What happens when you have 22 famous literary sleuths team up, pitch against and help out each other in a world full of crime? The result is Face Off, a book edited by famous thriller author David Baldacci who strings up 11 short stories co-written by famous best-selling writers such as Michael Connelly, Ian Rankin, Steve Martini, Jeffrey Deaver, and Lee Child, among others.

Face Off features 11 stories crafted by 22 crime writers and edited by David Baldacci, a thriller writer himself

The book is an initiative by the International Thriller Writers (ITW) organisation, formed in 2004 that currently boasts of 2,500 members, including thriller writers, agents, editors and fans. They host Thrillerfest, a summer camp for thriller writers and enthusiasts annually. Under their aegis, they also publish literary works and in the past they have published Thriller (2006), an anthology of short stories, followed by Thriller 2 (2009) and the novel, Love Is Murder (2012). Face Off is the latest of their offerings.