This was one of Sidney Sheldon's first books(if not THE first). It turned out in 1971, and it has not matured well by any stretch of the imagination. Psychoanalyst Judd Stephens winds up amidst a murder puzzle and as the web fixes around him, he battles to utilize his insight into human conduct keeping in mind the end goal to out-think the executioner or executioners.
In any case, the out-moded, imbecilic convictions with respect to sexuality and the uber-70s exchange "lets rap, " "he was groovy, " just makes the entire thing preposterous. Further, paying little heed to any powerlessness to acknowledge truth, homosexuality is not an illness or a decision - there is nothing to being gay that requires "curing." One character is "cured" of his homosexuality, and his significant other is instructed with respect to the ways she has fizzled her better half and along these lines "brought about" his homosexuality. What a retrogressive, hostile attitude. As a straight however clever individual, I was horrified. I can just envision what gay perusers may have thought about this rubbish. The homosexuality as repulsive, horrible thing surfaces over and over in the story, and it was dumb on page one.
In light of that, I read whatever remains of the book saying "thank heavens he developed into great written work like Bloodline and Rage of Angels, since this is rubbish." Sheldon was never Tolstoy, however I've generally observed him to be very pleasant. The Naked Face is evidence that not all writers do intriguing work ideal from the begin of their professions