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 plot may sound interesting but nothing like Koontz’s usual work. Instead it more or less mimics simple lifetime thrillers we’ve all seen over and over again. A generic plot without much else to offer, with strange coincidences that are a bit more cheesy than realistic. And this is only from the description…I was interested in reading about the clairvoyant and at the beginning of the book it was paying off. Graham came across as interesting, with unique powers that weren’t typical to other books I’ve read, and the interview with the host was a blast. But after the first few scenes, the book begins to get a bit too much, and throughout this review I’ll touch upon the stepping stones that explain why.The atmosphere was tense, of course, but this actually worked against it. The tension began much too soon, but never let up! 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.Graham came across as a likeable character and as I mentioned above, his visions were unique. As the story further unravels, however, I found that he was a bit weak. His girlfriend, Connie, was a sweet gal but her reactions towards having to take care of Graham got on my nerves a bit. This is a realistic response some women have -- drifting toward some relationships just to save men that need saving -- and it was definitely different to have these two in the main shoes the reader walks in. The detective, Preduski, was hysterical and wonderfully animated. He was by far my favorite character. The antagonist was cold all the way through but not much detail was given on why he became this way. That’s fine, I didn’t need drawn out blueprints on his personality, but while he wasn’t anything ‘bad’, he never stands out either.Quick and smooth at the beginning, The Face of Fear eventually becomes overly tense without letting up towards the middle. The pace itself was fine but I wish it would have been cut at least thirty pages to allow me to breathe. Koontz’s writing style is always captivating. It can never be said the man doesn’t have a gift with wording and prose, only here it’s a little bit buried under all the ‘stereotypical blizzard snow.’The villain isn’t anything that’s worth making a scrapbook about and that hurts the impact. I did care about the characters, though, and wanted them to make it. Connie and Graham both rang true in their actions, although their personalities were dysfunctional. The tension was great at first, but after awhile, everything runs out of gas.I wish that Koontz would have realized that was enough was enough and saved this one while he still could have. It just droned on a bit to much and ended up slitting it’s own throat before the final scene was played out.
Imagine it's 1977. You're about to board an airplane (no security, flight insurance kiosks, echo-i-er concourses than there are now for some reason) and you stop at the gum-and-paperback store to grab a book to read for your 2.5-hour flight. On board the Braniff plane, there's a one-hour delay on the runway. Luckily, you bought this book (and some Bubs Daddy gum*), which lasts you the whole flight and keeps you from looking too often at the incredibly garish yellow and orange interior of your plane (google-image it, but not if you are feeling queasy.)By the time you hello-hug your aunt/mother/fiance whom you'll dump in four weeks anyway, you've forgotten the book. But it really was a perfectly acceptable thriller, written by Dean Koontz before he jumped on the bandwagon that had propelled Stephen King to wealth.In fact, I'd give it four stars except for the fact that the hero, who at one point describes himself as weak, self-pitying, whiny, and something else, is in fact weak, self-pitying, whiny and so on. I had the urge to push him off the ladder at one point myself. But--spoiler--I didn't, and the bad guy didn't and the couple end up together (despite that she was insane to be with him in the first place), the end. You could spend a worse four hours.*okay, had to google the gum brand. But once you were in a Braniff plane, that image haunts your dreams forever.
What do You think about The Face Of Fear (1985)?
Graham Harris became psychic after a mountaineering accident. He doesn't particularly relish this ability, but has used it to help in various unsolved mysteries and is currently helping the New York City police track down "The Butcher". The Butcher brutally murders women - carefully choosing his targets. He knows he won't be caught, he's too good for that.This was a quick read, but slightly disappointing. I'm not sure what about it left me wanting more, but it just seemed too...I don't know. It wasn't predictable, not in the usual sense and I wasn't able to figure it out even when I thought I had, so that's not what's missing. It does a good job of getting you to root for the good guy. I know I wished I could get in the book and tell him it was going to work out fine, that he was deceiving himself and holding himself back. But, it's a book and you can't do that!All in all, it was entertaining, a good read, worth the time it took me to read it. If you like mysteries, this is a good one to read.
—Angela
Great book! Very fast paced and action packed. Two people, a cop and tv show host, believe themselves to be "Supermen". It is their plan to start committing mass murder and through that insight total chaos within the town of New York. Out of the ashes and the wreckage that they cause they plan to rise to the top of humanity and be leaders of society. It is only because of a injured climber facing his fear of heights and his girlfriend who are forced to descend the face of skyscraper, and in doin
—Derek Palm
The women of New York City are being hunted by a murder called the Butcher, a modern day Jack the Ripper.Graham Harris is a clairvoyant, an unwitting witness to murder who has been plagued by visions since a climbing accident five years earlier shattered his confidence and his body and bequeathed to him an unwelcome psychic talent. Harris receives visions of killers when he touches things at murder scenes and has used this ability to help the authorities catch the perpetrator.Connie Davis is Harris' partner, trying to nurse his traumatised spirit back to strength.Anthony Prine is a late night talk show host with an unhealthy connection to the Butcher. He is interviewing Harris when Harris receives a vision of the Butcher's vicious slaughter of a pretty green eyed girl called Edna. But now the Butcher is aware of Harris.Harris has a deadline for his climbing magazine so Davis joins him on the fortieth floor of the forty two storey Bowerton Building on Lexington Avenue for what looks to be an all-nighter. This is where the Butcher traps them, and the book is a nerve shaking game of cat and mouse as Davis and Harris try to evade the killer.This is one of Koontz's earlier works and it is good, better than most other writers, but not yet completely up to his brilliant best. Most other writers would receive a higher rating for this kind of work but Koontz does a lot better, in places the book is not as well written as his later works.
—Jo Bennie
