First published 1999
Shannon's modeling career ends when a gunshot destroys her face. The bullet leaves her disfigured and mute, a shadow of her former self. Her fiancé abandons her. Her best friend turns away. Then Shannon encounters Brandy Alexander, a transgender woman with her own secrets and scars. Brandy sees opportunity in Shannon's pain. Together they craft a scheme for payback against those who discarded Shannon. Their partnership becomes a bizarre journey across America, a trip that strips away the facades both women have built around themselves. Shannon discovers that the people closest to her harbor the deepest betrayals. As their revenge plot unfolds, Shannon must decide what matters more: the face she lost or the person she might become. The road trip forces both women to examine the stories they tell themselves about identity, beauty, and worth.
Genres: fiction, literary-fiction, contemporary, thriller
Vibes: dark, emotional, intimate, suspenseful
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, found-family, unreliable-narrator
297 pages · Paperback · Vintage
Content warnings: body-horror, graphic-violence, mental-illness