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Face by Dean Koontz
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Face (original 2003; edition 2004)

by Dean Koontz

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3,097284,377 (3.59)39
Fiction. Literature. Suspense. Thriller. HTML:Acknowledged as â??Americaâ??s most popular suspense novelistâ?ť(Rolling Stone ) and as one of todayâ??s most celebrated and successful writers, Dean Koontz has earned the devotion of millions of readers around the world and the praise of critics everywhere for tales of character, mystery, and adventure that strike to the core of what it means to be human. Now he delivers the page-turner of the season, an unforgettable journey to the heart of darkness and to the pinnacle of grace, at once chilling and wickedly funny, a brilliantly observed chronicle of good and evil in our time, of illusion and everlasting truth.
Heâ??s Hollywoodâ??s most dazzling star, whose flawless countenance inspires the worship of millions and fires the hatred of one twisted soul. His perfectly ordered existence is under siege as a series of terrifying, enigmatic â??messagesâ?ť breaches the exquisitely calibrated security systems of his legendary Bel Air estate.
The boxes arrive mysteriously, one by one, at Channing Manheimâ??s fortified compound. The threat implicit in their bizarre, disturbing contents seems to escalate with each new delivery. Manheimâ??s security chief, ex-cop Ethan Truman, is used to looking beneath the surface of things. But until he entered the orbit of a Hollywood icon, he had no idea just how slippery reality could be. Now this good man is all that stands in the way of an
insidious killerâ??and forces that eclipse the most fevered fantasies of a city where dreams and nightmares are the stuff of daily life. As a seemingly endless and ominous rain falls over southern California, Ethan will test the limits of perception and endurance in a world where the truth is as thin as celluloid and answers can be found only in the illusory intersection of shadow and light.
Enter a world of marvelous invention, enchantment, and implacable intent, populated by murderous actors and the walking dead, hit men and heroes, long-buried dreams and never-dying hope.
Here a magnificent mansion is presided over by a Scottish force of nature known as Mrs. McBee, before whom all men tremble. A mad French chef concocts feasts for the mighty and the malicious. Ming du Lac, spiritual adviser to the stars, has a direct line to the dead. An aptly named cop called Hazard will become Ethanâ??s ally, an anarchist will sow discord and despair, and a young boy named Fric, imprisoned by celebrity and loneliness, will hear a voice telling him of the approach of something unimaginably evil. Traversing this extraordinary landscape, Ethan will face the secrets of his own tragic past and the unmistakable premonition of his impending violent death as he races against time to solve the macabre riddles of a modern-day beast.
A riveting tour de force of suspense, mystery, and miraculous revelation, The Face is that rare novel that entertains, provokes, and uplifts at the same time. It will make you laugh. It will give you chills. It will fill you with hope.
BONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from
… (more)
Member:ricardob
Title:Face
Authors:Dean Koontz
Info:Harpercollins Pb (2004), Edition: New Ed, Paperback, 688 pages
Collections:Your library
Rating:****
Tags:None

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The Face by Dean Koontz (2003)

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English (27)  Dutch (1)  All languages (28)
Showing 1-5 of 27 (next | show all)
A re-read for me, and a well-plotted exceptional book for someone prepared to suspend disbelief and accept a storyline heavy on supernatural elements in a thriller involving a kidnap plot. Some of the descriptive passages could be called overwritten, and I can’t help feeling a little trimming would help the book. I liked the use of a child in this story, those chapters being some of the best. The parts which revolved around the antagonist(s) were a little heavy-going, but the various threads certainly keep the reader guessing with so many creating an intricate story overall. It’s hard to say more without giving the plot away. ( )
  SharonMariaBidwell | Apr 4, 2024 |
FROM AMAZOM: He’s Hollywood’s most dazzling star, whose flawless countenance inspires the worship of millions and fires the hatred of one twisted soul. His perfectly ordered existence is under siege as a series of terrifying, enigmatic “messages” breaches the exquisitely calibrated security systems of his legendary Bel Air estate.

The boxes arrive mysteriously, one by one, at Channing Manheim’s fortified compound. The threat implicit in their bizarre, disturbing contents seems to escalate with each new delivery. Manheim’s security chief, ex-cop Ethan Truman, is used to looking beneath the surface of things. But until he entered the orbit of a Hollywood icon, he had no idea just how slippery reality could be. Now this good man is all that stands in the way of an
insidious killer—and forces that eclipse the most fevered fantasies of a city where dreams and nightmares are the stuff of daily life. As a seemingly endless and ominous rain falls over southern California, Ethan will test the limits of perception and endurance in a world where the truth is as thin as celluloid and answers can be found only in the illusory intersection of shadow and light.

Enter a world of marvelous invention, enchantment, and implacable intent, populated by murderous actors and the walking dead, hit men and heroes, long-buried dreams and never-dying hope.

Here a magnificent mansion is presided over by a Scottish force of nature known as Mrs. McBee, before whom all men tremble. A mad French chef concocts feasts for the mighty and the malicious. Ming du Lac, spiritual adviser to the stars, has a direct line to the dead. An aptly named cop called Hazard will become Ethan’s ally, an anarchist will sow discord and despair, and a young boy named Fric, imprisoned by celebrity and loneliness, will hear a voice telling him of the approach of something unimaginably evil. Traversing this extraordinary landscape, Ethan will face the secrets of his own tragic past and the unmistakable premonition of his impending violent death as he races against time to solve the macabre riddles of a modern-day beast.

A riveting tour de force of suspense, mystery, and miraculous revelation, The Face is that rare novel that entertains, provokes, and uplifts at the same time. It will make you laugh. It will give you chills. It will fill you with hope.
  Gmomaj | Mar 6, 2023 |
Channing Manheim is a world famous star. He has created an insulated world with the best protection money can buy for his family. But chaos has many agents who will stop at nothing to bring pain into the world. Order has its own agents. Fric and Ethan are caught in the middle of this conflict — free will vs good intentions vs bad intentions — the battle goes on…. ( )
  bgknighton | Oct 16, 2022 |
This freaking book was over 600 pages! I don't even remember a lot of it since I started to skim. I have this in paperback and started to read it and started to skim in self defense. Not a lot of it makes any sense and then we get to what I think Koontz thinks is a killer ending and I maybe booed aloud for a full minute.

"The Face" is about Channing Manheim who is known as "The Face." Manheim is a movie star with a lot of fans. His security chief, Ethan Truman, is an ex detective who is now hoping to hunt down who is after Manheim's 10 year old son Aelfric (otherwise known as Fric) (I misread that name as Eric like ten times when I first started this book) who is getting mysterious phone calls.

I cannot with the bad guy in this one. Nothing he did made sense and I just didn't care. I swear that Koontz has some lackluster villains for most of his newest books. This guy is no It, Outsider, Randall Flag, Crimson King, etc.

Ethan is not interesting enough to hold this book together. He has a sad story (like most of Koontz's heroes in his books, he is a widower) but I just didn't care. He is trying to figure out the clues that are left behind in 6 black boxes (nope, still serious) and you barely get any movement on things. Just a lot of overly descriptive things you will not care about that make you want to scream.

We hear about Ethan's dead wife Hannah a lot and apparently she was perfect (as the dead wife's or alive heroines are in Koontz's books). She also weirdly started to remind me of Odd Thomas's girlfriend Stormy. Probably because there is an allusion to other things to come after death that sounds like her.

The writing for this one was tough to shift through. Too many off the wall things happen in this one (i.e. a mob guy named Dunny with ties to Ethan dies and becomes a guardian angel....no I am not drunk that did happen). This book needed trimmed. The flow was awful too. I still say that Koontz cannot write a child to save his life. Fric was not great and I hated his name too (I already said that, but going to bring it up again.)

The ending was dancing towards absurdity. I guessed what was going on with Dunny and Typhon and I just rolled my eyes a thousand times. ( )
  ObsidianBlue | Jul 1, 2020 |
I usually enjoy Koontz's books, but this one definitely ranks high on the list. Part of what helps that is several really great interesting characters, but another large part is that I thought the end was perfect, and I am super picky about book endings! Koontz gets my massive kudos on this title. ( )
  .Monkey. | May 10, 2019 |
Showing 1-5 of 27 (next | show all)
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Baker, DylanNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
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Epigraph
The civilized human spirit...cannot get rid of a feeling of the uncanny. --Doctor Faustus, Thomas Mann
Dedication
This book is dedicated to three exceptional men--and to their wives, who have worked so very hard to sculpt them from such rough clay. From the ground up: To Leason and Marlene Pomeroy, to Mike and Edie Martin, and to Jose and Rachel Perez. After The Project, I will not be able to get up in the morning, spend a moment at home during the day, or go to bed at night without thinking of you. I guess I'll just have to live with that.
First words
After the apple had been cut in half, the halves had been sewn together with coarse black thread.
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(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
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Wikipedia in English (1)

Fiction. Literature. Suspense. Thriller. HTML:Acknowledged as â??Americaâ??s most popular suspense novelistâ?ť(Rolling Stone ) and as one of todayâ??s most celebrated and successful writers, Dean Koontz has earned the devotion of millions of readers around the world and the praise of critics everywhere for tales of character, mystery, and adventure that strike to the core of what it means to be human. Now he delivers the page-turner of the season, an unforgettable journey to the heart of darkness and to the pinnacle of grace, at once chilling and wickedly funny, a brilliantly observed chronicle of good and evil in our time, of illusion and everlasting truth.
Heâ??s Hollywoodâ??s most dazzling star, whose flawless countenance inspires the worship of millions and fires the hatred of one twisted soul. His perfectly ordered existence is under siege as a series of terrifying, enigmatic â??messagesâ?ť breaches the exquisitely calibrated security systems of his legendary Bel Air estate.
The boxes arrive mysteriously, one by one, at Channing Manheimâ??s fortified compound. The threat implicit in their bizarre, disturbing contents seems to escalate with each new delivery. Manheimâ??s security chief, ex-cop Ethan Truman, is used to looking beneath the surface of things. But until he entered the orbit of a Hollywood icon, he had no idea just how slippery reality could be. Now this good man is all that stands in the way of an
insidious killerâ??and forces that eclipse the most fevered fantasies of a city where dreams and nightmares are the stuff of daily life. As a seemingly endless and ominous rain falls over southern California, Ethan will test the limits of perception and endurance in a world where the truth is as thin as celluloid and answers can be found only in the illusory intersection of shadow and light.
Enter a world of marvelous invention, enchantment, and implacable intent, populated by murderous actors and the walking dead, hit men and heroes, long-buried dreams and never-dying hope.
Here a magnificent mansion is presided over by a Scottish force of nature known as Mrs. McBee, before whom all men tremble. A mad French chef concocts feasts for the mighty and the malicious. Ming du Lac, spiritual adviser to the stars, has a direct line to the dead. An aptly named cop called Hazard will become Ethanâ??s ally, an anarchist will sow discord and despair, and a young boy named Fric, imprisoned by celebrity and loneliness, will hear a voice telling him of the approach of something unimaginably evil. Traversing this extraordinary landscape, Ethan will face the secrets of his own tragic past and the unmistakable premonition of his impending violent death as he races against time to solve the macabre riddles of a modern-day beast.
A riveting tour de force of suspense, mystery, and miraculous revelation, The Face is that rare novel that entertains, provokes, and uplifts at the same time. It will make you laugh. It will give you chills. It will fill you with hope.
BONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from

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