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Dean Koontz is becoming increasingly prolific as he gets older, since this is his first of two books to be published this year, falling between last year's somewhat lacklustre BY THE LIGHT OF THE MOON and the recently published ODD THOMAS. In this novel, Ethan Truman is the chief of security for the world's biggest movie star, Channing Manheim, AKA 'The Face.' Manheim has received some weird threats in the last few days and it is down to Truman to solve the mystery and protect his boss. However, whilst he searches the streets of California, Mannheim's son, Fric, is receiving weird telephone calls and may be at risk. When you add in a torrential and supernatural storm, there can only be great danger ahead. Since BY THE LIGHT OF THE MOON was disappointing, I had high hopes for THE FACE and I was pleased not to have them dashed. Koontz succeeds in making the events of a couple of days fill out a 600-page book and without any of the unnecessary verbosity that permeates some of his other longer books, such as FALSE MEMORY. He has been criticised for his reusing of certain words upon which he relies heavily, such as 'susurration', but here, there is none of that, just excellent descriptive and incredibly visual prose. Once again, Koontz succeeds in triumphing with his characters. Very often, a dog is a central part of the story, but here, whilst one gets a tiny role, the story is carried entirely by the human characters. Fric is appealing and likeable at first sight, and Truman and his friend Hazard are well-drawn and interesting. The bad guy, one of Koontz' more bizarre characters, is excellent and seems to leap off the page as he goes about causing chaos. Once again, Koontz proves that you do not need a large cast to have a great story and he succeeds in avoiding the formulaic element of 'man and dog save the world.' Recently, some critics have said that Koontz seems to be moralizing, and even proselytizing, increasingly in his work. There is a religious element in THE FACE, but it only becomes patent towards the end. It may bubble under the surface, but essentially, this is an excellent thriller that cannot fail to satisfy Koontz' legions of fans.
Reviewed by Luke Croll, December 2003
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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