The Face

Being a Koontz fan (particularly of Intensity and Mr. Murder), I anticipated The Face to be extremely entertaining. Two things quickly became apparent. Part of the joy of reading a mystery comes from attempting to figure out where the story is going. As soon as the supernatural was introduced into the story, all bets were off. I could no longer take even the slightest guess at what may happen. Also, throughout the book, the reading is bogged down by rich, heaping piles of adjectives and metaphors, most of which add little or nothing to the reader's understanding. The narrator, Dylan Baker, sounded at times as if he was as bored as I was. Eliminating the useless verbiage would reduce the 19+ hour book to something around 13 hours. The book was ok - not bad, not good - just ok.

I have read almost all of Dean Koontz's works-and loved them. His characters usually have so much depth. Lately, however, I'm beginning to wonder if he isn't using a Ghost Writer. WIth that said, this book is somewhat entertaining-however, I would recommend you choose something else. The worst part was the narrator. He whines through the reading in a horrendously nasal voice-agonizing! I almost decided not to listen to the book after the first 5 minutes based on this alone. I will never purchase another book spoken by ths narrator. Don't bother buying "The Taking" either. I just finished reading this book and it was terrible. It had about as much depth as a plate glass window.

Interesting mix of the typical "cop thriller" with the supernatural. Unfortunately, some of the characters crossed the line to caricature, and the plot, though suspenseful, was predictable.

A fun "read", if not inspiring. Not at the top of my list, but it was worth listening.

Amazing to me is the reviews are so opposite. It appears you either really enjoy this book (as I did) or you really don't. I like unabridged books and I found the Face to be a good length, entertaining, suspenseful, but a little bit of a weak ending.

Some reviewers mention the book is too wordy. From my prospective, not at all. I love the development of a story, analogies, wordsmiths and conjure up pictures in your mind. Koontz does a masterful job at this. The narrator is excellent, and, IMHO, the kid steals the book! Koontz develops this character the best, making you laugh, cry and feel his loneliness.

While I certainly respect the opinons of other reviewers, I am glad I bought this book prior to reading the other reviews! It is amazing to me how far on the extremes different people can be reading the same book. I found The Face to be a delightfully fun audible experience. The plot was gripping and while I agree with others that Dean Koontz may not write literary masterpieces, he certainly knows how to build suspense in his books. There were a number of times a chapter would close on one character and I'd be anxious for the book to get back to their story, only to become wrapped up in what was going on with the current character. For me, one of the best parts of the book was how real and likeable the characters were. Contrast that with Mr. Murder (which I still liked), in which the Stillwater's family life, marriage and "adorable" children were saccharin-sweet and too nauseatingly perfect to be true and something that the average person can relate to. I like to use my iPod when I exercise, and I found myself taking much longer walks than my "minimum" just so I could keep listening to The Face. One final note - I am mystified as to why so many others slammed Dylan Baker as the narrator. I felt that he did a great job and was better than average. For me, his voice was pleasant and he put the right amount of emotion into the story without going overboard. There were a number of different voices and I felt he did really well with almost all of them. (His French chef needs a little work, though)

I cannot say enough about most of Dean's collection of writting an this is no exception.

This is my second Dean Koontz download and my favorite Audible download so far. If his earlier books are so much better, I need to give them a try.

The villain in this book is such an interesting one that it may merit your attention alone. I am not sure if he is believable or even deep, but I really liked hearing his thoughts and malevolent intentions. How can you not love a deeply evil English professor named Corky?

The rest of the story is solid and suspenseful. I wasn?t actually scared, but I couldn?t stop listening once I hit the book?s final moments. For me, this is what listening to a book is all about. It?s just a good yarn. When I want something substantive, I will read the book.

As for the long descriptions, they truly didn?t bother me. I like Koontz?s wry observations. This one is full of some pretty funny thoughts about politics and literary criticism.

As an important note, the book hits on some religious notes. I realize that some of the horror fans may not be looking for religion. I realize that some believers might get uptight about the theology. If it offends you in either way, you seriously need to relax. Further, this part of the story is predictable, but I do not think that faith is supposed to be suspenseful. For me, I was touched by this element.

Enjoy this. It is probably my favorite download so far.

If you like Koontz you won't be disappointed. Not one of his best but definitely entertaining. As with many of Koontz novels I knew where this was going within the first 30 minutes but getting there is always such a pleasure! Koontz belabors the thought processes of the main characters which I found a little boring - I want to get to the action! Just put your Otis on "fast forward" and you won't miss much. Still, a good story in the Koontz tradition.

In this novel Koontz managed to eliminate all suspense and mystery by having his characters become cartoon equivilents. He even went as far as having a black detective saying to himself while entering a perps house "Feets don't fail me now" in true Amos and Andy style. While the use of supernatural phenomena has been used successfully in many novels, an author has to be very careful as to the extent of it's use so as not to totally damage the storyline. At this he was not terribly successful. All told a mildly interesting work that somewhat holds your interest, but could have been much better.

I am not someone who reads all of Koontz's books, but I liked this one. The character development is strong, and while the reader has to suspend belief, I enjoyed the story the characters told. Its a bit too long but all loose ends are tied up.