The Face of a Stranger

A William Monk Novel #1

De: Anne Perry

Narrado por: Davina Porter

In this exhilarating series debut, police detective William Monk must solve the mystery of his own past.

His name, they tell him, is William Monk, and he is a London police detective. But the accident that felled him has left him with only half a life; his memory and his entire past have vanished. As he tries to hide the truth, Monk returns to work and is assigned to investigate the brutal murder of a Crimean War hero and man about town. Which makes Monk’s efforts doubly difficult, since he’s forgotten his professional skills along with everything else.

“Richly textured with the sights and sounds of London and its countryside … Solidly absorbing and Perry’s best to date.”—Kirkus Reviews

Crack another case with William Monk.©1990 Anne Perry (P)1995 Recorded Books

Amazing skill from the writer!

In most books, I have to listen for a while to get all the characters and situation in my mind. In this one, I was hooked almost from the first sentence. I'd had this in my library for a while, and passed it by, not feeling inspired by the notion of an amnesiac detective trying to solve a separate, different crime. What astonishment I felt when I realized that this is one of the best-crafted, well thought out, engaging and wonderfully narrated mysteries I've encountered in quite a long time.

Anne Perry, who wrote this many years ago,has assembled a challenging story of a double mystery (Monk's own identity and that of a murder) in a way that is neither overly complicated to follow nor challenging to one's belief system. I had thought the premise might have been a bit over the top, so avoided this book. Don't do it! This is a great book--one that I find notable for both it's writing style and it's good mystery.

I believe the beginning, the unfolding of how Monk discovers that he doesn't know who he is, is exceedingly interesting, credible, and works so very well with the story as a whole. His search for his own identity is taking place as a quiet, private matter while he works a very public case for the "Peelers" (newly formed police department in Victorian era London).

Many people have already written reviews about this--I want to echo the ones that praise it. Perry's weaving of the two plots in and out is very skillful and very rarely strayed into a forced conversation or interaction between characters to get to where she was leading the reader (listener). Just for the actual skill of assembling this book I would give it 5 stars. The narration by the excellent Davina Porter is a plus that just put it over the top for me. I only wished it could have been longer--I didn't want it to end! Highly recommend!

Amazing

Loved this first series of the Ann Perry's inspector Monk. I was shocked as to the murder. It kept me on the edge throughout.

Anne Perry continues to mesmerize.

Loved it, Monk is a nicely evolved character - could not turn it off! Davina Porter is wonderful as usual. Thank you.

And so, it begins

Ann Perry is one of my favorite authors; Monk my favorite series of her's. Davina Porter, one of the best narrators. Greater than the sum of its parts.

mystery

I enjoyed this book very much. It has made me want to read mystery books.

Very good.

I enjoyed this book very much. The nariaton was exceptional, All of the
Characters were very easily identified.

Better than before

I listened to this story a few years ago. I forgot many parts of the plot . It was like hearing it for the first time. It was thrilling and engaging. I felt as if I was there walking with Monk as he slowly discovered himself.

Excellent!

The narration was exquisite and added to the whole enjoyment of the story. I loved the various characters and how everything came together.

Great narrator, but

There was a low hiss throughout the book. A faint background conversation off & on, as well! Age???
The narrator was excellent, however, as was the story.

A great start to another Perry detective series

Perry, an incredible and prolific author had a dismal beginning in life when she served five years in prison in New Zealand for assisting in the murder of a friend’s mother. When released, she returned to England, her birthplace, and changed her name to put the conviction behind her. She published several novels before her history was made public but it did not tarnish her literary success. By the time of her death in 2023 she had written 74 novels and sold more than ten million copies. She began with the Thomas and Charlotte Pitt series, which included 38 novels, some of which were written concurrently with the William Monk novels (20 of them) of which this book is the first.
Face of a Stranger features Monk (with some hauntingly familiar similarities to Adrian Monk of the television series Monk, which premiered in 2012. Perry’s Monk first saw light in 1990.)
It introduces the detective following an accident in which he has amnesia and doesn’t even recognize himself in the mirror. However, he is determined to keep the problem from everyone for fear of losing his livelihood.
It is a wonderful, albeit somewhat repetitive theme throughout the book, in which he must discover the murderer of a a lord’s charming younger brother.
Monk’s relationship with an almost-aristocrat woman harkens to a similar association Thomas Pitt has with his wife, Charlotte. The Pitt series had a several-year start on the Monk books. Similarities aside, the series’ solidly stand on their own but both strongly demonstrate the issues of the revolting caste system of Victorian England. Women’s rights is also a prominent issue in both series.
In all, Perry is, IMHO, one of the premiere writers of any genre in our time. Her characters are multifaceted, complex, true-to-life (I’m certain that I personally know many of them) very human. Her historic settings and references are spot on as seems the language to be.
I wholeheartedly recommend The Face as an introduction to the almost-likable Monk. I’m hoping his idiosyncratic character stabilizes in future endeavors.