Any human face - Charles Lambert

Andrew Caruso has been a second-hand-book dealer in Rome for thirty years when a collection of old photographs changes his life forever. He finds the photos among the possessions of his ex-lover, Michel; the images - possibly from police archives - are fascinating, but when Andrew and his art-critic friend Daniela decide to launch an exhibition, the shop is raided the day before the opening and the display seized with surprising violence.

In his quest to understand the significance of the pictures, Andrew crosses paths with Alessandro, a journalist who knows more about their history than Andrew can imagine. But Alessandro offers hope, as well as information: hope, in a world where kidnap, subterfuge and even murder are the norm; a world of criminal intrigue in which no one is safe, or above suspicion.

Meanwhile, in a cellar, a kidnapped girl hopes desperately for rescue.

Part thriller, part love story, Charles Lambert's second novel is both gripping and exhilarating; brilliant and hard-edged, it clearly marks Lambert as a name to note.

Charles Lambert was born in Lichfield, the United Kingdom, in 1953. After going to eight different schools in the Midlands and Derbyshire, he won a scholarship to the University of Cambridge from 1972 to 1975. In 1976 he moved to Milan and, with brief interruptions in Ireland, Portugal and London, has lived and worked in Italy since then. Currently a university teacher, academic translator and freelance editor for international agencies, he now lives in Fondi, exactly halfway between Rome and Naples.