By Megan Renee
GENRE: SUSPENSE
PUBLISHER: THOMAS NELSON
PUBLICATION DATE: JULY 14, 2009
Faces in the Fire chronicles the stories for four people. Kurt is a part time truck driver and sculptor. Years ago, he faced a brain injury and now has no memory of his past. He hears the voices of ghosts in the used clothing he buys. During a trucking driving route, he hears the voice of a ghost tell him “give her a ride, Kurt.” Will he listen to the voice?
Corrine is an email spammer who spends her days carefully sending out spam to email addresses around the world. In many ways, she wants to move on from the bad past she left behind years ago. But she feels she’s certain to follow her destiny. She is diagnosed with cancer, a highly curable form. Initially she goes into treatment optimistically but after months, the cancer is not responding to treatment. What will happen to her?
Grace is a tattoo artist. She has opened her tattoo shop GraceSpace in Seattle, which is not quite the typical tattoo shop. She keeps two things about her life hidden from those around her. One is the past she has run away from and the other is her addiction to heroin.
Stan is a killer, a hit man. He is very good at what he does, in fact too good. He wants to stop killing but if he does, those who he works for will kill his mother. Can he find a way out?
Four lives. The lives of the characters intersect at different points. A catfish, fire and the same set of numbers connect the characters together. In each story, the characters have a chance to find redemption or go down the road to destruction. Which path will they choose?
Writing in his self-proclaimed “Noir Bizarre” style, T.L. Hines pens another great novel. The book is not as bizarre as I thought it would be compared to his previous works. While the story has its bizarre elements, the story itself was not completely filled with off the wall moments. The story has supernatural elements that tie the characters together.
The novel itself is not written in chorological order. It opens at chapter thirty-four and ends with chapter fourteen. At first, it is a little confusing but around the second or third chapter, things begin to make sense.
I loved this story. The detail that T.L. Hines put into the individual stories was amazing. The stories of each character came together into one novel seamlessly. This story is excellent with just the right amount of bizarre, supernatural and strange elements.
