The Face Transplant

• Paperback: 378 pages
• Publisher: The Face Transplant (December 10, 2013)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0991979907
• ISBN-13: 978-0991979905

Murder, Politics and Medicine intertwine for a refreshingly innovative novel.

Dr. Matthew MacAulay is a Facial Transplant Surgeon at a prestigious New York hospital. His friend and mentor, Tom Grabowski, dies under mysterious circumstances. Matthew is forced to investigate. He uncovers his friend's secret. A new technique that allows perfect facial transplants. No incisions, no scars. The surgeon is able to transplant one person's face to another with the perfect result. Tom was able to accomplish this monumental feat with the help of Alice, a supercomputer robot with almost human abilities.

While trying to find the people responsible for murdering his friend Tom, Matthew realizes he is the prime suspect. Matthew must flee for his life with the help of Dr. Sarah Larsson, a colleague and reluctant helper who has a secret of her own. Alice helps them make sense of a baffling series of seemingly unrelated events. Matthew is forced to undergo a facial transplant to hide his identity and help to uncover the truth. The clues carry Matthew and Sarah around the world.

Matthew stumbles onto a sinister plot of monumental proportions, the real reason Tom was murdered. This discovery leads Matthew all the way to The White House with a dramatic conclusion. Matthew never wavers in his quest for the truth and perseveres against all the odds. He must race to stop a major catastrophe, ratcheting up the excitement until the thrilling conclusion.

The Face Transplant is a powerful medical suspense thriller of the first order. The novel was written by a surgeon. The novel has a realism that only a surgeon can bring. The plot weaves politics, medicine and espionage into a tightly paced, intelligent thriller. The novels crescendos page by page to a totally unexpected conclusion.

My Impressions: 

I really wanted to enjoy this book, but this one just was not there for me personally. When I saw the title it reminded me of the Nicholas Cage movie Face Off, so maybe my view was a little askew from the get go. I expected to be entertained, to see well developed characters and to be fully submerged into the plot. What I got instead left me disappointed.

The book starts off really slow and was hard to get into.From the first page there is so much happening with no real backdrop or explanation as to what is going on that I felt confused while reading. I wanted this book to be engaging, entertaining and with well developed characters- I did not get any of this. I think what bothered me the most was I felt it should have been written in first person form, instead it read like movie script almost, making it boring and dry and just lacking all around. I could not get into the story and let it overtake. 


About the Author: 
R. Arundel is a practicing surgeon, his novel, The Face Transplant, takes the readers on a thrilling adventure. Set in the near future this novel tells the story of a young facial transplant surgeon who is forced to solve the mysterious death of his friend and mentor. The novel weaves an exciting medical thriller with high level political intrigue. The story is set within the backdrop of facial transplantation, a world where anyone can have a new face, just ask. R. Arundel brings an authenticity to the story only possible from a real surgeon. Murder, Politics and Medicine intertwine for a refreshingly innovative novel.