Rating: 
Summary: A serious read
Review: 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: 
Summary: An amazing book from Dean Koontz
Review: The story centers around two key characters. The first is an ex-cop named Ethan Truman. He is now the chief of security for one of the most famous actors in the world today Charles "The Face" Manhiem. As of late, The Face has been receiving packages that point towards his death, filled with strange and unusual items. Ethan takes it upon himself to catch the person responsible. However, Ethan's life gets even more complicated when he begins to see an old friend walking around that is supposed to be dead, and the fact that his friend's body dissapeared from the morgue makes things even stranger. Now Ethan must solve two mysteries - the identity of the person who wants The Face dead, and if his friend is really alive or not. The other main character of the story is The Face's son Aelfric Manhiem. Ten year old Fric begins to receive strange phone calls on his private line telling him that he needs to find a place to hide because something evil is coming. At first, Fric things that it is a prank. However, as time goes on, the mysterious caller begins to describe what has Fric has done during the day, what different rooms of the house look like, etc.. As Fric begins to prepare for this mysterious evil force, Ethan becomes wrapped up in his own problems which puts both Ethan and Fric in danger of being victims of events that are somehow connected. This book seriously impressed me. I have been a fan of Dean Koontz for many years, and I have read the majority of his books. That is why I had my doubts about this one. When an author produces so many fantastic books, you begin to wonder if it is only a matter of time before they run out of ideas, and The Face is one of Koontz's latest novels. As soon as I began reading this book, my doubts were put to rest. The book is extremely well written, and very suspenseful. It combines aspects of a mystery novel, with those of a chase novel. This makes the book very interesting, and will keep you glued to the pages. The story is somewhat complex though, because it is told from three different points of view - what's going on with Ethan, what's going on with Fric, and the killer who is behind the attack on The Face. However, Koontz's character development is so great in this book, that you will become equally captivated reading about each character. The personalities of Ethan, Fric, and the killer are very well established which makes you appreciate them all. Overall, The Face is one of the best Dean Koontz books I have ever read. The book offers likeable and well developed characters, the perfect combination of a mystery and chase novel, and an unpredictable and satisfying ending. If you are a fan of Dean Koontz you should definately check this book out.
Rating:
Summary: koontz gets his groove on
Review: a surprisingly good effort for koontz! i'm accustomed to either skimming his novels in a day or two, or simply dismissing them after 100 pages, while i lingered over this book. writing was much better than usual, although a little heavy on the metaphoric descriptions of ubiquitous wind and rain; and i did spend some time wondering how and why some dude was conjuring himself out of mirrors and loose newspapers. the main character, ethan, is believable and interesting, and the plot doesn't totally flag at the end. a suspenseful read that's uncharacteristically meaty for koontz.
Rating: 
Summary: The plot was good although the details were a bit tedious
Review: I'm a fan of Dean Koontz. Over the last 3 years I've read all his books. What keeps me coming back are his suspensful plots and his clear dilineation between good and evil. However, over the past few years his cast of characters and plot lines have become increasingly cheesy. For instance, here are some of the names of people in this book: Vladamir "Corky" Laputa, Hazard Yancy, Yorn, and Fric. I realize that most of his books take place in crazy California, but I have a hard time concentrating on the story when the names are so unbelieveable. Also, the behavior of Hazard Yancy at Corky Laputa's house after he discovered the body of the professor bothered me. They made it sound like Corky would "walk" because Hazard found the body via an illegal search (it's not like he found illegal drugs; he found a kidnapping victim). Even if he broke in without probable cause, the professor dude was still alive and I'm sure he could have provided more than enough ancillary evidence to convict him of kidnapping and attempted murder. I did enjoy this book. I was intrigued by Dunny's return and how it related to Corky's plot. It was fun how it all came together at the end with an incredibly cheesy ending.
Rating:
Summary: First Dean Koontz book for me but not the last!!!
Review: I have been a Stephen King fan for years and years and heard about this Dean Koontz guy. I have never read any of Dean's books until The Face. What a great book! I am now a fan and can't wait to find other books of Dean's to read. The Face has true human evilness and yet the pure light of angels. It is a story of good versus evil and without giving away the ending, I can't tell you how good I felt at the end of the book. Read it. You will not be disappointed. I wasn't and I am hard to please. Thank you, Dean. I can't wait to read others!
Rating:
Summary: The Face
Review: Not a damsel, but a poor little rich kid is in distress in Koontz's latest thriller. Aelfric-Fric for short-is the skinny, 10-year-old son of the biggest movie star in the world, Channing Manheim, called The Face after his most obvious asset. A homicidal anarchist literature professor plans to kidnap and torture the boy to death, recording the proceedings for controlled leakage to the media, all for the sake of making everyone paranoid and increasing disorder in the world. The psycho has figured out how to get Fric despite the fact that the Manheim mansion is as well guarded as the White House. Chief of security Ethan Truman is certainly capable of dealing with the sicko, but he thinks the threat implied by six mysterious packages sent to the mansion is against The Face. Fortunately, a series of very convincing hallucinations is prodding Ethan toward enlightenment at the same time that untraceable phone calls and a man who emerges from and disappears back into reflective surfaces are warning Fric of oncoming danger. Koontz keeps the suspense setting on high and rides his hobbyhorses against Hollywood, the media, and present-day academe, while proving that his sense of brand-name product placement is superb.
Rating:
Summary: addictive
Review: a friend and i listened to this book on cd during a long road trip....we loved it. spooky, funny, creepy, vile, insipirational....the whole gammet. very entertaining story.
Rating: 
Summary: Pure Evil
Review: I should preface this by stating that I have every book written by Stephen King and John Saul. I have quite a few by Dean Koontz. At the beginning, I thought that the two "deaths' that Etan Truman, the private detective, could lead to fascinating reading. I was wrong!!!!!!! I have never read a book that featured such an evil and vile character as Corky Laputa. I have never thrown away a book, but this one is in the trash. I have never had such a feeling of pure disgust during or after reading a novel. If this is what Mr. Koontz aimed for, he succeeded.
Rating:
Summary: Not the best Koontz, but well worth reading
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Classic Koontz
Review: Unlike much of Koontz' recent works, this one has well-developed characters and a good dose of action, fantasy, and even some comedy at points. Readers can actually like (and dislike) characters because of the way the author portrays them, not because "the bad guy is bad, we don't want to cheer for him!" Also unlike several of Koontz' books, the story is good right through to the last page, and doesn't fizzle out - some of his books make me wonder if he just couldn't figure out what to do for an ending, they were that bad.
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