Flesh Mask, The-Jack Vance mystery novel, book review

Flesh Mask, The-Jack Vance mystery novel (author’s preferred title)

AKA: Take My Face and

Mask of Flesh

The Flesh Mask is one of Vance’s  mystery novels and was written in 1948.  It was first published in 1957 with the title Take My Face under the pseudonym of Peter Held.  There were two other editions under this title, one in 1958 (under the pseudonym Peter Held) and another in 1988 (under Jack Vance).  When it was published as part of the Vance Integral Edition in 2002 it was under Vance's name and was with his preferred title The Flesh Mask.  An excellent quality 177 page paperback was issued by Spatterlight Press in 2018, making this once rare book readily available to many Vance fans such as myself who had been eagerly awaiting its release.

Although The Flesh Mask is an early Vance work and his primary concern was probably more monetary than literary, this novel is still entertaining and well worth reading.  As Michael Andre-Driussi points out in his preface The Flesh Mask is a darker work and lacks Vance's wonderful wit and humor.  (He also mentions that this novel is a rework of an earlier, unpublished piece titled Cold Fish.) It is also not as polished as Vance's great works and does not have much of his justly famous clever dialog, although the dialog is perfectly adequate.  There are a number of Vancian touches that his fans will surely note, such as a setting in a fictitious city near San Francisco (in this case "San Giorgio" 60 miles north of SF), well described odd characters, a quirky plot, and a very engaging and lively storyline.  Two of Vance's passionate interests are also included in the novel, jazz music and boats.  There are several discussions about bop jazz, some jam sessions and live concerts with the "Manley Hatch Trio."  The main character also served as a merchant seaman (as did Vance) and makes a trip to Monterey where he attempts to locate a friend's fishing boat and admires and covets a sailing ketch. 

The story begins in 1944 with the main character, a thirteen year old boy named Robert Strauve who was very similar to other youth his age.  He enjoys comic books and has a paper delivery route.  One day he is on a motor scooter doing his paper delivery route when he is struck by a vehicle and has severe facial disfiguration from the injury and flames.  "His mouth was drawn over to the side; his left cheek was like a dish of brains.  Above the mouth was a low gristly ridge, with black holes for nostrils."  Even after healing his face was described as being, "as nasty a wad of tissue as I've ever seen."  Unfortunately he and his mother are cheated by the wealthy driver of the vehicle and the insurance company so that plastic surgery is not an option because of the expense.  Robert's whole life changes as he returns to high school and has to cope with severe social pressure and ridicule from his fellow high school students.  Robert tries to make the best of it.  He becomes a star halfback football player and attempts to live a normal life but is frequently reminded of his freakish face.

One day he and some of his male friends are invited to observe a high school sorority hazing initiation of four pledges that will be held in an abandoned house.  Robert arrives there in the evening but has had too much alcohol so goes off alone to lie down on the floor in one of the bedrooms.  While he is in the bedroom resting the girls being initiated are assigned the unpleasant task of having to kiss Robert.  When they find him in the bedroom he appears to be sleeping so they forgo kissing him but make many derogatory comments about how disgusting it would be to actually have to kiss him.  Robert is actually awake, however, and hears their conversation about how hideous he looks.  A few minutes later a different sorority girl approaches him alone to kiss him but she finds Robert fully alert and standing up.  He is so angry by the comments the girls made that he physically assaults the girl.  She and her family press charges and Robert ends up being sent to live at a detention home for boys.  Eventually while residing at the detention home Robert is provided with successful corrective surgery but no photo is taken of his new appearance. 

Some years later in 1952 one of the girls involved in the sorority induction incident is murdered and has her face severely disfigured with a knife.  Earlier that evening she had told her brother that she met Robert and that he had a completely changed face and had a different name.  Although a person confesses to the murder and is confined in prison, the same type of murder and facial mutilation happens to another one of the former sorority girls and Robert is suspected of the crime and disfiguring.  But nobody knows what he looks like, what name he goes by or where he lives.  The plot continues, sometimes improbably, but always engagingly, with some complex and unpredictable twists that are described in a deceptively simple manner.  There are also romances, detective work, including some by a private detective, social class pretentiousness, and secret letters. 

I’ve read this novel three times so far. As with most Vance novels, I enjoyed it even more the second and third time I read it because I was able to catch more of the details. It is a crisply written, fast paced novel that is enjoyable even though it is not one of Vance's finest efforts.  It should certainly be of interest to Vance fans or those wanting to read an engaging mystery novel.  I’ve read this three times so far an rated it good, a 3 or "Liked it."