In his just released The Face Thief, readily availalable in all Denver’s new book outlets, Gottlieb creates an exciting psychological buildup explaining how the character Margot bcame a remorseless scam artist delighting in the havoc she creates in her randomly chosen victims’ lives. By the novel’s conclusion, this dysfunction has been so thoroughly vivisected, accpetance and ultimately forgiveness of Margot her for the twisted form she’s assumed in defense of her life and peace of mind. The Face Thief’s ending is slightly dubious. In this recorder’s opinion, the book’s strongest parts are those covering the meta-manipulative mind games operative between Margot and the character Lawrence Billings. Understandably, the sections addressing the artful science of "face reading" are likely to provoke a curiosity and interest to learn more about the subject, which people like Billings and Margot devoted whole lifetimes to mastering not so long ago
Gottleib is a master of tours through the labyrinth. Right up until the novels’s final minutes, readers continue unworking unlikely yet plausible twists, connections and motivations, some of which actions are still not yet fully understood by their exceedingly well drawn perpetrators. Until the very last page readers won’t see the end coming. Until it happens! There’s bound to be a movie adaptation, and a sequel, and a sequel.
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