Face of Betrayal

By Lis Wiehl and April Henry

A high-stakes suspense as timely as tomorrow’s headlines. 

While home on break, a seventeen-year-old Senate page takes her dog out for a walk and never returns. The resulting media firestorm quickly ensnares television reporter Cassidy Shaw, Federal Prosecutor Allison Pierce, and FBI Special Agent Nicole Hedges. Together, these life-long friends call themselves The Triple Threat—a nickname derived from their favorite dessert as well as their uncanny ability to crack cases from their three unique positions of power.

Together, they must find the one face of betrayal amidst a crowd of growing suspects—including a US Senator—before they become the next victims.

Lis Wiehl's expertise in law, politics, and criminal investigation merges with April Henry's narrative genius to create a gripping mystery filled with rich characters, real danger, and a shocking yet satisfying final twist. 

“Only a brilliant lawyer, prosecutor, and journalist like Lis Wiehl could put together a mystery this thrilling! The incredible characters and nonstop twists will leave you mesmerized. Open it and find a comfortable seat because you won’t want to put it down!” —E. D. Hill, FOX News anchor

“Three smart women crack the big cases! Makes perfect sense to me. It blew me away!” —Jeanine Pirro, former DA; host of the CW’s daytime court television reality show Judge Jeanine Pirro 

• Fast-paced political thriller
• Book 1 in the Triple Threat Series. Book 1: Face of Betrayal; Book 2: Hand of Fate; Book 3: Heart of Ice; Book 4: Eyes of Justice
• Book length: 85,000 words
• Includes discussion questions for book clubs

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Jan 30, 2010
• ISBN: 9781418574284

Lis Wiehl

New York Times bestselling author Lis Wiehl is the former legal analyst for Fox News and the O’Reilly Factor and has appeared regularly on Your World with Neil Cavuto, Lou Dobbs Tonight, and the Imus morning shows. The former cohost of WOR radio's WOR Tonight with Joe Concha and Lis Wiehl, she has served as legal analyst and reporter for NBC News and NPR's All Things Considered, as a federal prosecutor in the United States Attorney's office, and as a tenured professor of law at the University of Washington. She appears frequently on CNN as a legal analyst.

Book preview

Advance Praise for Face of Betrayal

This novel is a blast to read!

—BILL O’REILLY, FOX TV AND RADIO ANCHOR

Only a brilliant lawyer, prosecutor, and journalist like Lis Wiehl could put together a mystery this thrilling! The incredible characters and nonstop twists will leave you mesmerized. Open this book and find a comfortable seat because you won’t want to put it down!

—E. D. HILL, FOX NEWS ANCHOR

Great characters, compelling storyline . . . a winning combination.

—EARL MERKEL, CO-HOST OF MONEY & MORE

Lis Wiehl’s been there, done that and reported on it all. A riveting and revealing fast-paced look at our criminal justice system and the press who cover it.

—DR. MICHAEL BADEN, CURRENT CHIEF FORENSIC

PATHOLOGIST FOR THE NEW YORK STATE POLICE;

FORMER CHIEF MEDICAL EXAMINER, NYC; HOST,

HBO’S AUTOPSY

Wiehl exposes the malevolent side of power in this murderous thriller. A harrowing tale ripped from the headlines!

—CATHERINE CRIER, FORMER JUDGE,

JOURNALIST, AND BEST-SELLING AUTHOR

A real thrill ride! Filled with twists and turns you won’t see coming.

—RITA CROSBY, EMMY AWARD-WINNING TV PERSONALITY

(FORMERLY WITH MSNBC)

An incredible read. The story grips you from the get-go and reveals a stunning look at what happens when crime and the media meet head-on!

—NANCY GRACE, CNN ANCHOR AND

FORMER PROSECUTOR

Feels fresher than today’s headline story. One of the best suspense novels of 2009.

—SEAN HANNITY, FOX ANCHOR

"Three smart women crack the big cases! Makes perfect sense to me. This book blew me away!

—JEANINE PIRRO, FORMER DA; HOSTS THE CW’S

DAYTIME COURT TELEVISION REALITY SHOW

JUDGE JEANINE PIRRO

Lis Wiehl has done it again! I’m a big fan of her nonfiction books and now the multitalented Wiehl lets loose with this juicy political mystery! A fine mixture of all this savvy commentator has to offer . . . including politics, law, friendship, and even motherhood! Lis is a quadruple threat in my book!

—HANNAH STORM, ESPN; FORMER CBS ANCHOR

FACE OF BETRAYAL

9781595547057_ePDF_0006_004

© 2008 by Lis Wiehl and April Henry

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or other—except for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Published in Nashville, Tennessee. Thomas Nelson is a registered trademark of Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Thomas Nelson, Inc., titles may be purchased in bulk for educational, business, fund-raising, or sales promotional use. For information, please e-mail [e-mail].

HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®. © The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1975, 1977. Used by permission.

The Sick Rose by William Blake, published in Songs of Experience in 1794.

Publisher’s Note: This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. All characters are fictional, and any similarity to people living or dead is purely coincidental.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Wiehl, Lis W.

    Face of betrayal : a triple threat novel / Lis Wiehl and April Henry.

        p. cm.

    ISBN 978-1-59554-705-7 (hardcover)

    1. Women lawyers—Fiction. 2. Women television journalists—Fiction. 3. Female friendship—Fiction. 4. Stalking—Fiction. 5. Spousal abuse—Fiction. 6. Abused women—Fiction. 7. Murder—Investigation—Fiction. I. Henry, April. II. Title.

    PS3623.I382F33 2009

    813'.6—dc22

2009000122

Printed in the United States of America

09 10 11 12 QW 6 5 4 3 2 1

CONTENTS

NORTHWEST PORTLAND

MARK O. HATFIELD UNITED STATES COURTHOUSE

MYSPACE.COM/THEDCPAGE

PIERCE RESIDENCE

PORTLAND FBI HEADQUARTERS

CHANNEL FOUR

MYSPACE.COM/THEDCPAGE

JAKE’S GRILL

CONVERSE RESIDENCE

CONVERSE RESIDENCE

MYSPACE.COM/THEDCPAGE

PIERCE RESIDENCE

LINCOLN HIGH SCHOOL

NORTHWEST PORTLAND

CHANNEL FOUR

MYSPACE.COM/THEDCPAGE

HEDGES RESIDENCE

RANGEL RESIDENCE

CITY CENTRAL HOTEL

SAFE HARBOR SHELTER

MYSPACE.COM/THEDCPAGE

BLUE MOON TAVERN

MYSPACE.COM/THEDCPAGE

UNITED STATES SENATE

NORTHWEST PORTLAND

MARK O. HATFIELD UNITED STATES COURTHOUSE

LAW OFFICES OF STONE, HUTCHENS, AND LANGFORD

SAN FELIPE TAQUERIA

MARK O. HATFIELD UNITED STATES COURTHOUSE

SOUTHWEST PORTLAND

HEDGES RESIDENCE

RIVERSIDE CONDOMINIUMS

MYSPACE.COM/THEDCPAGE

MARK O. HATFIELD UNITED STATES COURTHOUSE

CONVERSE RESIDENCE

FAIRVIEW RESIDENCE

MARK O. HATFIELD UNITED STATES COURTHOUSE

MYSPACE.COM/THEDCPAGE

CHANNEL FOUR

MARK O. HATFIELD UNITED STATES COURTHOUSE

PORTLAND FBI HEADQUARTERS

SENATOR FAIRVIEW’S OFFICE

MARK O. HATFIELD UNITED STATES COURTHOUSE

EMERICK RESIDENCE

PIZZICATO PIZZA

DOWNTOWN PORTLAND

FOREST PARK

MYSPACE.COM/THEDCPAGE

FOREST PARK

FOREST PARK

FOREST PARK

MYSPACE.COM/THEDCPAGE

FOREST PARK

CONVERSE RESIDENCE

FOREST PARK

FOREST PARK

MULTNOMAH COUNTY MEDICAL EXAMINER’S OFFICE

MYSPACE.COM/THEDCPAGE

GOOD SAMARITAN MEDICAL CENTER

PORTLAND FBI HEADQUARTERS

FOREST PARK

LINCOLN HIGH SCHOOL

MYSPACE.COM/THEDCPAGE

RIVERSIDE CONDOMINIUMS

MARK O. HATFIELD UNITED STATES COURTHOUSE

CHANNEL FOUR

MARK O. HATFIELD UNITED STATES COURTHOUSE

FOREST PARK

TOMMY’S BAR-B-Q

TOMMY’S BAR-B-Q

SHAW RESIDENCE

MYSPACE.COM/THEDCPAGE

SHAW RESIDENCE

SHAW RESIDENCE

CONVERSE RESIDENCE

FONG CHONG RESTAURANT

READING GROUP GUIDE

INTERVIEW WITH LIS WIEHL, CONDUCTED BY BILL O’REILLY

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

With love for Dani, Jacob, and Mickey,

LIS

With love for Sadie and Randy,

APRIL

NORTHWEST PORTLAND

December 13

Come on, Jalapeño!"

Katie Converse jerked the dog’s leash. Reluctantly, the black Lab mix lifted his nose and followed her. Katie wanted to hurry, but everything seemed to invite Jalapeño to stop, sniff, and lift his leg. And there was no time for that now. Not today.

She had grown up less than two miles from here, but this afternoon everything looked different. It was winter, for one thing, nearly Christmas. And she wasn’t the same person she had been the last time she was here, not a month earlier. Then she had been a little girl playing at being a grown-up. Now she was a woman.

Finally, she reached the agreed-upon spot. She was still shaking from what she had said less than two hours earlier. What she had demanded.

Now there was nothing to do but wait. Not an easy task for an impatient seventeen-year-old.

She heard the scuff of footsteps behind her. Unable to suppress a grin, Katie called his name as she turned around.

At the sight of the face, contorted with rage, Jalapeño growled.

MARK O. HATFIELD UNITED STATES COURTHOUSE

December 14

As she walked to the courtroom podium, federal prosecutor Allison Pierce touched the tiny silver cross she wore on a fine chain. The cross was hidden under her cream-colored silk blouse, but it was always there, close to Allison’s heart. Her father had given it to her for her sixteenth birthday.

Allison was dressed in what she thought of as her court uniform, a navy blue suit with a skirt that, even on her long legs, hit below the knee. This morning she had tamed her curly brown hair into a low bun and put on small silver hoops. She was thirty-three, but in court she wanted to make sure no one thought of her as young or unseasoned.

She took a deep breath and looked up at Judge Fitzpatrick. Your Honor, I ask for the maximum sentence for Frank Archer. He coldly, calculatedly, and callously plotted his wife’s murder. If Mr. Archer had been dealing with a real hired killer instead of an FBI agent, Toni Archer would be dead today. Instead, she is in hiding and in fear for her life.

A year earlier Frank Archer had had what he told friends was a five-foot-four problem. Toni. She wanted a divorce. Archer was an engineer, and he was good at math. A divorce meant splitting all their worldly goods and paying for child support. But if Toni were to die? Then not only would Archer avoid a divorce settlement, but he would benefit from Toni’s $300,000 life insurance policy.

Archer asked an old friend from high school—who also happened to be an ex-con—if he knew anyone who could help. The old friend found Rod Emerick, but Rod wasn’t a hired killer—he was an FBI agent. Archer agreed to meet Rod in a hotel room, which the FBI bugged. In a windowless van parked outside, Allison monitored the grainy black-and- white feed, all shadows and snow, waiting until they had enough to make an arrest before she gave the order. With gritted teeth, she had watched Archer hand over a snapshot of Toni, her license number, her work schedule, and $5,000 in fifties and hundreds. She sometimes understood those who killed from passion—but killers motivated by greed left her cold.

Given the strength of the evidence, Archer had had no choice but to plead guilty. Now, as Allison advocated for the maximum possible sentence, she didn’t look over at him once. He was a small man, with thinning blonde hair and glasses. He looked nothing like a killer. But after five years as a federal prosecutor, Allison had learned that few killers did.

After she finished, she rejoined Rod at the prosecutor’s table and listened to the defense attorney’s sad litany of excuses. Archer hadn’t known what he was doing, he was distraught, he was under a lot of stress, he wasn’t sleeping well, and he never intended to go through with it—lies that everyone in the crowded courtroom could see through.

Do you have anything you would like to say to the court before sentencing? Judge Fitzpatrick asked Archer.

Archer got to his feet, eyes brimming with crocodile tears. I’m very, very sorry. Words cannot describe how I feel. It was all a huge mistake. I love Toni very much.

Allison didn’t realize she was shaking her head until she felt Rod’s size 12 loafer squishing the toe of her sensible navy blue pump.

They all rose for the sentence.

Frank Archer, you have pled guilty to the cowardly and despicable act of plotting to have your spouse murdered. Judge Fitzpatrick’s face was like a stone. Today’s sentence should send a strong message to cowards who think they can hide by hiring a stranger to commit an act of violence. I hereby sentence you to ten years for attempted capital murder-for-hire, to be followed by two years of supervised release.

Allison felt a sense of relief. She had an excellent track record, but the previous case she had prosecuted had shaken her confidence. The date rapist had been pronounced innocent, which had left his victim stunned, fearful, and angry—and left Allison feeling guilty that she hadn’t been able to put him away for years. Today, at least, she had made the world a safer place.

A second later, her mood was shattered.

It’s all your fault! Archer shouted. He wasn’t yelling at Toni—his ex-wife was too afraid to be in the courtroom. Instead, he was pointing at Allison and Rod. You set me up!

Archer was dragged from the courtroom, and Rod patted Allison’s arm. Don’t worry, he said. We’ll keep an eye on him.

She nodded and managed a smile. Still, she felt a pulse of fear. Ten years from now, would the man come back to take his revenge?

Shaking off the feeling of foreboding, Allison walked out of the court-house—known to Portlanders as the Schick Razor Building because of its curved, overhanging roof—while she called Toni with the good news. In the parking lot, she pressed the fob on her key chain, unlocked her car door, and slid behind the wheel, still talking.

Only after she had accepted Toni’s thanks and said good-bye did she see the folded paper underneath her windshield wiper. Muttering under her breath about junk advertising, she got back out of the car and tugged the paper free.

Then she unfolded it.

The professional part of Allison immediately began to take notes. For one thing, except in a movie, she had never actually seen a threat written in letters cut from a magazine. For another, were her own fingerprints obscuring those of the person who had done this?

But the human side of Allison couldn’t help trembling. For all her detachment, she couldn’t tamp down her horror as she read the message.

I’M GOING TO RAPE YOU. AND YOU’RE GOING TO LIKE IT. AND THEN I’M GOING TO CUT YOU INTO LITTLE PIECES. AND I’M GOING TO LIKE IT.

MYSPACE.COM/THEDCPAGE

Better Not Let Me Talk to Boys

September 5

Hi! I’m a Senate page on Capitol Hill. This blog will tell about my experiences here in Pageland.

Washington DC is all tall buildings, honking cabs & humidity that feels like someone wrapped you up in a blanket of steam. Plus it smells funky. Like hot garbage.

It turns out that the Vietnam Memorial & the Washington Monument & the statue of Lincoln are all a couple of blocks apart. My stepmom V has been trying to get me to all the famous sites, even though there will be trips every other weekend just for the pages. (Now she’s asleep & I’m writing this in the bathroom of the hotel, which has free wireless.)

I can’t believe that the whole time we’ve been here it’s been raining. For some reason, I never thought it would rain in DC. Luckily some guy on the street was selling umbrellas.

After all the sightseeing, we went out to dinner with Senator X. He got me this internship, but I probably won’t see him very much. I’ll be working for all the senators, especially the 50 Republicans, not just him. (Working in the Senate is better than working in the House. I hear they have to stare at hundreds of photos so they can memorize all the faces & names in their party. Compared to that, 50 is a piece of cake.)

We ate at an elegant Japanese restaurant, where I had many things that I can’t pronounce. Not only are the Japanese people good at anime, but they know how to cook.

Before our food came, V told these people at the next table to keep their toddler under control. He had a cup of Cheerios & was throwing some on the floor. So of course she had to boss them around. Then V started telling the senator that he had better keep an eye on me & not let me talk to boys. I just wanted to crawl under the table, even though they both pretended she was joking.

Doesn’t she realize that I’m not a little kid anymore? In eight days, I’m going to be seventeen!

PIERCE RESIDENCE

December 14

Allison set the pregnancy test on the edge of the tub. Marshall was in the living room, stretching in front of the TV news, getting ready to go for a run.

All afternoon, this moment had been in the back of her mind, providing a welcome distraction from her anxiety whenever she thought about the threatening note. Rod had come as soon as she called and had taken the document away as evidence. He asked her if she had any enemies, but they both knew the question was a joke.

Of course Allison had made enemies, most recently Archer. She was a third-generation prosecutor, so she knew it came with the territory.

The so-called blue-collar criminals—bank robbers and drug dealers—weren’t so bad to deal with. For them, getting caught and doing time was an accepted risk, a cost of doing business. They were professionals, like she was. In a weird way, they understood that Allison was just doing her job.

It was the other ones, the ones who had been fairly upstanding citizens until they snapped at dinner and stabbed their spouse or decided that bank robbery was a perfect way to balance the family budget. Those were the ones you needed to watch out for. Their feelings for Allison were personal. Personal—and dangerous. For now, she would be extra careful, and Rod had alerted the Portland police to make additional patrols past her house.

Her watch said 6:21. She told herself that she wouldn’t pick up the white stick again until 6:30. The test only took three minutes, but she wanted to be sure. How many times had she watched one of these stupid tests, willing two crossed lines to show up in the results window but seeing only one?

I’ll be back in about forty minutes, honey, Marshall called from the living room. She heard the sound of the front door closing.

Allison hadn’t told him she was going to take the test today. She was four days late, but she had been four days late before. After so many failed tests, so many months in which being even a day late had filled her with feverish speculation, Marshall no longer inquired too closely into the details.

When they started this journey two years ago, she had been sure that she and Marshall would conceive easily. Any teenager could have a baby. How hard could it be? She and Marshall had always been scrupulous about birth control. Now it seemed like a bitter joke. She had wasted hundreds of dollars preventing something that would never have happened anyway.

They had started trying a month after her thirty-first birthday, giddy to be playing without a net. At the end of the first month, Allison was sure she was pregnant: her breasts felt different, the taste of food changed, and she often felt dizzy when she stood up. But then her period arrived on schedule.

As the months passed she got more serious, tracked her temperature, made charts. Even though she had read all the statistics about how fertility declined with every passing year, it hadn’t seemed like they applied to her.

How many crime victims had she met who had never believed that anything bad could happen to them? Because they were special?

It’s in your hands, Lord, she murmured. The idea was one she struggled with every day, at home and at work. How much was she responsible for? How much was out of her control? She had never been good at letting go.

To distract herself, Allison turned on the small TV they kept in the bedroom on top of an oak highboy. After a Subaru commercial, the Channel Four news anchor said, And now we have a special bulletin from our crime reporter, Cassidy Shaw. Cassidy?

Allison’s old friend stood in front of a beautiful white Victorian house. She wore a coral suit that set off her blonde shoulder-length hair. Her blue eyes looked startlingly topaz—either she was wearing colored contacts or the TV set needed to be adjusted.

A family is asking for your help in finding a teenager who has been missing from Northwest Portland since yesterday afternoon, Cassidy said, wearing the expression reporters reserved for serious events. Seventeen-year- old Katie Converse left her parents a note saying she was taking the family dog for a walk—and she has not been seen since. Here’s a recent photo of Katie, who is on winter break from the United States Senate’s page program.

The camera cut to a photograph of a pretty blonde girl with a snub nose and a dusting of freckles. Allison caught her breath. Even though Katie was blonde and Lindsay had dark hair, it was almost like looking at her sister when she was Katie’s age. The nose was the same, the shape of her eyes, even the same shy half smile. Lindsay, back when she was young and innocent and full of life.

Cassidy continued, "Katie is five feet, two inches tall and weighs 105 pounds. She has blue eyes, blonde hair, and freckles. She was last seen wearing a black sweater, blue jeans, a navy blue Columbia parka, and Nike tennis shoes. The dog, named Jalapeño, is a black Lab mix.

Authorities are investigating. The family asks that if you have seen Katie, to please call the number on your screen. This is Cassidy Shaw, reporting from Northwest Portland.

Allison said a quick prayer that the girl would be safe. But a young woman like that would have no reason to run away, not if she was already living away from home. Nor was she likely to be out partying. Allison knew a little bit about the page program. It was fiercely competitive, attracting smart, serious, college-bound students whose idea of fun was the mock state legislature. The kind of kid Allison had been, back when she and Cassidy were in high school.

She looked at her watch and was surprised to see it was already 6:29. She made herself wait until the clock clicked over to 6:30, then reached for the pregnancy test. The first time she had bought only one, sure that was all she would need. Now, two years later, she bought them in multi-packs at Costco.

In the control window was a pink horizontal line. And in the other window, the results window, were pink crosshairs.

Not single pink lines in both windows.

She was pregnant.

PORTLAND FBI HEADQUARTERS

December 15

The words popped up on FBI special agent Nicole Hedges’s screen.

PDXer: WHATS UR FAVORITE SUBJECT?

Nic—using the screen name BubbleBeth—and some guy going by the name PDXer were in a private area of a chat room called Younger Girls/Older Men.

BubbleBeth: LUNCH

It was what Nic always answered. She could disconnect from her fingers, from the reality behind her keyboard and the words that appeared on her screen. Which was good. Because if she thought about it too much, she would go crazy.

At first, working for Innocent Images, the FBI’s cyber-crime squad’s effort to take down online predators, had seemed like a perfect fit. Regular hours, which were kind of a must when you were a single parent. The downside was that she spent all day exposed to vile men eager to have sex with a girl who barely qualified as a teen.

Most people were surprised that it wasn’t the creepy guy in the rain-coat who went online trolling for young girls. If only. In real life it was the teacher, the doctor, the grandpa, the restaurant manager. The average offender was a professional white male aged twenty-five to forty-five.

PDXer: HOW OLD R U?

BubbleBeth: 13

In Oregon, eighteen was the age of consent. But prosecutors preferred to keep it clear-cut to make it easier for the jury to convict. So Nic told the guys she met online that she was thirteen or fourteen, never older. Some typed L8R—later—as soon as Nic told them her imaginary age. For the rest, it was like throwing a piece of raw meat into a dog kennel.

PDXer: KEWL

Surveys had shown that one in seven kids had received an online sexual solicitation in the past year. It was Nic’s job to find the places where the chances weren’t one in seven, but 100 percent, which meant going to chat rooms.

Sure, that kind of thing happened on MySpace, but the FBI didn’t have the time to put together pages that would fool anyone. They never looked as good as the real thing. Real kids spent hours on their MySpaces, tweaking them with photos and music and blogs. Real predators went there, too, but it was hard to catch them without some kind of tip.

But there were plenty of chat rooms. Nic’s being there was predicated on the chat room name (Not Too Young to Have Fun, for example) or a kid’s report of having been solicited.

Sometimes she took over from a true victim, but usually she just started out fresh—went into a chat room and announced her presence. The first thing you noticed upon entering a chat room was the absence of any actual chat. The point of being there was to start up a private conversation. It never took longer than five or ten minutes before someone approached her.

PDXer: R UR PARENTS TOGETHER?

BubbleBeth: NO. I LIVE W/MY MOM. ONLY C DAD SOMETIMES.

It was what she always said. Guys like PDXer loved kids with one parent and unfettered access to the Internet. It was like that line in Casablanca. "This could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

PDXer: DO YOU HAVE ANY BROTHERS OR SISTERS?

BubbleBeth: 1. SHES 3.

Young enough that Nicole’s imaginary mom would have her hands full.

Nic let Makayla play Neopets online. But only when she was in the room with her. And her daughter knew that at any time her mom could come to her and ask to see what she was typing, and Makayla would have to show her right away.

PDXer: R U A COP?

Nic smiled. Got ya.

BubbleBeth: NO!

Nic went on answering PDXer’s questions, not even paying that much attention. It was better if she didn’t. Didn’t think about this sick jerk sinking his hooks into a girl. Grooming her. Better if she didn’t wonder how many there had been before her. Girls who really were thirteen or fourteen.

PDXer: CAN U SEND ME A PIC?

Since they never used pictures of real kids, Nic would send him a picture of herself, morphed back to look like she was thirteen. The morphing wasn’t accurate because it didn’t take into account three years of braces and four pulled teeth. When she had really been BubbleBeth’s age, everyone had made fun of her buckteeth.

PDXer: WANT 2 GO 2 A MOVIE SOMETIME?

BubbleBeth: SURE, THAT WOULD BE COOL.

Nic had to backspace and retype the last words, changing them to B KEWL.

PDXer: ANYTHING U REALLY WANT TO C?

BubbleBeth: MEAT MARKET.

It was rated R, which meant technically she couldn’t get in. Well, BubbleBeth couldn’t. Sometimes Nic forgot to distance herself. She wasn’t thirteen, she wasn’t going to school, she didn’t fight with her mom.

PDXer: GR8. R U WEARING ANY UNDIES RIGHT NOW?

Bingo.

CHANNEL FOUR

December 15

With varying degrees of dread, TV crime reporter Cassidy Shaw and five other people seated

Reviews for Face of Betrayal

[gaillamontagne · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Lis Wiehl, the author, is an attorney who was part of the Fox News team on the Bill O'Riley No Spin Zone. She has a second career as an author. This is a first novel in a series about a group of college friends who reignite their friendships after a reunion where they become interested in each other's careers. Cassidy Shaw is an ambitious inspiring reporter, Allison Pierce, a Federal Prosecutor and Nicole Hedges, an FBI Special Agent. They call themselves The Triple Threat Club, from a favorite chocolate dessert. The story centers around the disappearance of a 17 year old girl, Katie, who was part of the elite Senate page program. Home for the Christmas holiday, this very accomplished young lady disappeared after leaving her parents house to walk the dog. After investigation, it is revealed Katie was being mentored by a US Senator who may know more about Katie than he is revealing to the FBI. All three women have other issues in their lives that add to the drama with some intrigue. All three women are interested in the disappearance of Katie but for different reasons: the gripping news story, catching the person responsible for Katie's possible kidnapping and prosecuting any and all persons guilty of a crime....... I would try the 2nd book in the series.It reads a little like a teen drama.

[ficusfan · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I will be upfront, I didn't read much of this book before I quit. Someone in our mystery book group picked this, without realizing it was a bad Christian book. Big mistake.I don't care what religion anyone is, or if they choose not to believe. I am fine with it. I can even read about religious characters if it is done well. What I am not fine with is having the religion in question pushed in my face. And when you combine it with bad writing and plastic perfect settings and characters, it just isn't worth reading.I quit when I ran into almost 2 pages of praying, by one of the characters. Tell me they prayed, even about what, but don't drag it out, or make it so I have to sit through the praying. I don't mind Christian books if the religion is worked into the story, and not forced. Mel Starr writes a wonderful series of Christian Medieval mysteries with a religious main character. His depiction is of a religious character without going overboard. It was worked into the story and the character's situation.The writing in this book is bad because it all seems flat, perfect and plastic. Even the bad spots or flaws seem to be squeaky clean. There is no grittiness and no reality. You do not believe these are real people and you don't really care what happens to them. Sort of like comic book characters.

[jesssika-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Katie Converse a Senate Page has come home from Christmas. She left a young girl striving to reach her dreams. She came home changed. Out walking the dog she meets someone. Now cut to Cassidy Allison and Nicole. Three unlikely friends who deal with crime in three different ways. They make a team they call the Triple Threat Club with Nicole working for the FBI Allison as an attorney and Cassidy as a News Anchor. Together they can help each other solve a terrible kidnapping. A senator could be to blame or maybe a homeless man? There are so many twists and turns you won't want to put this down.

In this story there is so much information. Looking back now I don't know how I didn't get confused reading about everyone involved. It's unique to see how well written this story is. You get to know the Converse family Allison and her struggles and many jobs Cassidy and her job and relationships Nicole with her work and daughter a Senator and his bad behavior and many small teens stories too. How they all connect together to help formulate the kidnapping and murder of a 17 year old girl is skillful. I didn't want to put it down and liked for the most part how it tied up. The only thing I didn't like was that in the last couple of chapters virtually everything got fixed with a happily ever after. I know it's not techincally a happily ever after but it just seemed to tie up so easily and quickly in comparison to the rate the rest of the story went. Still totally worth the read.

[bettyb30 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book was excellent for those that like suspenseful murder mystry. You will never get who it is till almost the end of the book! It was fab!!

[slarsoncollins · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I thought the character development was great, good descriptions and you get pulled into the scenes. The problem, as I saw in another review as well, was there were no clues as to who the killer was. Just kinda popped in there. The writing was good, just needed some tweaking of the story line to at least hint at the guilty party. That said, I'll read additional books by this author if I happen to stumble across them.

[evensonly · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Great first book for Lis Wiehl. Suspenseful thriller that kept me turning the pages. Looking forward to her next books.

[dougcornelius_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Lis Wiehl has added another element to her career, from trial lawyer to Fox News commentator and now a novelist. The publisher sent me a copy of her book: Face of Betrayal. I generally would not bother writing a review for book this bad, but I agreed to write a review in exchange for a copy of the book. Given the the that it is a pulpy crime novel and that Lis had a contributor, I had low expectations. Even those lowered expectations were not met. The book is a "Triple Threat Novel" with three narrators: FBI Agent, reporter and prosecutor. Three friends who share food and drinks in Portland, Oregon. I couldn't tell the difference in the narration between the three. It just confused the story and viewpoints.The primary story is a Senate page home for vacation takes her dog out for a walk and never returns. The triple threat team each take their respective role in investigating and reporting the crime. Each of the triple threat has their own battles to fight. One has a stalker, one is in an abusive relationship and one is a single parent.The characters are flat, the story is predictable and the ending is rushed. If you are looking for a crime novel, try William Landay's Mission Flats or Stieg Larsson's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Unless you're a Lis Wiehl fan, don't bother wasting an afternoon with Face of Betrayal.

[hoosiers80 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Face of Betrayal is a look into processes of the American legal system. It follows the story from the perspective of 3 women who are friends. One is a television reporter, while another a prosecutor, and the other a detective on the case. The story follows the case of 17 yr old Katie Converse, who has gone missing while walking the family dog. You will follow the twists and turns of the case trying to determine who is responsible. Is it the local senator who has always had an interest in young girls? This book will keep you guessing until the end.This book was an enjoyable read with an interesting perspective of the American justice system. Wiehl as former federal prosecutor delves into the realm of the crime scene investigation. While the story line is similar to many mystery/detective books, the appeal is Wiehl's angle as someone who has been on the other side of this type of story. How might a prosecutor or detective approach a case of a missing girl? The Christianity in this story is not a key component of the book. One character is a Christian, but does not look much at that aspect of the character. If you a looking for a novel with deep Christian meaning, this is not the book. If you are looking for a interesting book with basic Christian morality, this is a book that you will enjoy.

[sandylee_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A twist on the Shaundra Levy case. Three friends call themselves the "Triple Threat." A prosecuting attorney, FBI agent, and reporter work together to find out who killed a 17-year-old Congressional page. Each woman has some angst in her life. The attorney is pregnant after years of trying and worried about the future. The FBI agent is a single mother untrusting of relationships. The reporter falls in and out of love too easily and encounters an abusive boyfriend. Although I was raised a Catholic, I still find "in your face" faith a bit of a turn off. The attorney is the one character who "prays" within the narrative. She consults her priest regarding her pregnancy and the case. She discusses religion with her friends (one who is an agnostic) and although it separates her from the other characters' beliefs, it was a bit much for this reader who was taught to keep faith private. Hinkey feelings turn me off to a book but I did finish it because I wanted to see who the guilty party was so the plot did move along and did entice me to keep turning the pages.

[thetometraveller · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Katie Converse is a smart, beautiful, seventeen year old Senate page from Portland, Oregon. At home in Portland for Christmas, she disappears while walking the dog. Her parents immediately raise the hue and cry and a desperate search begins. Local Portland television reporter Cassidy Shaw announces the story of Katie's disappearance on the air. The media firestorm that follows could be the making of her career, if she can keep herself at the forefront of the action. Good thing for Cassidy that her two best friends become involved in the case, as well. Federal prosecutor Allison Pierce and FBI agent Nicole Hedge are Cassidy's buddies. As a group the call themselves "The Triple Threat Club" and they get together regularly to try to sort out the difficulties of their crazy lives. Cassidy is able to glean important bits of information about the case from Allison and Nicole because both women are soon sucked into the investigation that mushrooms around the case. When Nicole discovers that Katie had a Myspace page that she posted on regularly, things really start to heat up. Turns out Katie was having a little fling with "Senator X." It isn't too hard to figure out that "Senator X" is actually Senator Fairview, who sponsered Katie's page application. Suddenly the case has taken on a whole new aspect, the well known Senator has motive and opportunity. His relationship with Katie is certainly a juicy scandal, but is he really her killer? This fast paced, interesting suspense novel has a premise that could easily have been ripped from the headlines. All of the characters are well-rounded and their relationships feel authentic. The point of view rotates between Cassidy, Allison and Nicole so the reader gets to know the personal struggles of each woman and how they relate to each other as a group of close friends. Cassidy is a beautiful girl with a promising career, but she is stuck in an abusive relationship. Allison and her husband have been struggling with infertility, under the stress of trying to have a baby for the past several years. Nicole is a single mom, juggling parenting her child and the demands of her job. She doesn't seem to have any time left over for a personal life. Because of their unique relationship they are able to put their heads together and figure out what happened to Katie Converse. Interspersed between the chapters are Katie's Myspace pages. Through these, the reader gets to know a little about Katie's life. The action keeps the reader guessing and turning pages in this absorbing tale. Ms. Wiehl's experience with the media and the government are apparent and lend the book a veracity that makes it seem to almost read like a non-fiction story.Looking for an exciting contemporary mystery with strong female characters? Add Face of Betrayal to your summer reading list!

[smilingsally · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Three friends who met in college and team up to form the Triple Threat Club, and solve a crime in this fast paced suspense novel. There's Cassidy, a TV reporter, who covers crime, Nicole, a police officer, who fights crime, and Allison, an attorney who prosecutes criminals. There's an understory as one of the friends is threatened and another understory of domestic abuse, giving the reader three stories in one book. Although I guessed the bad guy's identity, I was still surprised at the end. Good read! Reading group guide at the conclusion, along with an interview with the author by Bill O'Reilly.

[kysmom02 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Face of Betrayal is about 3 women who are friends and who happen to be involved in different aspects of crime fighting. Nicole is an FBI investigator, Allison is a prosecuting attorney and Cassidy is a crime journalist. In this story, they are working to find out what happened to a 17 year old girl who was working in an elite group with U.S. Senators, named Katie Converse. Katie initially is assumed kidnapped, then presumed murdered. While all of this is going on, each of the women have conflicts and personal struggles happening in their own lives. I struggled with this book when I first started reading it. It starts out a little choppy with short chapters that bounce around from person to person. So, I’d say that I was a little disappointed at the start. However, as I got further into it, the story started to come together. The short chapters still caused several breaks in the story line, but it was making more sense. I expected this book to be a little more tense and suspenseful. While I didn’t know what happened to Katie until the end of the book, I wasn’t kept on the edge of my seat by any action. The story almost seemed to be told from an outsiders view. It just seemed really detached. All that said, I still enjoyed the book. It was a quick read and provided a twist, and even a couple of laughs.

[em18966 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I love a good mystery as much as the next person. The only problem is that is it exceedingly difficult to find one. I mean, when you have figured it out within the first five chapters, the book quickly becomes irrelevant. No matter how well the characters are developed or how engagingly the book is written. Luckily, "Face of Betrayal" was a good mystery. One that actually kept me guessing from the first page to the last. Because the characters begin to draw you in from the very beginning, where you are introduced to Allison Pierce. She is a no-nonsense prosecuting attorney who soon finds herself deeply entrenched in the mysterious disappearance of a 17-year old Senate page, Katie. With the help of her friends Cassidy (an up and coming television reporter) and Nicole (an FBI agent), Allison attempts to unravel the twisted threads of Katies life and bring her abductor to light. Over the course of the investigation, it is discovered that Katie may have been carrying on an adulterous affair with a U.S. Senator, which suddenly transforms a missing person case into the story of the year. (In fact, the entire story feels vaguely familiar. It's as if Lis Wiehl took the most sensational parts of the biggest news stories of the last year or so and combined them into one.) I am not going to say anything that could be a spoiler, but the entire plot of the story is fantastic. Everything flows, the characters are very well developed, and all of the sub-plots are very relevant and come together in the end. (There's nothing worse than a story full of pointless filler plots and red herrings.) And you will find yourself surprised at the twist at the end when the whodunit is exposed. Honestly, I didn't have the highest of expectations for "Face of Betrayal." I mean, Wiehl is a legal analyst for FOX NEWS. I was actually a little bit afraid (tic). But I changed my tune before I finished chapter one, and I would recommend this book to anyone. Easily 4 ½ out of 5 stars. And this is only book one of the Triple Threat Series. I will now be anxiously awaiting the release of book two, "Hand of Fate" in April of 2010.