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Summary: Dean Koontz--The Face (2003)
Review: Over the years, Dean Koontz has slightly shifted his deliverance and motivations for his work. Initially, Koontz was a crafty, intelligent suspense novelist who distributed tense, horrific stories in page-turners that brought the hairs up of his readers. Ever since his novels of the early 1990s, Koontz has made his obligation as a writer to not only present readers with a well-thought, enthralling story, but to use the story as the foundation for enlightenment and uplift. His latest, "The Face" is perhaps his most spiritual, supernatural, and emotional novel to date. The title of the novel represents the ego and nickname of the most successful male super-actor to ever grace the earth, Channing Manheim, yet the plot has little or nothing to do with this character. Koontz uses Ethan Truman as the protagonist: a level-headed ex-cop who took the job of Head Security Supervisor of Manheim's gorgeous estate given his lack of interest in the force due to his wife's unsuccessful bout with cancer. When the Manheim estate receives unusual letters and gifts from an unknown sender, Truman begins the quest of determining the culprit, only to find himself in a battle against an enemy far worse than he ever expected. With the help of a former partner, Truman attempts to put aside his questions about the past, his personal doubts about his purpose in life, and ultimately what he believes in order to save the estate, and most importantly, Channing Manheim's ten-year old son from a chaotic terror. "The Face" is beautifully written, poetic in its descriptions of the glamorous estate and the depiction of each character. Although some portions of the novel seem overdrawn and purposely thorough, Koontz seems to not only desire to create tales that are precise, but eloquent in style to each sentence and word. This novel is a vivid, horrifying account of how bad excessive evil can be, but also, in due course, that faith, love, and second chances can bring the good out of all of us.
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Summary: I Don't Know Yet
Review: Generally a Dean Koontz book grabs me from page one and hangs onto me until the end. I love his writing, BUT I cannot seem to get comfortable with this one. Am I the only one who sees it as a complete change from his normal writing? I've only gone 150 pages into the book and every once in awhile I stop and think...why am I reading this? It full of tedious and minute details that just go on and on. I'm still waiting for that magical ride he usually takes me on - the one where I forget time and become totally immersed in his tale...but so far, its not happening :-(
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Summary: Extremly good! But not as scary & shocking as others
Review: The Face was an excelent Book by Koontz! Although I was expecting Moloch (sp) to be a little more horrifing like some of the charecters in his other books I still found the plot thrilling and chatching...Although it was not one of those books where you start and can't put it down...it was still worth 4 stars...the last one is gone to the wind for the lack of scary monsters ;-)
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Summary: Koontz needs to read up on political theory
Review: I suppose my problem with The Face isn't one most people share- I found his writing enjoyable and the plot line to be interesting (albeit a bit predictable). The thing is that Koontz chose to write about something he doesn't know anything about- anarchism. Before you go on, I must warn you, I'm a former student of political science that spent a long time studying and writing about anarchism as a political theory, so this might bore alot of you. Clearly, instead of reading anything about a complex political theory, Koontz went with the tired old equation that anarchism=violence and chaos. True anarchist theory is actually more about cooperation and human connection than chaos and destruction. Anyway, I won't go on and on about it- if you want to read more I suggest Post-Scarcity Anarchism by Murray Bookchin or Anarchism and Other Essays by Emma Goldman. My point is that I found it disappointing that Koontz decided to write about a political theory without researching it and consequently portrayed it in a misleading fashion. I'm not saying anarchism is what I believe in or necesarrily what is right for society, but it is not the destructive force Koontz makes it out to be. His portrayal is inaccurate and disingenuous at best. Anyway, that's my rant on the subject.
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Summary: Very Impressed
Review: I have been a long time fan of Dean Koontz, but after reading "By the Light of the Moon" and "Odd Thomas" I was getting a little disillusioned with his writing. The I read "The Face," and I couldn't put it down. I ended up staying up all night and reading it. A lot of unexpected twists and turns - not the same old stuff. I highly recommend this book!
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Summary: Mini-cliffhangers
Review: Dean Koontz's main method of building suspense, and maintaining the interest of his readers, has always been the mini-cliffhanger. Every time something interesting/dramatic/violent/unfathomable happens to one of his characters, he ends the chapter and switches to another character. When something interesting happens in that storyline, he switches to another one.
The problem with The Face is simply that this type of suspense building is taken to ridiculous extremes. There are 557 pages in the book, and they are split into 96 chapters. This works out to an average of less than 6 pages per chapter. There is no chance for any sort of meaningful character development it that small a space. It is like trying to develop rapport and empathy with the woman trying to sell you dandruff shampoo on television.
· Break to Corky killing his girlfriend (huh? Where did she come from?) (4 pages)
· Break to Ethan and Hazard looking for clues in a murder victim's apartment (This consisted of them looking at cancelled checks-wow, isn't that exciting!) (6 pages)
· Break to Corky blowing up and burning down girlfriend's house (yeah-he does both) (6 pages)
· Break to Fric stealing flashlights and junk food (now we know that he does not like warm Pepsi) (4 pages)
· Break to Ethan and Hazard getting stuck in traffic (Had to be the most exciting chapter in the whole novel!) (4 Pages) 557 pages of 4-6 page chapters telling little bits and pieces of a story. Finally at the very end of the book, all of the characters get together and commit murder and mayhem on each other. By that time, my only comment was "who cares."
Mini-cliffhangers work only when something really dramatic is happening in a book, and the author wants to keep the reader in suspense about how it turns out. This stops working when the author does it every time a character answers the phone or answers the call of nature. There are about 6-8 truly dramatic instances in this book, not 96 of them.
The Face had a decent storyline (not great, just decent), but overall the novel falls apart simply because the author is unable to focus on anything or any character for more than just a few minutes at a time. I felt like Frank Pollard in The Bad Place.
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Summary: Good book but not as good as other Koontz books
Review: Although I really liked this one I have to say that I though Koontz slipped a notch here. The pacing is off in several places and the usual flawless story intermingling just doesn't work in a few spots. I would give examples, but I would have to give away part of the book. I will just say this: if you are new to Koontz you may not have a big problem with the book and will probably enjoy it. But if you are a long time fan I think you might be a little disappointed. On the plus side the vivid descriptions for which DK is famous are everywhere. I doubt he could write a book without them. If you enjoy word imagery this book won't let you know in that department. By the by, I would still recommend the book just be prepared to be a little let down if you have come to expect perfection from Koontz as I have.
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Summary: The Face
Review: This mystery is set in Bel Air, California and centers in on the family of Channing Mannhime, a world famous movie star. Frick is the son of Channing, is a 10-year-old shy, lonely that has been home school through his life living at the estate. Ethan Truman is a retired cop that the family hired to head security teams throughout the estate. Corky Luputa is an anarchist who looks for crime and murder wherever he goes. Corky wants to kidnap Frick to bring terror and fear to the world. Frick and Ethan receive strange calls and experiences from angels warning them of the coming attack.
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Summary: Finding Yourself
Review: Another delightful tale from Mr. Koontz. This one tells the tale of how you can find yourself after you've lost your life, or at least how your life used to be. Truman learns to live again through a lost child and the return visit of an old friend. I enjoyed the ending... I didn't see it coming.
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Summary: Face the slow pace of "The Face"...
Review: Channing Manheim, aka "The Face" is the most famous actor in the world. He's everything to everyone in his movies, however nothing more than "Ghost Dad" to his ten year old son, who sits alone in a sprawling California mansion to amuse the hired help. One retired police officer who heads the security team for Mr. Manheim intercepts a series of strange packages that foretell of an impending threat to the Manheim family. It's up to the head of security to save the day and protect the family. With the help of young Manheim and several ethereal beings, the evil man who has brought disruptions to their world of luxury is halted in his tracks and the Manheim world is saved. Dear reader finds that every time Koontz develops a story that is around 600 pages in length, he must be wary of impending boredom. The story is just too darn long to fit the situation. Here we go, again.
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