There is something slightly unsatisfying in Eli Gottlieb’s THE FACE THIEF, something that prevents me from recommending it as highly as I did his earlier work, NOW YOU SEE HIM.

Don’t get me wrong: Gottlieb’s writing style is as perfectly honed as ever, although he does succumb every now and then to peculiarly contorted metaphors that do him no favors. His characters and their situations are also interesting and emotionally real. Perhaps it’s the premise, that one can read characteristics, motivations, morals and behaviors into the physiognomy of one’s face and body language.

Lawrence Billings is such a face and body reader, someone who can instantly discern background and even future behaviors by closely studying someone. He teaches these skills to disaffected businessmen in order to give them an advantage in the workforce. During one of these sessions, he encounters the thrilling and titillating Margot, who seems just as adept as he in these readings. She is excited to learn from this new mentor and so they begin private lessons.

As you can imagine, from this, much evil follows. It turns out Margot is perhaps far better at these face readings than Billings suspects, and she has her own agenda. Her insinuation into his life, and into that of one John Potash, causes great damage and destruction to each of the featured characters, although in a somewhat unfair manner. It’s how Gottlieb tells the stories of these people, slowly connecting the tale through brief chapters told through each of the main characters’ point of view that makes the book a winner.

Look, there is a lot of truth to deciphering body language and even facial tics. I think that Gottlieb takes it too far here, and the novel suffers in believability because of that. However, the characters are well-drawn if somewhat unlikable; the two male characters display heartfelt emotion; and the overall effect is memorable. —Mark Rose

Buy it at Amazon.