Little Face (Culver Valley Crime) (Zailer & Waterhouse Mystery, #1)

by Sophie Hannah

Alice's baby is two weeks old when she leaves the house without her for the first time. On her eager return, she finds the front door open, her husband asleep on their bed upstairs. She rushes into their baby's room and screams. 'This isn't our baby! Where's our baby?' Her increasingly hostile husband swears she must be either mad or lying, and the DNA test is going to take a week. One week later, before the test has been taken, Alice and the baby have disappeared. Run away, abducted, murdered? The police who dismissed her baby swap story must find out, and as they do, they find dark incidents in David's past - like the murder of his ex-wife...

• ISBN10: 1569477175
• ISBN13: 9781569477175
• Publish Date: 1 October 2007 (first published 10 April 2006)
• Publish Status: Active
• Imprint: Soho Press
• Format: eBook
• Language: English

Reviews

[Whitney @ First Impressions Reviews]

First Impressions

I have always been a sucker for “If you liked…” This recommendation is not always well received but in the case of finding a Tana French replacement Sophie Hannah fit the bill. Little Face, the first book in the Spilling CID series has a duo that is just as unique as Rob Ryan and Cassie Maddox from French’s In The Woods.
Impressions While Reading

Simon Waterhouse and Charlie Zailer have great chemistry. Neither overshadows the other and play the good cop/bad cop newbie/veteran roles well. Although together they create a Sherlockian team, with the conclusion being “elementary”.

Little Face is a cliche onion. As the reader pulls back the layers different levels of complexity are revealed, each more sinister than the previous one. I will admit that I had a guess (correctly I might add) at the murderer but this did not take away from the suspense that Sophie Hannah overlays. Who’s baby is this, what happened to Alice, and why isn’t anyone else picking up the weird vibe in the house?
Final Impressions

In a short time, the author has you transported into the mystery with a suspenseful narrative that grips and won’t let go. I have never been a fan of books that scare you too much to take a shower, I prefer a psychological, police procedural and found that Little Face is a wonderful concoction. Sophie Hannah is a master with a pen creating a doozy of a novel that is much more than postpartum depression and takes the reader’s head for a spin. Little Face is a perfect read for a crisp fall night.