Customer Reviews

The Face of Fear

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(22)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Having just finished reading "The Vision" when I picked up this novel, I was shocked to find that the main character once again has psychic powers which cause them to witness (experience) the murders of a serial killer as they occur. Not only that, the main characters in each story have also suffered a great trauma at some point in their life and the events that unfold within the stories force them to face the fears that have haunted them ever since. It's as though while writing the first book, he came up with what he thought was a better idea and started on it straight afterwards. "The Face of Fear" thankfully turned out to be quite a different book to "The Vision" though, being a far more action orientated, movie-like experience.

In "The Face of Fear", Graham Harris witnesses the murders of "The Butcher", as he rapes and slaughters women around New York City, through psychic visions. After it becomes apparent that Harris is able to give police information on the murders, "The Butcher" decides to go after him and his girlfriend Connie. What we end up with is a couple of hundred page climax where Graham and Connie are hunted from floor to floor of an office building, with occasional glimpses into the mind (or is that minds) of a murderer.

I enjoyed this book as much as any of the other Koontz books that I've read so far. His books are very plot driven and straight to the point. He never gets bogged down with long dialogues or character studies and instead chooses to focus on the action and the events that drive the plot forward. This can be seen as a good or a bad thing in my opinion. They're like Hollywood blockbusters where you leave your brain at the door. There are plot holes and bad decisions, yet you hardly have time to think about them as you turn the page to find out what happens next. Having read only 4 of his novels so far, I'm starting to tire of his formula though and hope that there are some added variations to my next choices.

Overall, "The Face of Fear" is a good, tense read and recommended for thriller / action fans. The ending is totally and terribly contrived and you'll know who the killer is early on, but that doesn't prohibit this book from successfully keeping you gripped and taking you on a suspense-filled ride.

I am thirteen years old, and I read Face of Fear by Dean Koontz this year. I found it, in the end, to be a very suspensful and intiguing book. I must warn though, that this piece of literature is not for the faint-stomached, or the easily offened. It involves discusions and descriptions of very pornographic scenes, and has parts involving the mind of a phychopath and descriptions of murder. However, to get past these details to the story, this book is a quickly read, don't-want-to-put-it-down thriller. It may get a tad boring a chapter or two near the end (descriptions of rock-climbing techniques and equipment), but it makes up for these flaws in a wonderfully told, fast-paced tale of a hero, a villan, and a girl. The story is about a phychic who sees murders take place in his mind, discovers he is being stalked by the killer acting on these murders, and him getting trapped in a skyscraper which he and his girlfriend are forced to rappel down the side of. However, he is paralysed with fear from a climbing accident on Everest years ago... I rate this book with 4/5 stars, because of the minor flaws mentioned earlier. If you are a fan of any other Dean Koontz novels or like modern horror movies like Scream and H20: Halloween, read this book. I hope you enjoy it.

I personally thought this was a scary book, that I would not have read if I knew about it more. It scared me because the main character, "The Butcher," was a rapist who killed many woman. It was scary and kind of disgusting to hear about these women being raped, and it felt as if you were there, watching it in person. It makes you want to cry, it's so intense. - But you do hear about a couple, Graham and Connie, who barely survived, because of the Butcher and his evil gun. The only part I enjoyed was when you hear about Ira Preduski, the detective, who seemed to be so nice and caring towards these people. He was kind and warm hearted. He made the day. - So, if you are looking for a more scary, thriller book, check into this one. If you are like me, then STAY AWAY!

I read this book when I was 10, and so far it was great, non stop action. I didnt even know that Koontz wrote it as I have begun to know all of his books when I was already 16. They also made a little tv movie out of this story, you should watch it, but better yet read it first!

One of Dean's cleverest - and most suspenseful - straight thrillers. And one it's hard to say too much about, without giving away the game.

A psychic helping the police out on a difficult serial-rapist case finds himself, and his girlfriend, the target of attempted murder by the culprit. The rapist/murderer manages to isolate the pair in an empty skyscraper over the holidays, and plays an elusive cat-and-mouse game with them - to the death.

This one shoots out of a gun, like most of Koontz's early works, and doesn't let up for a second. It's a fast, easy, involving read. Koontz's style is minimalistic, telling virtually the entire story through dialogue and simply drawn action, shifting character perspective inventively to keep the reader guessing who the guilty party is. And even once that's known, he manages to slip in an extra surprise or two.

This was made into a very good T.V. movie with Lee Horsley and Pam Dawber, which suffers in comparison to the novel due to the fact that it has to prematurely show what the book doesn't.

Respectfully disagreeing with some of the reviews of this book in this web page, I think it is the best thriller I have ever read. A true thriller is supposed to pull all stops. It's supposed to keep you hooked on to page one and if the author is supremely successful in his goal, you will pick up the book, read the first page, and as you keep going, you will find that you have not moved a single muscle, except for the thumbs turning the pages and the eyes following the words, until you finally put the book down at the last page. This is what happened to me, a person who's never read a whole book in one sitting, let alone a nearly 300 page book! Dean Koontz has succeeded with this story. To anyone who hasn't read it, I will not give you a detailed account of what the story is about because then I will be giving away the good parts, depriving you of a suspenseful read. Just picture this - a man with a limp and a woman are alone in an office building, trapped with a serial killer in the middle of a snowstorm. The only thing these weaponless, vulnerable victims can do to defend themselves from this gun - totting serial killer is to run and not look back. It is a long, suspenseful, and enjoyable chase scene. And I mean it when I say enjoyable. You will love it. For Dean Koontz, only the highest praises. Mr. Koontz, between you and me, I honestly think you outdid Stephen King on this one. As for writers out there who want to write suspense fiction - Dean Koontz is the master to learn from. Face of Fear is truly the most thrilling novel ever.

Koontz's masterful spinning of two main characters leads to a rich and rewarding ending. This is definitely an action/mystery novel and it is a fairly short book by the Koontz standards.

Graham's palpable fear is key to the novel's rewarding ending.
In accurately describing not only Graham's fear but the madness of the killer's deep desire, we are forced to arrive at a variety of feelings which will strike readers with differing opinions.

The relationship between Graham and his girlfriend was also superb. Despite not being a well known novel, this is one worth picking up and reading a few times.

Under the pseudonym of Brian Coffey, THE FACE OF FEAR was first published in 1977, the same year as THE VISION. The two books have several things in common. Each has a psychic as a protagonist who developed ESP after a traumatic episode involving severe physical injury and leaving deep, unresolved emotional scars. Each has a supportive significant other, but risks becoming too dependent on such support. Each makes his or her living primarily through writing, refusing compensation other than expenses for using ESP to try to help solve crimes.

And each is plagued by visions of a serial killer, who in turn is about to start stalking *them*, with a "ticking clock" aspect as the entire action of the book takes place in a very short time (here less than a day). As in many of Koontz' books, the villain is also a viewpoint character, though here that's a somewhat complex situation; there are *two* villains working as a team, one whose identity is revealed right away, the other left as a mystery to be solved by the reader. In another repeated motif, Koontz is playing with two "brother" characters, but in this case they're both evil instead of the more typical good twin/bad twin scenario. Both killers are aware of Graham Harris, whose first vision of a victim of "the Butcher" occurred during a live TV interview, and they plan to remove him as a potential threat.

Graham Harris was a passionate mountain climber until a fall on the Southwest Face of Everest five years ago left him with ESP, a bad leg, and a fear of falling - a fear of failure that has slowly crept into other areas of his life, sabotaging his self-respect. Nevertheless, he gets on with his life, running climbing magazines and helping the police whenever his visions of violence occur. His current girlfriend Connie sees the potential for healing, though she walks a tightrope around him to avoid making him too dependent on her. Ironically enough, she needs to depend on him for her life soon enough, when the killers trap them inside Graham's office building late at night, and the only possible escape route is to climb down the outside to safety.

Drive-in totals:
- Multiple murders, ranging from murder/rape to simple shooting.
- Canned psychoanalysis along the lines of WHISPERS, justifying the realism of the killers' buddy relationship with one another.
- The two killers are given to chunks of exposition when with each other, which gets old. They think they're super-sane supermen, too, given to quoting Nietzsche and Blake. (Koontz makes allowances and has the cops explain all that.)
- Horror-movie setting for most of the book (mostly deserted office building on a snowy night, cut communication lines, only the killers and the protagonists still alive).

Although I am a huge fan of Koontz, this one let me down big time. I see from the other reviewers that it didn't them, but oh well. Can't fit in all the time.

One of my main problems with this novel was the rather silly idea. It kind of smelled like a lifetime movie gone bad. When I read the back of this book to someone, once we reached, “and there’s a blizzard outside, they laughed and said, “Oh, of course.”

The atmosphere was tense, so I can understand why so many compliment the suspense of the novel. I agree, it was there, it was strong. The only thing is it was overdone. Yes, suspense can be overdone. If you have most of the book written in the same mode of tension, never letting up, never giving the reader a breather, after awhile the effect wears off. From the beginning of the novel to the end we have the two protagonists battling the same chances for over a hundred pages. After all this is constantly whirling around, the tension loosens as it just grows tiring.

The characters work well and the pace is not choppy or lagging. Koontzs' style of writing is as captivating at ever.

Overall the tension was great, at first...but then it just gets buried under the stereotypical blizzard snow. Read another Koontz if you want to give him a try - he really is great, but this one was too formulaic and overdone to succeed.

In The Face of Fear right from the start it leaps you into the action of the book. You can't put it down, you just want to keep going and going. The tension, and thrill it gives you with each page blows you away and you want more! The suspence is awesome, the images put into your head are detailed to almost the point, and the courage he gives the characters feels like your right there with them surviving for life! Then when your done, you find yourself wanting to read it again, or another novel by Dean Koontz. He continues being my favorite writer, and no other book I have read compares to what education, and knowledge he gives back to his readers and fans. I strongly would reccomend getting this book, and giving it a try. Trust me its worth it.