The Man With No Face By Peter May – An Audiobook Review

Blurb:

A reporter with no fear. 

Brussels, 1979. Jaded Edinburgh journalist Neil Bannerman arrives in the capital of European politics intent on digging up dirt. Yet it is danger he discovers when two British men are found murdered. 

A child with no father.

One victim is a journalist, the other a Cabinet Minister: the double assassination witnessed by the former’s autistic daughter. This girl recalls every detail about her father’s killer – except for one.  

The man with no face. 

With Brussels rocked by the tragedy, Bannerman is compelled to follow his instincts. He is now fighting to expose a murderous conspiracy, protect a helpless child and unmask a remorseless killer.  

 

Author: Peter May

Narrator: Peter Forbes

Running Time: 10 hrs 48 mins

Publisher: Riverrun

Audio Release Date: 10/01/2019

My Rating of ‘The Man With No Face’: 3 out of 5

Purchase: Audible UK, Audible US, Amazon UK, Amazon US

 

The fact that this book was originally written in the 70s or 80s, in a time when the internet wasn’t a thing and if you wanted to get information you needed to do actual leg work, was what drew me in to buying this.

It had been a long time since I read a thriller and the fact that this had assassinations, a journalist seeking the truth when the police were saying there was no case, and the mystery of a murderer seen only by an autistic child who didn’t speak, intrigued me.

Sadly, the mystery was gone pretty much straight away as the assassin is a POV character. I also felt that things came a little too easy to Bannerman, the journalist. He’s also not that likeable a guy and, despite that, women seen drawn to him. Just something about him rubbed me the wrong way. Not the greatest choice for a main character if you want your audience to get behind him.

I also don’t feel, at any point, this could be classed as ‘thrilling’. It was interesting, exciting (in places), but never thrilling. It’s not the longest of books and, despite that, takes a slowburn approach to the story.

A story that leads to an ending that just left me feeling pretty underwhelmed. I’m making this sound far worse than it is. Its good, but its just not great. At no point did I particularly feel anything for the characters that had me routing for them. I also feel that it could have probably been condensed into a novella-length work and not really have lost anything.

I’ve seen people say this is a ‘good starting point’ for people who want to read Peter May’s work. I can tell from this that he’s a good writer, but I can also tell he is going to have a lot better stuff out there. Certainly wish I’d had perhaps tried something different as my starting point.

That being said, it wasn’t a bad listen. The narrator was good and I felt his voices were different enough to give a clear image of the characters he was portraying. It was also only £1.99 as part of the Audible Daily Deal, so I can hardly complain too much.