book #1 in a riveting new series that will leave you turning pages late into the night.
Books #2 and #3 in the series—FACE OF MURDER and FACE OF FEAR—are also available!
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A very entertaining book that’s a great read. The main characters are well developed and the plot a good one.
Zoe Prime is certainly a different breed of FBI special agent and character. Zoe sees everything in numbers. All things have weight, length, width, volume, speed, and quantity to Zoe, and she suffered abuse from her mother because of it. Zoe’s mother outright called her the Devil, thinking the way she does, until Zoe could not take it anymore and left home. Since then she has honed her way of seeing into a unique talent for the FBI. However, she is also unable to relate properly to people. She keeps her talent a secret, but she is a successful agent because of it. Zoe has gone through many partners in the FBI, and now she is assigned Shelley Rose. Shelley turns out to be fascinated by Zoe’s talent and way more compassionate of her lack of social skills. I quickly became frustrated at Zoe’s refusal to confide in her new partner. Together they immediately solve their first case, and they are quickly assigned a serial killer case. Zoe is able to see the pattern of this killer, and Shelley effectuates Zoe’s conclusions. Could this be a perfect partnership?
Love, love, LOVE all books by this author! This book was equally thrilling, well-written and a fabulous read!
Every now and then I have to set aside the sci fi and read a good detective story. Since I like to try new authors I never know until I read it, what it will be like.
Fascinating! Blake Pierce has created an FBI agent who is believable with a mental ability more believable than the one featured on TV years ago call “numbers.”
Zoe Prime is so into math and formulas that she can’t get away from seeing everything as a computation. This serves her well in many instances, helping her to sort out the non important to a case and focus on what can be used to solve it. Such an ability could be used to earn a fortune gambling, but Zoe uses it to find the bad guys. Sometimes, mind you, this comes at a cost. First and foremost is partner attrition. Who wants to work with someone who doesn’t engage in small talk? Well? Who wants to talk about numbers? Then there is the random factor, Oh! You see that guy over there? And your friend looks as someone moves into the line of sight…I think you get it.
Once you get past the character introductions the plot can catch you. Look out for the descriptions, they can be a little un-nerving.
Good writer, great plot
This is first novel under Zoe Prime Mystery Series. The story revolves around a apophenic who sees pattern in everything and is on lose killing people to complete a pattern of Fibonacci series spiral. Zoe Prime is a FBI detective along with her partner Shelley catch holds of the guy and saves the life of a girl. Zoe has an intellectual capacity of reading through numbers. In crime scene Zoe reads numbers and derives important details of crime committed and details about the person. Zoe seems to be ‘not-so-mingling type’ of person at first due to her experiences with different partners who misinterpreted her ability to read numbers as some kind of dangerous thing. Due to this her partners would leave her, until Shelley came along who understood Zoe and stayed to solve the case.
Zoe suffered during her childhood, her mother called her devil. Her mother called her that as she never understood Zoe’s ability as a talent. Zoe used to get instances of her past, of how her mother would make her pray and pray to the god to treat her. She used to recall how her mother never accepted Zoe as her daughter. But somehow she felt comfortable with Shelley. Shelley a mother of a daughter, always felt motherly towards Zoe.
I felt that this plot is little different from other Pierce’s books. In other novels which I have read, the author has end the story with the culprit being caught but in this she has extended the plot in rescuing last victim after killing the culprit.
I find it most interesting when a person has a certain skill that is not usual in other people, and sometimes it´s considered a curse or a sickness, and they are able to revert that skill in their benefit. This is the case of the main character in this series – Zoe. She has difficulty to relate to people but she solves murder cases faster and in greater number than any other CIA agent. The story has a lot of action, sometimes things do not end well as she intends them to, but she perseveres. Besides her skills, there´s crime, the usual bad humour between local police and FBI agents, the beginning of a strong friendship at work and on personal terms. Looking forward to reading the other books in this series.
Enjoyed the development of the bond between the agents.
As always Blake Pierce hits it out of the ballpark,
character study unusual and informative. enjoyed all the twists and turns,
I haven’t read a book that I didn’t really enjoy
Interesting characters and good mystery. Didn’t like how entire descriptive paragraphs were repeated from first book to the next.
Very good read
Everything he writes is a must-read all the characters are amazing you’re going to love it read them all
Boring
Always enjoy reading Blake Pierce stories. I am glad there are so many available.
Outstanding characters and a unique story.
I enjoy all of Blake Pierce’s books.
Good mystery.
I am an avid reader of Blake Pierce novels. I look forward to each new release.