Reviewed by Valerie
TITLE: The Face Man
SERIES: Long Con Adventures
AUTHOR: Amy Lane
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
LENGTH: 413 pages
RELEASE DATE: October 31, 2023
BLURB:
Torrance Grayson has forged a solid independent journalism career with help from his friend and mentor, Felix Salinger, and he’s relished being the face of the Salinger crew, exposing the corruption of the powerful while keeping his friends safe in their anonymity. But being face to face with the worst in the world takes its toll, and when Tor has a moment of weakness, it’s the Salingers who come to bail him out.
During his recovery, Tor makes friends with the household’s confident, charismatic young chef, Marco. Their quiet conversations make Marco more and more reluctant to confront Tor on the grave mistake the man is about to make in his current exposé—a mistake that can harm Marco’s loud, boisterous family irrecoverably.
Tor is more than willing to listen—and to correct any mistakes. He’s seen graphic proof that he’s not infallible, and he’ll go to any lengths to avert tragedy. But as Tor works toward the truth of what’s happening with Marco’s family, Marco begins to develop deep suspicions about the people they both work for. Torrance Grayson is in deep with the Salingers, and Marco isn’t sure he should know any more than necessary about people who seem to be great bosses but shady citizens.
In order to help Marco, Tor needs to trust him—and that means to trust him with the truth of the Salinger Crew, as well as with his heart. But in a world of capers and crimefighting, trust, it appears, is worth more than gold and jewels. Tor can expose crime and injustice with impunity, but can he expose his heart to Marco, a man who desperately wants in?
REVIEW:
The Face Man, the sixth book in Amy Lane’s Long Con Adventures series, picks up where The Tech left off with our favorite family of Robin Hoods, the Salingers. In fact, this book overlaps the timeline in book five at times. It’s now Torrance Gray’s turn for romance.
Tor used to work for Felix at his cable news network but left to produce his own YouTube channel for the past nine months. He’s been involved with helping the family since the beginning. In this book, he finally puts his hopeless crush on Josh to rest, and Marco, a newer chef at the mansion, becomes Tor’s love interest. Marco’s family is at the crux of the adventures this time.
Tor is investigating a story involving Marco’s uncle’s construction business and its apparent scams. When he’s about to expose the business, Marco and his cousins beg Tor to take a deeper dive into what’s really going on. The best part of the book is the last third when the caper gets underway.
It’s amusing to watch Marco beginning to notice all the odd things about the Salinger family and wondering if they’re a branch of the mob. (That would actually be a sensible explanation for their unusual behavior.) I do think Danny and Felix welcome too many people (Marco’s cousins) into the fold, risking their illegal behavior being publicly discovered.
All of the family members feature prominently in the book. I felt Grace’s horror and despondency at what he discovers in the factory. It was heartbreaking. I was tickled by the mention of “Outbreak Monkey”, the band in Ms. Lane’s brilliant Beneath the Stain novel.
I love long books but I feel this one could’ve been edited to a shorter length. The first two-thirds were slow. And I wanted to pull my hair out every time Tor called Marco “kid”. He can’t be but a handful of years younger than Tor. It felt demeaning.
This wasn’t my favorite book in the series but the adventure is engaging. Tor and Marco’s dynamic in bed is interesting, too. The ending sets up the next book which it seems will feature Josh (finally!) and Liam as the family takes on an old enemy. I assume everyone has been impatiently awaiting Josh’s romance as much as I have.
Recommended.
RATING: 
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