The Face
Dean Koontz

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 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.

As with all of Dean Koontz's novels, this one is no disappointment. In fact, I do believe that this has now been added to my list of all time favorite books. It's just that good.

The Face is the movie star referred to in the jacket summary, but you never even meet him in this novel. Instead, the novel revolves around Ethan trying to figure out a set of odd warning that have been sent to the mansion (twenty two dead ladybugs, dead snails, ten pickled foreskins, a book about dogs, a kitten jar full of scrabble tiles - but only the letters oew, and an apple that was cut apart and sewn together with an eye in the middle). Once he figures out these clues he knows who is the one in the true danger and when it will occcur.

Helping him along the way is his dead friend Dunny, who just so happened to disappear from the morgue after he was declared dead.

The there's Fric, the son of The Face, who isn't a spoiled brat at all. In fact, he really doesn't like the sheltered life he's forced to leave and dreams of moving somewhere where no one will ever know him. The friendship that develops between Ethan and Fric is excellent and all of the characters - both heroes and villains - are very well rounded and believable.

Also, as with most of Mr. Koontz's novels, the supernatural is an underlying part of the book and is done in a believable way. In the end, when it is revealed how Dunny came back from the dead to help his friend, the reader will be shocked at an unexpected turn of events.

This book has everything a reader could want. Well rounded characters, an enthralling plot with many subplots, realistic interactions between the characters, and enough surprises to make you want to try and read this novel all at once.

I highly recommend reading this.

My rating: Five out of five snails.