''The Naked Face'' is the
first novel (1970) written by
Sidney Sheldon
Sidney Sheldon (February 11, 1917 – January 30, 2007) was an American writer. He was prominent in the 1930s, first working on Broadway plays, and then in motion pictures, notably writing the successful comedy '' The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxe ...
. It was nominated by the
Mystery Writers of America
Mystery Writers of America (MWA) is an organization of mystery and crime writers, based in New York City.
The organization was founded in 1945 by Clayton Rawson, Anthony Boucher, Lawrence Treat, and Brett Halliday.
It presents the Edgar Award ...
for the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best First Novel by an American author.
Plot summary
Dr. Judd Stevens, M.D., is a caring and successful Manhattan
psychoanalyst
PsychoanalysisFrom Greek: + . is a set of theories and therapeutic techniques"What is psychoanalysis? Of course, one is supposed to answer that it is many things — a theory, a research method, a therapy, a body of knowledge. In what might ...
who must face a horrific prospect; someone is trying to kill him. First, John Hanson, a patient trying to overcome his
homosexuality
Homosexuality is Romance (love), romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or Human sexual activity, sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romant ...
, is murdered. Not long after, Carol Roberts, Stevens' secretary, is found tortured to death. Two police officers, Andrew McGreavy and Frank Angeli, are quick to treat Stevens as the prime suspect, partly due to McGreavy's anger over Stevens' testimony in a previous case. Stevens is later run down by a car, and following his recovery, two men in dark try to kill him in his office.
To prove his innocence and track down the real killer, Stevens hires a private investigator by the name of Norman Z. Moody. He also suspects some of his patients: Harrison Burke (a homicidal paranoiac), Anne Blake (a mysterious patient with whom Stevens is in love) and Teri Washburn (a sex addict and former Hollywood actress). Influenced by Angeli (the one who is somewhat friendly and helpful to him), Stevens begins to consider Moody as a suspect.
However, Moody dies but not before giving a hint on the killer: ''Don Vinton''. Another murder is attempted on Stevens, but he outsmarts the attackers. McGreavy, along with his police force tries to catch Stevens but he escapes and eventually realises that ''Don Vinton'', in Italian, means the ''Big Man'', a title given to the leader of a criminal syndicate: ''La Cosa Nostra''.
He contacts Angeli, who lures him to Anthony DeMarco (a ''capo'' of ''La Cosa Nostra'' and a megalomaniac), who is revealed to be Anne's husband. He tries to extract information about Anne's sessions with Stevens and forces him to convince Anne to go with her husband (DeMarco) to Europe. It is revealed that he killed Hanson (mistaking him for Stevens) and Carol (to extract information about Anne).
After a struggle at a factory, Stevens manages to kill DeMarco and is rescued by McGreavy.
Adaptations
In 1984 the novel was
adapted as a film directed by
Bryan Forbes
Bryan Forbes CBE (; born John Theobald Clarke; 22 July 1926 – 8 May 2013) was an English film director, screenwriter, film producer, actor and novelist described as a "Renaissance man"Falk Q. . BAFTA. 17 October 2007. Retrieved 9 May 2013 and ...
, starring
Roger Moore
Sir Roger George Moore (14 October 192723 May 2017) was an English actor. He was the third actor to portray fictional British secret agent James Bond in the Eon Productions film series, playing the character in seven feature films between 1 ...
and
Rod Steiger
Rodney Stephen Steiger (; April 14, 1925July 9, 2002, aged 77) was an American actor, noted for his portrayal of offbeat, often volatile and crazed characters. Cited as "one of Hollywood's most charismatic and dynamic stars," he is closely assoc ...
. The second adaptation is the Ukrainian feature-length film ''
Sheriff's Star (Zirka Sheryfa)'' in 1992, directed by
Mykola Litus and starring
Irina Alfyorova,
Arnis Līcītis and
Sergei Martynov.
Звезда шерифа
(1991)
In 2007, Sunil Kumar Desai directed Kannada
Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...
film ''Kshana Kshana
''Kshana Kshana'' ( kn, ಕ್ಷಣ ಕ್ಷಣ) is a 2007 Indian Kannada language crime thriller film directed by Sunil Kumar Desai and produced by B. R. Thirumalai. The film stars Aditya, Prema, Kiran Rathod and Ashutosh Rana in the lead ro ...
'' which was based on this novel.
References
External links
SidneySheldon.com , Bookshelf
1970 American novels
Novels by Sidney Sheldon
Novels set in New York City
American novels adapted into films
1970 debut novels
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