A hit for John SaulSeptember 14, 2008 5 out of 6 found this review helpful
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.
Faces of Fear makes for an entertaining readSeptember 12, 2008 1 out of 2 found this review helpful
John Saul's career began with the publication of his first bestseller, SUFFER THE CHILDREN, released in 1977. Now, 31 years later, he has written his 35th novel, FACES OF FEAR. The setting is primarily the Los Angeles area, and the plot involves the age-old debate about beauty either being in the eye of the beholder or skin deep --- or both.
Fifteen-year-old Alison relocates from Santa Monica to Bel Air with her mother, realtor Risa Shaw. The reason for the move is the marriage of Risa to Dr. Conrad Dunn, one of the more famous and prominent plastic surgeons in this wealthy area of California. Although Alison is reluctant to leave behind her friends and life in Santa Monica, she recognizes that she must be supportive of her mother, who was devastated by the fact that her husband, Michael, left her to be with another man. Conrad is also marrying on the rebound of his own personal tragedy --- the suicide death of his last wife, Margot, who was unable to live with the facial disfigurement caused by a horrific boating accident the previous year.
While this story is playing out, another far more sinister development is raising the fear of the surrounding community. A savage serial killer, dubbed the Frankenstein Killer, has been brutally murdering random women. What is most alarming is the fact that the culprit's modus operandi is strikingly similar to a series of murders that took place 15 years prior in the same area. During both murder sprees, body parts as well as the victims' adrenal and thymus glands were taken. The entire Los Angeles area is on alert, and no one knows where, why or how this monster will strike next.
Michael, having reconciled with Risa and settled as being lifelong friends, is living with his new partner Scott and working as a news editor for a local television station. One of his more aggressive reporters, Tina Wong, has firmly ensconced herself amidst the Frankenstein Killer case, and her pursuit of this story continues to put her in the way of the local police force and potentially in the path of a killer. As Tina gets closer to the truth, she begins to uncover patterns in the recent series of killings and is able to resurface the similarities to the 15-year-old murders.
Meanwhile, Alison is acclimating to the markedly different world her high school in Bel Air poses. She realizes that the students are living lives of endless privilege and seem to be addicted to plastic surgery enhancements. Not surprisingly, the bulk of these procedures have been conducted by her new stepfather. Risa, upon exploration of her new Bel Air mansion, discovers a hidden basement room that appears to be a shrine to Conrad's previous wife. What is most alarming to her is the realization that the recent surgical alterations Conrad has planned for Alison bear an eerie resemblance to the images of Margot that are being kept in the basement shrine. Risa and Alison both begin to suspect that things might not be as they appear, and this discovery means that their worst fears might quickly become their reality.
Throughout his successful career as a novelist, John Saul has stuck to a formula that works consistently, and none of his novels are disappointing. Where many of his contemporaries have changed or altered their styles from time to time, Saul has continued his craftsmen-like skill of knowing what will scare his readers, and he hits this mark every time. Another theme that encompasses much of the book and runs through many of his previous works is the use of teenagers as central characters. He states that "Teens are not much different over the years. They all have the same dreams, aspirations and fears." With FACES OF FEAR, Saul keeps these fears alive, which makes for another entertaining read.
--- Reviewed by Ray Palen
Great Read!September 4, 2008 0 out of 1 found this review helpful
A very good book from start to finish. Once I got started, I had to keep on reading. Good plot with interesting characters. I love all of John Saul books, and he has never disappointed me. His books are true to form and you can always look forward to reading something new and different. I will be looking forward to the next book. S.L. Chessor author of Poodlums, Boogeymen and Booglers and My Tongue Fell Out.Poodlums, Boogeymen and Booglers: A Poetry Collection
UnbelievableSeptember 4, 2008 0 out of 1 found this review helpful
The plot and characters were both unbelievable. I usually love his books, not this one. The plastic surgeon cannot fix his wife's face fast enough (she was in an accident and her face is ruined)--she kills herself. He finds a sixteen year old that he can mold into his perfect woman and marries the mother to get to her. Give me a break! Please check this out at the library and save your money.
HOW DEEP IS SKIN DEEP?September 2, 2008 2 out of 3 found this review helpful
As many know John Saul is a master at penning thrillers, chilling thrillers. His 35th offering, Faces of Fear, may well be the chillingest. What could be more frightening than marrying a man you think you know and then discovering that he is not at all the man you thought he was? The answer to that question is it is even more terrifying when said husband means to harm your child.
Prominent plastic surgeon Conrad Dunn has had a hand in (or scalpel, if you will) in creating some of the most beautiful people to be found in Bel Air. Among them was his late wife, Margot. After scarring her face in an accident she took her own life.
It only took a year for Dunn to find a second wife, the lovely Risa Shaw, mother to 15-year-old Allison. It's quite a leap from the Shaw's former home in Santa Monica to a plush mansion in Bel Air, but Allison is happy for her mom and tries her utmost to adjust to a school full of very rich kids and what is in essence a very different life. Once a down to earth kid not too interested in appearances, she suddenly finds herself among the prettiest of the pretty.
Risa is a firm believer in while beauty may be only skin deep it's also a key to the good life, so when Dunn proposes improving on what nature gave Allison she enthusiastically approves. Before long Allison comes across a picture of Margot, and is shocked to see the resemblance between the face in the photo and the work Dunn has planned for her.
Of course, knowing this author that's only the beginning of the horrors to come.
