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Title: The Face by DEAN KOONTZ ISBN: 0-553-80248-8 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 27 May, 2003 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $26.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.03 (109 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: You Can See Terror Coming, but You Can't Stop It
Comment: This book is one of Koontz' best. The beginning was a little slow to take off, but I was hooked around page 50 or so, and could barely keep from flipping to the end to see how it all ended. What impressed me most about this book was the outstanding ending, with more than one of those twists that many authors try to put into a book, but here they are all successful.
Channing Mannheim is the highest paid actor in the world. Handsome to the point where he is called "The Face," he lives a life style that none of us can imagine. Surrounded constantly by bodyguards, servants, and various hangers-on, he is the epitome of the rich and famous. While Channing is mentioned frequently throughout the book, we meet this world-famous man personally but once. However, we lack not for principal characters. The most important are Aelfric (who likes to be called Fric) Mannheim, Channing's 10-year-old and somewhat normal son, Ethan Truman, a former police officer, now head of Channing's security and married to the late Hannah Truman, Corky Laputa, anarchist extraordinaire, and Dunny Whistler, once (and perhaps always) Ethan's best friend, though turned to a life of crime before he died.
While these four characters are the focus of the multiple chapters, Koontz does his very best to complicate the story by introducing a host of secondary characters. The characters are described in sufficient depth to enhance your understanding of the personalities of the principal characters, and while the complexity of the story challenges the ability to keep track of who's who, in general I was able to stay on top of what was happening in the story.
With all these characters running about, there must be an interesting story here, and there is. To describe the happenings in detail would give away too much, so I offer a flavor. The reader quickly finds out that Corky has a good acquaintance by the name of Rolf Reynard. Rolf is supposed to be leaving mysterious packages at the estate of Channing Mannheim, but he makes a big mistake and Mannheim's security spots him on camera. Let the weirdness begin.
We are quickly lured into a world inhabited by some of the strangest, and often some of the most chilling, people and events of any Koontz book. A man walks from a mirror. Anarchists plot to sow disorder on the world by killing and trying to cause racial unrest and unrest in general. Any opportunity to increase anger by one neighbor toward another is taken. We also discover that these anarchists have an evil in them that may be more responsible for their enjoyment of chaos than a dislike for order. Dead men may walk. A central character is killed, or is he? We come face to face with unspeakable evil. We meet ultimate good. Koontz has managed to cram a lot into 600 pages of reading pleasure.
Koontz has a history of unsatisfying endings. This book is proof that when Koontz comes up with a good ending, it can be a great ending. While I had predicted portions of the ending, much of it, including most of the key aspects, was a total surprise. Portions of the last part of the book were worthy of James Bond. I suspect that this book would make an excellent movie. I plan to go see it, as it inevitably will become a movie.
Koontz has written all types of books, including science fiction, fantasy, horror, mystery, thrillers, and just plain weird books. This book is a supernatural horror story, and a very good one. While the action is steady and paced versus a roller coaster ride, it is like the long, long climb to the top of a single steep hill. While the wait can seem endless, the drop at the end is worth it. Fans of Koontz will find this to be one of Koontz' best. Fans of horror novels will enjoy the novel ending. Excellent reading here!
Rating: 4
Summary: A serious read
Comment: If you're the type of reader that has to experience a roller coaster ride in order to keep reading then The Face by Koontz isn't for you. On a roller coaster ride you get the big drop up front and then a twisty turning ride that eventually becomes boring. Koontz's The Face isn't like that. The big thrill is toward the end and then is us rather subtle. To say the book is spiritually uplifting is an accurate discription.
The characters in the book seem real. Channing Manheim, the superstar actor who lives a pampered life punctuated by short periods of honest activity when he is making a movie. His ten year old son Aelfric, aka "Fric", forced to live a life of indulged loneliness. Then there is the larger than life Ethan Truman, the chief of security of the Manheim estate, who is a retired detective. Ethan has a unique experience involving his own death, but I won't give it away and ruin your surprise. Finally, Corky Laputa, a character that is about as evil as they come. Corky believes in chaos and anarchy which he manages to spread throughout the novel.
Koontz has become the author of the subtle. Authors grow over time (they do if we, the avid reader are lucky) and to expect their later works to mimic what they wrote early in their careers is not only idiocy, but short changes the buyer of the book. I'd say that Koontz's later works touch on a spirituality missing in his earlier works and I for one am glad of the change.
If you're an old Koontz fan I would think you'd enjoy this change. If you're new to Koontz, then get The Face and read it and make up your own mind.
Rating: 4
Summary: Not the best Koontz, but well worth reading
Comment: First, the Bad -
The things I didn't like about this Koontz book were the things I never like about his books - unbelievable villians that have no motives for their actions, Koontz's prejudiced social commentary on pop culture things such as hip-hop music and fashion, the fact that he seems to do EXTENSIVE research for certain things he writes about and give relentless detail to them yet he can't be assed to research other things at all - like anarchists. He seems to know nothing about them while trying to portray an anarchist character. Kind of reminds me of times when he has wrote about 'Satanist' characters proving he knows nothing at all about Satanism.
Now, the Good-
Koontz's imagery, dialogue, characterizations, and dark humor make this a book I enjoyed reading. I especially found it amusing when Ethan's cop friend got a call from the supernatural on his cell phone, and hit *69, only to have the call answered by what Koontz would call a dead "homey" who has it out for the cop. While Koontz always makes the "bad" characters so unrealistic, his "good" characters are pretty three dimensional and lovable.
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Title: Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz ISBN: 0553802496 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 09 December, 2003 List Price(USD): $26.95 |
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Title: By the Light of the Moon by DEAN KOONTZ ISBN: 0553582763 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 04 November, 2003 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: One Door Away from Heaven by Dean Koontz ISBN: 0553582755 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 29 October, 2002 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: Watchers by Dean R. Koontz ISBN: 0425188809 Publisher: Berkley Pub Group Pub. Date: 28 January, 2003 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: The Taking by Dean Koontz ISBN: 055380250X Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 25 May, 2004 List Price(USD): $27.00 |
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