To say that Max has had a tough few years is an understatement. He's surviving, but he isn't living. After years of sleeping rough, scavenging for food and asking the odd stranger for a spare smoke, he's almost become invisible. Permanently in the corner of everyone's' eyelines, as though they just can't look at him. But there's one good thing - he has a friend. The young girl who lives in a rough part of town, but actually sees him - but now she's missing.
Billy was an escort. It wasn't great for her, but it's a way to eat, and to pay for the passions she can't afford to chase otherwise. She knew it was a risky job, but she didn't know how risky until Bradley. What started as a normal job ended up in her waking up tied up in a cold dark warehouse wondering if she'll ever see the world, or Max, ever again. Bradley didn't know he was going to do the unspeakable, unforgiveable things he did, he didn't realise how violent he could be - but at least he knows he's got time to figure things out because nobody is coming looking for a young escort in a big city.
Except Max. He's going to find her, no matter what the cost.
"There was no question in his mind now. She was in trouble. It was like some little mass of dread was weighing down his guts. There could be some perfectly innocent reason that she hadn't shown up last night, but in his heart of hearts he knew that wasn't the case."
The definition of break-neck speed, this book jumps right into the action and doesn't stop for breath. With short, poignant chapters, the pages just flew by and made it impossible not to read the whole thing in a single sitting. Full of intense action and deeply emotive drama, this is full of devilish twists and reveals that will have you hooked.
Each character is painstakingly crafted to be hauntingly real - Max and Billy both have ghosts in their past, that creates an unspeakable bond between two lost souls. There's even an undeniable morbid curiosity about Bradley, how he came to be like this and if there is anything human about him at all.
Faceless raises the very real and terrifying fact that society has left homeless people invisible, that we've left sex workers and escorts who are victims of violence to take the blame for the pain inflicted upon them. As someone who has been homeless before, this captured the fear and worry I felt as a young girl that if I disappeared nobody would even know or care to look for me.
This evocative, heartbreakingly familiar story hits hard, and makes the point that violence against women can often be going on right under your nose.
TW: Assault, abusive relationships, violence, miscarriage.
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