Product 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 !

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #145403 in Books
• Published on: 2004-01-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 688 pages

Amazon.co.uk 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 'A modern Swift ! a master satirist.' Entertainment Weekly 'If Stephen King is the Rolling Stones of novels, Koontz is the Beatles.' Playboy 'Dean Koontz writes page-turners, middle-of-the-night sneak-up-behind-you suspense thrillers. He touches our hearts and tingles our spines.' Washington Post Book World 'Tumbling, hallucinogenic prose. Serious writers might do well to study his technique.' New York Times Book Review 'Fast-paced and dark ! Koontz knows we live in a world where evil delights in justifying itself ! Classic literature that deserves a place on the bookshelf beside Orwell's 1984 and Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451.' California Literary Review 'Koontz is writing right where popular culture swells into something larger, just as it did for Homer, Shakespeare, and Dickens. He's got the gift.' Australian 'Koontz is a superb plotter and wordsmith. He chronicles the hopes and fears of our time in broad strokes and fine detail, using popular fiction to explore the human condition.' USA Today 'Inspires both chills and serious thought ! has the power to scare the daylights out of us.' People 'The poet laureate of paranoid pop fiction.' Denver Post 'Koontz achieves a literary miracle ! stunning physical description, unique turns of phrase.' Boston Globe 'Near Dickensian powers of description.' Los Angeles Times

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.

Customer Reviews

super heart stopper
Dean Koonts has done it again.A superb mixture of thriller with a sprinkling of the supernatural. The story GRABS you from the start, it makes you care about the characters. The story is a delight, the twists and turns are not obvious and you have to keep on reading.
Even when the story finishes you would like to know more and follow the characters as their lives unfold even further.
Its a great book you can't put it down.

5 Stars? Come on! How about 5 Supernovas?!
This is the best film I've ever seen. And, before anyone starts thinking that somehow I've actually seen it in cinematic format, then stop. Sure, I'd watch the film, but this is one of those rare books where I truly envisaged the whole kit and caboodle (and without even realising that fact until I'd finished). Not just bits. The lot.

Starting the book, one feels a little in awe of its length, but not a single page fails to compel the reader into licking their cerebral lips for the next: humanity combating chaos, subtle yet gruesome depravity, sadness, contrition, and a thoroughly heart-thumping finale. It's not just a fact that, to quote the cliche, "I couldn't put the book down". The book wouldn't put me down. I lost sleep reading this, but by no means regret the sore eyes.

Dean Koontz is a master. Am I grovelling at his talent? Yes. So what?

Yet another brilliant book from Dean Koontz
If you like Dean Koontz you will not be disappointed by this book. If you have never read any of his books what are you waiting for.

The relationship between the main characters, an ex homicide detective and the young boy he has to protect, builds throughout the book. As does the threat to both of their lives. This makes for an exciting finish to the book, you really don't know who will survive.

Dean Koontz just keeps getting better! cant wait for his next book!