The Face
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4.4 • 13 Ratings
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- £1.99
Publisher Description
A novel of fear and suspense, love, loss and redemption, from one of the greatest storytellers writing today. The Face is Dean Koontz’s most chilling, gripping and original novel to date.
THE FACE. He's Hollywood's most dazzling star. His flawless features inspire the love of millions – but light the fires of hatred in one twisted soul. A few rain-lashed days before Christmas, a warped star-hater has sent six sinister messages to him, promising a very nasty surprise for the festive season.
The Face's security chief is Ethan Truman, an ex-LAPD cop trying to rebuild his life. Having tracked down the messenger but not the source of the threat, he's worried. But not half as worried as he would be if he knew that Fric, the Face's ten-year-old son, was home alone and getting calls from a pervert claiming he's Moloch, 'devourer of children'.
While the unnatural downpour continues, Ethan must face the secrets of his tragic past and the unmistakable premonition of his own impending violent death as he races to solve the macabre riddles. Meanwhile, a terrified young Fric is planning to go into hiding in his father's vast Bel Air mansion – putting himself beyond Ethan's protection.
And Ethan may be all that stands between Fric and an almost unimaginable evil …
Reviews
'Uplifting enough to make Cain repent … There is scarcely an author alive who loves the English language more .. whose sentences offer more musicality … the tale's grandeur and strong lines … characters are memorable and his unique mix of suspense and humour absorbing… great kudos to Koontz for creating, within the strictures of popular fiction, another notable novel of ideas and of moral imperatives … Look for this to hit #1' Publishers Weekly
‘Koontz flexes his muscles and sets forth like a demigod to create his most strongly anchored novel since 1995’s Intensity, a work sheathed with darkness and wreathed with wiry metaphor … hundreds of pages of top-drawer suspense’ Kirkus Reviews
'Dean Koontz is not just a master of our darkest dreams, but also a literary juggler' The Times
‘Psychologically complex, masterly and satisfying.’ The New York Times
‘Koontz has near-Dickensian powers of description, and an ability to yank us from one page to the next that few novelists can match.’ Los Angeles Times
‘Koontz has once again proven why he is one of the premier novelists of his generation.’ Amazon.co.uk
About the author
Dean Koontz was born and raised in Pennsylvania. He is the author of seven New York Times #1 bestsellers. He lives with his wife Gerda and their dog Trixie in Southern California.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The final pages of Koontz's newest are uplifting enough to make Cain repent and Pilate weep. And there's much else in this novel to savor and savor it readers must, because some of the book is slow going (it's also much too long). There's scarcely an author alive who, judging by his books, loves the English language more than Koontz; there's certainly no bestselling author of popular fiction who makes more use of figures of speech and whose sentences offer more musicality. That can be Koontz's weakness as well as strength, however. Koontz is also one of the great suspense authors, and when he's fashioned a particularly robust plot to carry his creative prose, as in last year's By the Light of the Moon, he's an Olympian. But when he stretches a thin story line beyond resilience, the language can overcome the narrative like kudzu vines. That happens here, despite the tale's grandeur and strong lines. The eponymous Face is the world's biggest movie star; he doesn't appear in the novel, but his smart, geeky 10-year-old son, Fric, takes center stage, as does Ethan Truman, cop-turned-security chief of the Face's elaborate estate and Fric's main human protector when one Corky Laputa, who's dedicated his life to anarchy, decides to sow further disorder by kidnapping this progeny of the world's idol. Fric's secondary protector was also human, a mobster, until he recently died and became Fric's (somewhat inept) guardian angel. Most of the narrative concerns Corky's abominations and Ethan and Fric's dawning awareness, via numerous uncanny events, of the unfolding horror. Koontz's characters are memorable and his unique mix of suspense and humor absorbing; but his overwriting e.g., a chapter of about 2,000 words to describe Corky's coverup of a murder, when a sentence or two would have sufficed make this worthy novel less than a dream. Still, great kudos to Koontz for creating, within the strictures of popular fiction, another notable novel of ideas and of moral imperatives. (On sale May 27)
Customer Reviews
Enjoyable!
Really great book enjoyed from start to finish! Not quite in Stephen Kings league! But the few are! But a fantastic runner up!
Twisty and quirky
I enjoyed this book. Lots of twists and turns. Didn't guess the ending which is unusual. Good price. Good read