Her Many Faces

The story of a young woman on trial for multiple murders is told from the perspective of five men who knew her in this twisty suspense novel by Cloke (Close Your Eyes). After four wealthy patrons of an exclusive London club, including a politician and an oil baron, die from apparent poisonings, 22-year-old club waitress Katherine Cole is arrested for their murders. Katherine’s seasoned lawyer, Tarun Rao, laments the abundance of incriminating evidence, including his client’s time on conspiracy theory message boards and her frequent Google searches of the dead men. Katherine’s father, John, wants to believe in her innocence, but her former lover, Conrad Milton, characterizes her as a stalker who ruined his relationship with his fiancée, and her friend, Gabriel, describes how her obsession with conspiracies, including the idea that the 9/11 attacks were faked, came to define her life in recent months. Meanwhile, journalist Max Todd digs into Katherine’s background and tries to contact people from her childhood, unearthing details about her past that might recast her role in the murders. Cloke’s narrative conceit pays off, with the Rashomon structure allowing readers to piece together their own portraits of Katherine from the fragments provided. This grips from the first page and doesn’t let go. Agent: Gráinne Fox, UTA. (July)