After recently finishing another excellent and well crafted mystery by Jeffery Deaver, I was looking for something a little bit different, something strange, something supernatural to read. As my eyes scanned the various titles stacked tightly within my various "AS YET UNREAD" bookshelves, they settled on THE FACE by Dean Koontz. Anyone who knows horror knows that Koontz is good at it so I pulled the book down and stared at the cover. Yes, I immediately remembered the image depicted there as being the very reason that I decided to lay down some hard-earned cash for this particular Koontz novel. How mysterious, how engaging...yeah, I'm a sucker for a good cover.

I then turned the book over and read the back cover blurb...hmmm, very interesting, very interesting indeed. That settled it, I opened to the first page and dove straight on in. Wow, I found myself hooked early and kept turning pages long into the night. In fact, over the next few nights, I was riveted to this book, turning pages as the minutes melted away. Only a very few authors can captivate a reader in this way, and I was surely captivated.

The Face is a story about a little boy, child of the most popular Hollywood Star of the time, living basically alone within the many vast and colorful walls of his father's mansion. Sure, there is staff about when father is away on location or on vacation, but they don't generally fraternize with the youngster. All except one--enter Ethan Truman, a widower ex-cop who has never truly gotten over the loss of his wife several years earlier, and Head of Security for the huge estate of Channing Manheim. When Aelfric Manheim, known to everyone as Fric, is alone in the house, as he frequently is, Truman makes it a point to have contact with the boy, to let him know that someone truly does care about him within the vast caverns of the mansion known as Palazzo Rospo.

Life is good for the Manheim men, father and son, or at least it appears so to all outside eyes. Inwardly, however, the father is gone much too often and the boy hardly knows either of his parents. Sad, true, but seemingly more important things are about to occupy Ethan Truman's time. While Channing Manheim, known the world over as The Face, is away from Palazzo Rospo, someone has been sending some very interesting packages to the estate. The last of which, an apple sewn down the middle containing a doll's eye and a mysterious message tucked away inside, has thrown Truman to the limits of his deductive powers. What do these cryptic messages mean? What kind of lunatic could be stalking his boss now?

Let's just say that Truman soon finds out. Here starts the very weird and magical tale that is The Face. Through extremely vivid visions of his own death, chasing the ghost of his dead former best friend, hearing the voice of his long-dead wife in various places and trying his best to solve the riddle of the package sender, Ethan Truman fights the good fight and learns that this world is not always as solid and seamless as it appears.

All the while, he cares for the well-being of Fric, and builds a strong bond with the boy as this thrill-ride develops. Koontz ramps up the pacing of this novel, sending the reader on an adventure of a lifetime and throwing supernatural twists and turns around ever available corner. Within it all, Koontz has created one of the most wicked and disturbing villains this side of Hannibal Lechter, a monster so crazed and without conscience that I could not help but find myself despising this character to his very core.

As you can tell by now, I very much enjoyed this book. Oh, and don't let my earlier reference to the Hollywood Mega-Star being known as The Face fool you... the title has a much deeper and hidden meaning than that. Have I caught your attention yet? Well, if not, let the book do it for you. Believe me, you won't be disappointed.