Sara is a headstrong 16 year-old who wants nothing more than to be famous. Obsessed with her own self-image and the desire to be different, Sara decides that her face needs plastic surgery. Jonathan Heat, a legendary rock star, who has undergone so much plastic surgery on his face that he must wear a mask to conceal its hideous nature, offers to pay for Sara's surgery. Sara soon learns that nothing is free and everything has a price.

Review: Melvin Burgess opens Sara’s Face with a matter of fact introduction that echoes non-fiction writing, immediately engaging his readers. The narrative then shifts through the novel, either told by an omniscient narrator or through first person extracts from Sara’s diary, adding to the reality of the story.

The story describes the encounters of sixteen-year-old Sara and her pursuit to be famous. When Sara ends up in hospital after yet another ‘accident’, she falls prey to Jonathan Heat, an aging musician obsessed with preserving his looks.

Heat, in his quest for youth, has undergone countless operations at the hands of his personal plastic surgeon, Dr Kaye to be left disfigured and monstrous. Under the pretence of recognising Sara’s talent, Heat offers to take Sara to his home and mentor her on the art of being famous. Through her desire for fame, Sara agrees and finds herself caught up in a vile plan to restore Heat’s youth using Sara’s face. There are times that Burgess creates the fictitious events with such precision and detail, that readers might be overcome with the sense that the exaggerated chilling events might actually be real.

Sara’s Face exemplifies teenage pressures and the lengths teenagers will go to to dispel their feelings of self-loathing. Burgess’s novel uses dialect and slang to successfully portray the harsh realities of youth, however some might consider the language and sexually explicit encounters inappropriate for young adults. Sara’s Face is both disturbing and riveting as it leads readers through Sara’s ever shocking experiences with her obsession to be perfect.