Brenda Novak writes beautiful stories firmly entrenched in family values. FACE OFF, the latest installment in the Dr. Evelyn Talbot series, is anything but a beautiful romance story. But even with horrific crime stories this prolific author can't help but include her love of family. With FACE OFF, we continue the saga of pitting Evelyn Talbot, a psychopathic investigator, against her age-old tormentor, Jasper Moore. Yes, Jasper is alive and well and unfortunately for Evelyn, he is now in Alaska. Scary doesn't even begin to describe any scene that Jasper is in, but in order for you to experience that yourself you must read FACE OFF.

Jasper is a serial killer who has had his eye on Evelyn since she was a teenager. He has done everything in his power to destroy her life. No one is out of bounds for this deranged demon. His parents have provided him with just the tools for his latest attempt at torture and death for Evelyn. They are now dead, killed by the very monster that they have assisted all these years. Love is a strange thing -- perhaps Jasper's parents thought by giving him a new identity it would be an entry into a new calm and less dangerous life. In short, they were wrong, and have helped him be able to hide in plain sight.

Evelyn is still at Hanover House in Alaska trying to get into the minds of the worst criminals. They get sent to Hanover House for this very purpose. The population at Hanover House is comprised of the people that present an ever-present danger to the world targeting mostly women and girls and this is the place of work for Evelyn and a group of CO's. The security is the highest available which should make it a somewhat safe place to work. But we all know better than to become complacent.

This is what Evelyn is going to learn in rather short order. It seems as if there is an increase of murders committed in areas surrounding Hanover House. None of the inmates have been released -- well not in quite a while at least. So when the police department headed by Evelyn's boyfriend, Amarok, starts to investigate a missing woman from a hunting cabin they hope it isn't a murder on their hands. There is always room for hope.

Evelyn needs help dealing with everything, so Amarok asks her sister to come pay a visit to hopefully give her a sense of normalcy and family... But even with her sister in town, Jasper's threats keep coming... Once you start reading FACE OFF you realize you are in for the duration. It is another page-turning novel written by Brenda Novak and her fans are just going to love it. So scary and unpredictable even if you are fully aware of who the bad guy is and Brenda Novak tells us in the prologue exactly what Jasper is planning. Brenda Novak wrapped up every horrific trait she could fathom in this serial monster.