Faces of Fear: A Novel [Hardcover]

John Saul (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 12, 2008

New York Times bestselling author John Saul is a master at writing novels that chill the bones, curdle the blood, and tap into our darkest fears. He creates characters so real that you’ll feel as if they’re friends or family, and throws them into situations so terrifying that you won’t be able to look away until you turn the final page. Now, in Faces of Fear, Saul proves that there’s a fine line between perfection and madness.

Fifteen-year-old Alison Shaw may not be beautiful, but she doesn’t really care: She’d much rather read a good book than primp in front of a mirror anyway. But Alison’s gorgeous mother, Risa, knows that beauty can be a key to success and wishes only the best for her daughter, especially when Risa marries a widowed plastic surgeon and moves Alison from Santa Monica to Bel Air. Beauty may be only skin deep, but to the denizens of Bel Air it means the world. Everywhere mother and daughter look, they are surrounded by beautiful people, many of whom have benefited from the skills of Alison’s new stepfather, the charismatic Peter Dunn. Peter is certain he can turn Alison into a vision of loveliness, and Risa–drawn in by his cool confidence–is delighted. Reluctantly, Alison agrees to undergo the first procedure, and her transformation begins.

But soon Alison discovers a picture of Peter’s first wife. To Alison’s horror, she notices a resemblance between the image in the photo and the work her stepfather is doing on her. Though Risa refuses to acknowledge the strange similarity, Alison becomes increasingly frightened. Digging further into her stepfather’s murky past, Alison uncovers dark secrets–and even darker motives–and realizes that her worst fears are fast becoming her reality.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Beverly Hills plastic surgeon Conrad Dunn has put his talents to work making his wife, Margot, the embodiment of physical perfection, but after her face is scarred in a boating accident, Margot takes her own life in this less than suspenseful thriller from bestseller Saul (The Devil's Labyrinth). Remarrying within a year, Dunn persuades his new teenage stepdaughter, Alison Shaw, who's struggling to adjust to life in the Dunn mansion and to a private school with a ridiculously affluent student body, to undergo breast-enhancement surgery. Meanwhile, the police are searching frantically for the Frankenstein Killer, a serial slayer who removes his female victims' glands as well as more obvious body parts. The motive for the killings and the eventual outcome will surprise few readers. The basic premise has a plot hole big enough to fit a truck, but Saul fans may not notice or care if they do. (Aug.) ""
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."

From Booklist

Alison Shaw, 16, is OK with herself as she is; that is, physically fit and not obsessive about her plain face and flat chest. But a cascade of coincidences leads her to self-doubt. First, supermodel Margot Dunn, sidelined by an accident that minced one side of her perfect puss, takes a header onto some California coastal rocks. Then Alison’s parents, real estate agent Risa and TV-station production manager Michael, split over his affair with another man. Then Risa is wooed and won by her wealthy client Conrad Dunn, Margot’s cosmetic supersurgeon widower, which shifts Alison from normal upper-middle-class neighborhood and friends to Dunn’s super-upscale haunts and a school full of rich girls who’ve already gone under his scalpel. Surrounded by feminine perfection, Alison reluctantly reassesses herself. Dunn has already assessed her and found bone structure to match Margot’s. He made Margot. Can he remake her? Meanwhile, a series of horrific murders is under way, in which each victim is left lacking a different facial feature. Saul has done so many imperiled-child thrillers that he probably could write one in his sleep. In fact, darned if he hasn’t with this flaccid, routine, predictable example. --Ray Olson

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books (August 12, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345487052
• ISBN-13: 978-0739476918
• Product Dimensions: 6.4 x 1.2 x 9.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #912,681 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

House of Reckoning is John Saul's thirty-sixth novel. His first novel, Suffer the Children, published in 1977, was an immediate million-copy bestseller. His other bestselling suspense novels include Faces of Fear, In the Dark of the Night, Perfect Nightmare, Black Creek Crossing, Midnight Voices, The Manhattan Hunt Club, Nightshade, The Right Hand of Evil, The Presence, Black Lightning, The Homing, and Guardian. He is also the author of the New York Times bestselling serial thriller The Blackstone Chronicles, initially published in six installments but now available in one complete volume. Saul divides his time between Seattle, Washington, and Hawaii.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A hit for John Saul, September 14, 2008

By 

barry (Boston, MA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Faces of Fear: A Novel (Hardcover)

I have read every single John Saul book since the beginning. His early works were amazing chillers that sent shivers up your spine. They were usually told through the perspective of a teenage main character and were quite believable. I think that in the latter half of his work each book is a hit or miss. I remember loving PERFECT NIGHTMARE but thought his last few just didn't hit the mark. Characters seemed unbelievable, plots formulaic and very overblown. THE DEVIL'S LABYRINTH was just so over the top for me I can't believe I finished it.

Now to the good news. John Saul is back to form!! FACES OF FEAR is an amazing read and has all the positive John Saul touches that show his unique style. Beauty, inner and outer is explored here. The story is told through the eyes of many different characters and it more than works. The main character is a teenage girl - Alison Shaw but her mother and father - Rita and Michael are also fully realized characters. They get divorced but remain best friends both getting into new relationships. (I must say that John Saul's inclusion of some more modern touches like having gay characters, cell phones, MySpace etc. is a great comfortable move forward and shows this author is a part of today's times and not resting on his laurels.)

I am not going to go into great depth on the plot here as many have for I find the very well written story chilling, with many entertaining gruesome scenes that add thrills galore. The very suspenseful plot is what carries this novel. I wasn't able to put it down as the story drew my in. I was chilled, scared, thrilled and creeped out. Most importantly I was entertained.

For me, I was aware of part of the whodunnit but not all of it. Even figuring some things out does not make this book boring or predictable. Part of the ending was a little expected but it didn't take away from the superb journey to get there. Interesting, well developed characters and a great story excellently told.

Give yourself a treat and dim the lights and devour this excellent book. I am very glad John Saul is still writing.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars What a bore, August 28, 2008

By 

Tina "Tina" (Montreal, Quebec) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Faces of Fear: A Novel (Hardcover)

Wow! this will be my second two star rating this week. I seem to be on a very unlucky book streak.

I have read each and every one of John Saul's books. Actually, I remember, very clearly, reading them as a teenager and how scared they use to make me.

So, John, I ask you! where is the fear? where is the horror? where is the good writing?????




Faces of Fear starts off very slowly - Saul introduces us to a bunch of characters and it takes forever to figure out how they will all eventually manage to merge into a cohesive storyline. We are introduced to our main characters, Risa the mom, Alisson the daughter, Conrad the doctor (you can already see where this is going) and Margot, Conrad's beautiful wife - who is Conrad's masterpiece, after all he is the best plastic surgeon around!




Saul likes to involve young adults into his storyline and this is no exception. I have no problem with this, but I have to say that usually his young adults are just more with 'it' than Alisson seems to be, which, to me, makes her a weak and somewhat boring character. Risa seems like she floats around her life - constantly searching for something and Conrad simply thinks he is god's gift to the world.



This novel is set in the world of the rich so we get lots of descriptions of beautiful mansions and private schools. I wish the characters had been as detailed as the descriptions of the mansion.




But, I could have gotten past all of that IF this storyline was in the least scary, suspenseful or engaging. By page 40, when no action was evident, I started counting how many pages I had left to read (always a bad sign for me). There is no suspenseful build up here, there is not dark, scary places (read Manhattan Hunt Club for a good example of how good a story Saul can write). In the end it ends up being a Frankenstein storyline - boring and totally predictable.

This book is slow, slow, slow and boring!

I am sorry to have to write this poor review - I know that each author pours their heart into their novels, but this book is just boring beyond belief.




I am grateful that I got this one at the library.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Reviewed for Midwest Book Review, February 4, 2010

By 

Christy Tillery French "reviewer/writer" (Powell, TN) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Faces of Fear: A Novel (Hardcover)

15-year-old Alison Shaw enjoys her middle-class life with her parents, a real estate agent and a TV production manager. However, her world is turned upside down when her parents' marriage dissolves after her father reveals he is gay. Alison's mother marries acclaimed plastic surgeon Conrad Dunn, whose wife committed suicide after a boating accident left her perfect (albeit surgery-enhanced) face permanently scarred. Alison moves with her mother to Dunn's mansion and has trouble adjusting to an affluent lifestyle with friends who think nothing of paying thousands of dollars for clothes and indulging in plastic surgery to fix perceived flaws. Meanwhile, a demented murderer named the Frankenstein Killer is harvesting parts of women's faces, as well as their adrenal and thymus glands, leaving behind mutilated corpses. As the killer picks up the pace, Alison and her mother are peripherally aware of the frantic search by the police, although unaware that Alison may be the motive behind the killings.

Faces of Fear, Saul's 35th novel, has mystery, suspense, characters wholesome and likable and those adroitly portrayed as evil and maniacal. Although slow to start, the book does pick up speed, yet savvy readers will figure out the mystery well before it is revealed.