I knew within the first five pages that I was going to love Face of Betrayal by Lis Wiehl.  The characters are likable and easy to relate to, and suspense was built up right from the start.

Aside from the main plot–where did Katie Converse disappear to shortly before Christmas?–there were several sub-plots, which I’m guessing will be explored further in the next book.  A Federal Prosecutor who is dealing with pregnancy following infertility, as well as death threats; a reporter hoping to get her “big break,” and tangled in an abusive relationship; and an FBI agent who deals with the challenges of being a single mother, and of being a minority in law enforcement.  Some of these sub-plots were resolved, others were barely explored, so there is a good balance of both satisfaction, and the desire to know what happens next.

The main story about the disappearance of a young Senate page kept me wondering right up the end. Even as some of my questions began to be answered, more questions popped up, and I was continually guessing as to what happened, and re-evaluating the conclusions I thought I had come to, as I discovered that I was, on many occasions, quite wrong.

Excellent political mystery–I thoroughly enjoyed it, and can’t wait for Hand of Fate to be published.