The Face (Koontz, Dean R.) - Hardcover

Koontz, Dean R.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0553802488 ISBN 13: 9780553802481

Publisher: Bantam Dell Pub Group, 2003

Synopsis

When Hollywood's most dazzling and handsome star becomes the target of a twisted killer, ex-cop and head of security Ethan Truman becomes the only thing that stands in the path of an insidious evil, confronting the secrets of his own tragic past and premonitions of his own impending violent death as he struggles to solve the macabre riddles of a killer.

About this title

Review:

The Face mixes both elements of psychological and supernatural terror in an unusual and disturbing way. "The Face" is a Hollywood superstar who's never at home. For his lonely son Fric, that's the keynote of life: a father who gives him everything, including the run of a fabulous Bel Air mansion (the Palazzo Rospo) in a large estate, but no personal affection. A series of cryptic gifts arrive, suggesting a stalker's threat to the actor, but in fact the person in danger is 10-year-old Fric.

The house security boss, former LAPD cop Ethan Truman, isn't that worried. The Face is away as usual and the Palazzo's defences are spectacular. What does worry him is that after tracking down the middleman who delivered one of those sinister parcels, Ethan is killed--twice. But yet he lives, as though time has been rewound; and he keeps glimpsing an old friend who is very definitely dead.

Koontz's villain is a memorably unpleasant creation; thanks to wealth, contacts and horrible ingenuity, this bad guy is well-equipped to crack the Palazzo defences, kill Ethan and grab Fric. Gradually his inhuman scheme is revealed.

Meanwhile the supernatural element is working on the other side, though shackled by rules that forbid direct action. Fric gets disquieting phone calls warning that someone or something called Moloch, devourer of children, is coming and that the boy had better find a safe hiding place. Chillingly, the caller always knows exactly where Fric is and what he's doing. And these messages somehow don't register on the Palazzo's elaborate logging system.

Appalling rain drenches Los Angeles as Moloch's day approaches; Fric's terror grows, Ethan and a friend who's still in the LAPD follow hopeless leads and even the dead begin to despair of thwarting a psychopath who holds all the high cards. No plan, however, quite survives contact with reality. The finale offers extreme violence and electrifying twists, and delivers satisfaction. --David Langford

Review:

'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 this edition

• Publisher: Bantam Dell Pub Group
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0553802488
• ISBN 13: 9780553802481
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 608