A Face Without A Heart: A Modern-day Version of Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray (Paperback)

by Rick R Reed (Author)
Key Phrases: Face Without, Prince Charming, Gary Adrion (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
Rick R. Reed's horror/suspense fiction has been referred to as "a harrowing ride through cutting-edge psychological horror" (Douglas Clegg, author of The Attraction) and "brutally honest" (Fangoria). His most recent books include IM, a thriller about a serial killer preying on gay men through internet hook-up sites; In the Blood, a tragic vampire love story; Deadly Vision, about a small town single mom who begins having psychic visions into a series of murders of teenage girls in her small Ohio River town; High Risk, a sexy thriller about a bored, promiscuous housewife who brings home a very handsome-and very psychotic-stranger; Orientation, a paranormal love story about reincarnation, love, and sexual orientation; and Dead End Street, a young adult horror novel. Published in Dell's acclaimed Abyss horror line, Reed's first two novels, Obsessed and Penance together sold more than 80,000 copies. Rick's short fiction has appeared in numerous anthologies and magazines. A collection of his short horror fiction, Twisted: Tales of Obsession and Terror was published in 2006. Rick lives in Seattle, WA with his partner and is at work on a new novel. --This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Product Description
A young man bargains his soul away, while his painfully beautiful hologram mirrors every sin and each nightmarish step into depravity…even cold-blooded murder. Take a thought-provoking tour of the darkest sides of greed, lust, addiction, and violence. Named best horror novel of the year by Queerhorror.com.

Praise for A Face Without A Heart

“Reed does himself, and his source material proud… A penetrating morality tale, a trip into the very heart of darkness.”—Hank Wagner, Hellnotes Book Review

“Reed’s got a knack for presenting the gruesome lower depths of a soul and a body.”—Catey Sullivan, New City

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Product Details

• Paperback: 196 pages
• Publisher: Backinprint.com (July 23, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0595399169
• ISBN-13: 978-0595399161
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,246,079 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A vibrant, impressive work., June 14, 2002

By	Fred W. Hunter (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: A Face Without a Heart: A Modern-Day Version of Oscar Wilde's the Picture of Dorian Gray (Paperback)

Rick Reed has taken the basic plot of Oscar Wilde's "The Picture of Dorian Gray" and made it his own

The story follows Gary Adrion, an independently wealthy young man who is willingly pressed into posing for Liam Howard, an artist specializing in state-of-the-art holograms. The result is a three dimensional work of art that reflects both the beauty of the model, and the passion of the artist for his subject.

Awed by the hologram, Adrion rashly offers his soul in exchange for the ability to retain his physical beauty. Without realizing it (at first), his wish is granted: but he quickly discovers how high a price he has paid in the bargain. Devoid of his soul, Adrion finds himself robbed of the ability to experience either the pleasures or the ramifications of his actions. As a result, he embarks on an odyssey of sex, drugs and violence in a desperate attempt to feel something, remaining unscarred and unmoved while the hologram takes on the physical ugliness of his actions and the deterioration of his aging. The divorce of the man from the soul leads to a final act of violence and ultimate redemption.

Reed has transformed Wilde's prosaic story into a disturbing, searing indictment of our times, where moral ambivalence values beauty above substance. By choosing to present the story alternately through the eyes of several of the main characters (a device reminiscent of Bram Stoker's "Dracula"), Reed cleverly delivers the immediacy of a first person narrative, while allowing the reader insight in the characters' thoughts, feelings, and motivations: a privilege usually confined to a third person narrative. In other words, Reed has successfully managed to give the reader the best of both worlds.

His prose is alive with startling wordplay and haunting imagery. The description of Adrion's first encounter with his image (and the recognition of his own physical beauty) is so compelling (and oddly touching) that it makes his impulse to sell his soul chillingly believable. His subsequent descent into debauchery is handled in a way that is both intense and graphic, and yet shows an admirable restraint that demonstrates a reverence for the source.

A Face Without a Heart is a rarity in contemporary literature: a book of ideas that dares to explore the meaning and importance of preserving the soul.

A vibrant, impressive work.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The subtitle says it all, June 19, 2007

By	Henry W. Wagner (Rockaway, NJ USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This novel's subtitle, "A Modern-day Version of Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray" says it all. In Reed's version, Dorian Gray is Gary Adrion and artist Basil Howard is Liam Howard. Lord Henry Wotton, the Oscar Wilde analog from Dorian Gray, becomes drag queen Lady Henrietta Wotton. Here, Gary's visage is recreated holographically, resulting in an image so exquisite that he jokingly offers his soul in return for a promise to look like that forever. Of course Gary gets his wish, and soon after the hologram begins to display the ravages of his excessive lifestyle while he remains physically unscathed.

Like Gray, Adrion finds and loses love, but the object of his affection is an exotic dancer rather than an actress. Gary's unjustified rejection of the dancer launches him into a life of reckless depravity, one filled with meaningless sex, copious drug use, and even murder. The utter emptiness of his lifestyle eats at the fabric of his soul, causing him to loathe his existence, and eventually, to destroy the source of his eternal youth.

Reed does himself, and his excellent source material proud, masterfully juggling multiple viewpoint characters for maximum effect. Each has a distinctive voice, providing a different, but illuminating perspective on the events described. Like Wilde's story, Reed's is a commentary on contemporary life, a mirror held up to catch the images cast by the dark side of modern existence. Like the best books, Reed's goes beyond its narrow subject matter to invite reflection on deeper patterns of human behavior, in this instance, the self-destructive impulses we all must grapple with and master if we wish to stay sane. As such, it constitutes a penetrating morality tale, a journey into the very heart of darkness.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Haunting, July 23, 2006

By	Greg Lilly "Author of UNDER A COPPER MOON" (Virginia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Face Without a Heart: A Modern-Day Version of Oscar Wilde's the Picture of Dorian Gray (Paperback)

Rick R. Reed's A FACE WITOUT A HEART brings THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY into present day Chicago.

The hedonistic pleasures of Gary Adrion leave a trail of shocking changes to the vibrant perfect image of his youth preserved (or should have been) in a holographic sculpture. The people around Adrion seem to suffer the most from his actions, but as time wreaks doom on the holographic image, Gary is haunted by the changes. The reader is also haunted by the comparison of a beautiful man and the ugly soul that lives in the hologram.

Beautifully written by Mr. Reed, the language, details, and rhythm of the novel kept me turning the pages until the end. I highly recommend this engaging novel.