The Naked Face

The Naked Face

3.45 of 5 stars 3.45  ·  rating details  ·  7,642 ratings  ·  206 reviews
Judd Stevens is a psychoanalyst faced with the most critical case of his life. If he does not penetrate the mind of a murderer he will find himself arrested for murder or murdered himself...

Two people closely involved with Dr. Stevens have already been killed. Is one of his patients responsible? Someone overwhelmed by his problems? A neurotic driven by compulsion? a madman...more
316 pages
Published (first published 1970)
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Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 3,000)
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Kwesi 章英狮
When I was in high school I was surrounded by readers and they enjoyed reading Sidney Sheldon's books. Seriously, every recess or break time one of those Sidney Sheldon readers will sit beside you or in the corner and shouting and screaming. So I always curious of his works, and I tried one of his novel and it was good. Well, I was still young that time but I never been hooked reading Sheldon books.

If I have time, I go to bookstores or online bookstores to buy some Sidney Sheldon's books. But I...more
Stuart
It's a murder mystery with a psycho-analyst protagonist. Freudian psycho-analysis has been largely discredited in the world of psychology, but even if it hadn't been, I'm sure that Sheldon has butchered a number of the concepts behind it. The book is generally trash, with silly one-dimensional characters. It does keep you guessing about who the killer is, but it's not the totally suspenseful thrill-ride that it's cover promises. I think it was Sheldon's first novel. Maybe his others are better....more
Mary
Feb 08, 2013 Mary rated it 5 of 5 stars  ·  review of another edition Recommends it for: Anyone who likes contemporary mysteries
Recommended to Mary by: Library Book Sale
John Hanson died quickly - with a knife in his back. Carol Roberts was next to die - she was covered with acid and tortured to death. Dr. Judd Stevens is a psychoanalyst who is facing the most critical case of his life. John and Carol were both closely associated with Dr. Stevens at one time, and if he doesn't penetrate the mind of a murderer he will either find himself arrested for murder or the killer's next victim.

Is one of the doctor's patients responsible? Someone overwhelmed by his problem...more
Fertina N M
Setelah Pengusaha, Artis, Agen rahasia sampai ke Ilmuan, kali ini Psikoanalisis yang dijadikan Sheldon sebagai tokoh sentral novel ini. The Naked Face mungkin nggak setebal novel-novel Sheldon lainnya (paling nggak yang sudah saya baca sejauh ini) dan mungkin misteri dan kasusnya nggak terlalu banyak. Tapi novel ini tetap asik buat dinikmati.
selayaknya novel-novel karangan Sheldon, The Naked Face menyuguhkan ketegangan-ketegangan disetiap kasusnya dan ketidakpastian disetiap akhir ceritanya. Seh...more
Monica
Wow!! Is all I could say when I read the first chapter of The Naked Face. This book captures your attention in the first chapter. I picked the book up at the library mainly to get a feel for the author Sidney Sheldon. I own a few of his books and wasn't sure about reading them. After reading The Naked Face I know that I will be reading his other books too.

The Naked Face starts out with a man happy because he is going to be going home to his wife and letting her know that what happened in the pas...more
Desiree Koh
I decided to re-read the Sidney Sheldon canon when some friends and I chanced upon a second hand bookstore I used to patronize in high school. Look, I'm not much for the general fiction genre these days. But then, I thought Sheldon was a maestro - he taught me everything I needed to know about world geography, history, politics, gastronomy, and sex. He was the Hitchcock of wordsmithing cliffhangers - without special effects or red herrings, he wrote compelling fiction so thrilling I had to hold...more
Dani Noviandi
Wow, baru baca lagi bukunya Sidney Sheldon setelah sekian lama. Terakhir baca zaman kuliah dulu yang “Are You Afraid of the Dark?”, soalnya buku ini dulu gembar-gembor di gramedia gencar banget, dan ternyata memang seru. Sekarang buku yang telah selesai saya baca adalah buku pertama beliau, The Naked Face alias Wajah Sang Pembunuh. Pertama terbit tahun 1970 dan diterbitkan di Indonesia pada 1979 untuk pertama kalinya. Edisi yang saya baca merupakan cetakan keempat pada bulan Juni 1991.

Bercerita...more
Wilson
Thought-provoking...

I wish that I had read this book during my High School days. If I only had, then I would have used my lunch money to buy more Sidney Sheldon books.

The reason why I did not read the book is because back then, I thought that “Sidney Sheldon” was a female author. Man, I hate female authors when I was a teenager. I thought they were just good for fairy tales and chic novels! But of course, this has already changed. As I grew, I was able to let go of my indignation against female...more
CJ
This is such a page turner and I just simply cannot put down this book. This book is brilliantly crafted by Sidney Sheldon and no doubt that he is one of the master of story telling. The naked Face is a fast pace psychological action thriller with the twists here and there. The story begins when two police detectives, McGreavy and Angeli came over to Dr. Stevens' clinic to investigate the murder of one of his patients. He was interrogated as if he is the murder and this made Dr. Stevens a bit te...more
Pratima Das
This book is about a psychoanalyst called Judd, who works in a office in New York, and has an assistant called Carol who used to be prostitute.
One day a few days before Christmas, one of his patients(who was a homosexual) is found dead, wearing Judd's raincoat, and just the day after that, Carol is also found dead. Judd calls the police n investigations keep going on.Judd thinks it was probably to kill him.
He had this patient called Anne, who was married, but Judd loved her. After she left, when...more
Katharina
Sheldon's first novel. My ninth read. The book was well-written. It is simple and easy-to-read. I must admit that I found it quite offensive reading the words "he was a homosexual" followerd by "he was cured". We should all know by now that homosexuality is not a disease that can be cured, and it was disappointing to read from the words of my favorite novelist. But I just took a mental note of it and kept reading, making sure that part wouldn't affect my judgment on the novel as a whole. So the...more
Nilu Asad
My husband gifted me this book once. I loved the introduction for this book. It grabbed my attention right away and made me think that this was going to be a great book, only to leave me disappointed. It held your interest somewhat, but really lacked that certain something that keeps you on the edge of your seat. The cops seemed to use the fact that Stevens would not give his patient information to them as an excuse for suspecting him, which is not realistic as everybody knows that doctors canno...more
Jan Bethel
This is my first Sidney Sheldon book and it is also my favorite book of his! I guess, somehow it speaks to me in a special way because the MC here is a psychoanalyst and I happen to be a psychology student. So yeah, I can connect to him in that way.

As his first book that I ever read, i'd say I was blown away. The whole time I was reading this, I was at the edge of my seat, biting my lip and holding my breath. I was excited and curious. And by the end of it, I was all WOW! So wow that I immediate...more
Harish Kumar Sarma Challapalli
Dr. Judd Stevens, M.D., is a caring and
successful Manhattan psychoanalyst who must
face a horrific prospect; someone is trying to
kill him. First, John Hanson, a patient trying
overcome his homosexuality, is brutally
murdered, perhaps because he was mistaken
for Stevens. Not long after, Carol Roberts,
Stevens' secretary, is also found murdered.
The police, partly due to anger with Stevens
testimony in a previous case, are quick to
treat Stevens as the prime suspect. To prove
his innocence and track down t...more
Smit Kothari
one keeps on guessing the homicidal maniac throughout the book but could never reach to one.Its just another crime-suspense-thriller that ends unrealistic.The beauty of the book lies with the cases that revolve around Dr. Stevens searching among his loony patients for the murderer whose two attempts of killing the pschoanalyst went in vain.The twists failed to bring much interest as it would have if sheldon had framed it more properly.sheldon is in his nascent stage in this crime novel.simple wr...more
Ивана
I found a copy of The Naked Face at my grandma's house. My mom used to read all the time when she was my age. Agatha Christie and Sidney Sheldon were her favorites, so I decided to give them a shot and I've started with this book.

It's a crime story that involves a psycho-analyst named Judd Stevens. His client, John Hanson, was murdered just a couple of minutes after his session. His protegee and secretary Carla, a beautiful women with a problematic past, was found dead in front of his office. To

...more
Eileen
Judd Stevens is a psychoanalyst who is faced with the most critical case of his life. Two people closely involved with him have been killed; a patient and his secretary. If he doesn't penetrate the mind of a murderer he will find himself being arrested for murder or being murdered himself.

This is one of the weakest and most predictable books written by Sidney Sheldon. I guess it was an okay read, but not very excited and certainly not gripping. It's an ordinary mystery book, nothing special. I w...more
Gwilym
The only thing that lets down this easy read paperback is the age - but even that isn't a problem if you consider as a novel of the time and treat it accordingly. There are turns of phrase or attitudes alien to the modern reader but these work for more enjoyment, if you are reading it as a social history, too.



Sheldon crafted a plot that is a little slow to start but once in full flow, develops into a real page turner. We are taken on a rollercoaster ride of suspicion identifying suspect after su...more
Graceann
Apr 06, 2011 Graceann rated it 1 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Nobody; avoid
This was one of Sidney Sheldon's first novels (if not THE first). It came out in 1971, and it has not aged well at all. Psychoanalyst Judd Stephens finds himself in the middle of a murder mystery and as the web tightens around him, he struggles to use his knowledge of human behavior in order to out-think the killer or killers.

However, the out-moded, idiotic beliefs regarding sexuality and the uber-70s dialogue "let's rap," "he was groovy," just makes the whole thing ludicrous. Further, regardle...more
Mehak Oberoi
I had read all the sidney sheldon novels years ago. Somehow a book or two of his slipped by. So i picked them up with the same nail biting enthusiasm and curiosity as i had felt then. But to my horror, i could barely manage to let my fingers turn over to the next page. The Naked Face is an immense disappointment for all sidney sheldon lovers. It just does not manage to enthuse the slightest inquisitiveness for the alleged suspense he tried to built around this hideous plot.
Ashleigh
Oct 15, 2009 Ashleigh rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Sidney Sheldon fans
Recommended to Ashleigh by: Mother
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Jülie
Naked face is a story about a Psychoanalyst Dr. Stevens, who is trying hard to save his life, while hell breaks loose on him and the only one he can trust is himself. He is though the best psychoanalyst but the events make him rethink if he is a patient himself. His sessions with his patients makes you understand the human psychology.

There are several twists and turns involved, you can’t help but suspecting each and every character in the absorbing narrative.

A must-read for you lovers of Psychol...more
Salymar
After reading some of the famous awe-inspiring novels by great authors, I finally read something breath-taking!

This is a mystery novel about a famous psycho-analyst, Dr. Stevens. He was haplessly suspected of murdering his receptionist Carol Roberts and his patient, John Hanson. The only way to find out that he is innocent is that he has to gather evidences and by all means, he must find a person who trust him. At the middle of the story he hired a private investigator, Mr Norman Moody.

I love h...more
Ajeng Sugiarti
Mungkin kalo kamu belum baca buku-buku Sheldon yang laen The Naked Face bakal kerasa menegangkan atau apa. Tapi aku udah baca beberapa karya Sheldon sebelum baca ini, dan The Naked Face jadi gampang ditebak akhirnya. I mean, come on... Aren't Sidney Sheldon books supposed to be thrilling and unpredictable?? Mungkin setelah terbiasa dengan karya-karya Sidney Sheldon, kamu bakal bisa dengan gampang nebak jalan ceritanya. Supposed to be unpredictable or not. ('-_-)a
Om Kanwar
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Piyush Verma
It is a script more than a novel. Like a typical movie, unexpected things happen at the most predictable moments. The entire novel is a build up towards the climax, which is a disappointing fist fight between a matinee cinema type hero and a stereotypical villain. The narrative in the middle is not tight enough to maintain any kind of tension in what is supposed to be a crime thriller. Not at all piquant enough to be worth a second read.
Von Fritz
I was able to borrow an aged copy from my late English mentor, Ms. Montalvo. This novel has a male protagonist named Judd Stevens. He's a psychologist with a killer. Now he tries hard to identify his killer via his interpretations of the victims deaths. In the end, all that he thought of the killer became true. Amazing! Something to do with homosexual urges. This novel is Sheldon's first and I think the recipient of his Edgar.
Sanjay
One of the things that have to be noted is that Sidney Sheldon in his debut novel is able to create interest with the story. But considering the overall plot, the climax weakens the story. The connections he makes seem out of this world which disappoints.

Eventually, with books like Windmills Of The God, he appears to have solved this problem.

A good read for who is new into Suspense & Thrillers.
Kayleigh
My step mother recommended this to me once she'd finished reading it and told me there was 'a good twist' in it. I won't disagree with her, this was an excellent book. Despite being slightly predictable at some points, there is definitely an unexpected twist to it.
Overall, I gave this a four, because of the twist and the fact that it was a book I was unable to put down.
NYSubwayCarriage
I suppose if I had read this book first, before The Other Side of Midnight I would've gotten more out of it. But after reading what could be considered one of Sidney Sheldon's best books, this one fell a little short for me; I don't know what I expected exactly, but I expected more from such a talented author.
It is a good read though ! I recommend it nonetheless !
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The Naked Face (Paperback)
Wajah Sang Pembunuh (The Naked Face)
The Naked Face (Paperback)
The Naked Face
Naked Face (Mass Market Paperback)

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Was an American writer who won awards in three careers—a Broadway playwright, a Hollywood TV and movie screenwriter, and a best-selling novelist. His TV works spanned a 20-year period during which he created I Dream of Jeannie (1965-70), Hart to Hart (1979-84), and The Patty Duke Show (1963-66), but it was not until after he turned 50 and began writing best-selling novels such as Master of the Gam...more
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