Her Many Faces by Nicci Cloke
Published by William Morrow & Company
Publication date: July 15, 2025
Genres: Book Clubs, Fiction, Mystery, Suspense
Bookshop
When four wealthy, prominent men are found poisoned at their exclusive club the police waste no time in apprehending the killer. Katherine Cole was the server at their private party and the last one to see them alive. She was also caught at the train station trying to leave London and when detained incriminated herself. With all these facts it might seem there’s no mystery, but in Her Many Faces author Nicci Cloke proves just how deceiving appearances can be.
Working backwards Cloke dismantles key moments in 22-year-old Katherine’s life. In a fresh twist, Her Many Faces is told solely from the perspectives of four men she interacted with from her teen years to the present day. Katherine herself says nothing in her own defense. It’s through these men’s eyes that she travels the pages as a seductress, a liar, a friend, and a killer.
As the short-burst chapters pass Cloke masterfully manipulates the power of perception so that what began as a complete portrait of one young woman repeatedly recedes only to reappear in different hues and shades. By the end of Her Many Faces the four narrators have stretched and pulled the reality of Katherine into a shape only recognizable to themselves. It falls to the reader to ascertain which woman is real and if she’s guilty.
There was a small plot point at the end of the book that I couldn’t reconcile and is my only quibble with this top-of-the-line suspense novel as I devoured Her Many Faces in one day. Clever, devious, engrossing.
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I just finished reading this and I was a little confused with the ending. I had to go back and listen to the end again. Still confused, but really liked the book otherwise.
I get it! I felt like everything was neatly tied up except for one element. It’s a bit of spoiler which is why I didn’t mention it in my review, but it may be the same thing you thought.