A Face without a Heart

by Rick R. Reed

Book Overview

A young man bargains his soul away, while his painfully beautiful hologram mirrors every sin and each nightmarish step into depravity even cold-blooded murder. Take a thought-provoking tour of the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1648900232
• ISBN13: 9781648900235
• Release Date: May 2020
• Publisher: Ninestar Press, LLC
• Length: 250 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.0" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

A thrilling retelling of a classic.

A lot has changed since Oscar Wilde penned the classic "Picture of Dorian Gray", but the heart of the story remains true. Beauty is fleeting, and people would give anything to keep it. Just look at the popularity of plastic surgery, age-defying make-up and botox and you'll know that old Oscar was right on the money. In this chilling page-turner Rick. R. Reed reimagines the Oscar Wilde classic and gives it a modern twist. Gary Adrion's image is forever encased in a hologram created for him. It's a perfect, shining replica of his stunning beauty and looking at it he comes to terms with his own mortality and wishes (as we all have!) to stay that beautiful forever. But beauty comes with a price... Rick. R. Reed's characters really come to life in A Face Without A Heart. Even as Gary begins to lose his innocence, tumbling headfirst into a life of hard drugs, meaningless sex, and murder, you feel for him. I don't want to give too much of the story away, so get yourself a copy of A Face Without A Heart and see how terrible it would be to be beautiful forever.

Haunting

Rick R. Reed's A FACE WITOUT A HEART brings THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY into present day Chicago. The hedonistic pleasures of Gary Adrion leave a trail of shocking changes to the vibrant perfect image of his youth preserved (or should have been) in a holographic sculpture. The people around Adrion seem to suffer the most from his actions, but as time wreaks doom on the holographic image, Gary is haunted by the changes. The reader is also haunted by the comparison of a beautiful man and the ugly soul that lives in the hologram. Beautifully written by Mr. Reed, the language, details, and rhythm of the novel kept me turning the pages until the end. I highly recommend this engaging novel.

A vibrant, impressive work.

Rick Reed has taken the basic plot of Oscar Wilde's "The Picture of Dorian Gray" and made it his ownThe story follows Gary Adrion, an independently wealthy young man who is willingly pressed into posing for Liam Howard, an artist specializing in state-of-the-art holograms. The result is a three dimensional work of art that reflects both the beauty of the model, and the passion of the artist for his subject.Awed by the hologram, Adrion rashly offers his soul in exchange for the ability to retain his physical beauty. Without realizing it (at first), his wish is granted: but he quickly discovers how high a price he has paid in the bargain. Devoid of his soul, Adrion finds himself robbed of the ability to experience either the pleasures or the ramifications of his actions. As a result, he embarks on an odyssey of sex, drugs and violence in a desperate attempt to feel something, remaining unscarred and unmoved while the hologram takes on the physical ugliness of his actions and the deterioration of his aging. The divorce of the man from the soul leads to a final act of violence and ultimate redemption.Reed has transformed Wilde's prosaic story into a disturbing, searing indictment of our times, where moral ambivalence values beauty above substance. By choosing to present the story alternately through the eyes of several of the main characters (a device reminiscent of Bram Stoker's "Dracula"), Reed cleverly delivers the immediacy of a first person narrative, while allowing the reader insight in the characters' thoughts, feelings, and motivations: a privilege usually confined to a third person narrative. In other words, Reed has successfully managed to give the reader the best of both worlds.His prose is alive with startling wordplay and haunting imagery. The description of Adrion's first encounter with his image (and the recognition of his own physical beauty) is so compelling (and oddly touching) that it makes his impulse to sell his soul chillingly believable. His subsequent descent into debauchery is handled in a way that is both intense and graphic, and yet shows an admirable restraint that demonstrates a reverence for the source.A Face Without a Heart is a rarity in contemporary literature: a book of ideas that dares to explore the meaning and importance of preserving the soul.A vibrant, impressive work.

A Fascinating Read

I had always been loved Oscar Wilde's story, The Picture of Dorian Gray, having read it several times throughout my life, beginning in grade school. When I learned that Rick R. Reed had updated this classic, bringing it into present day, I was intrigued. After I started reading the novel, though, I was really surprised because Reed had managed to capture the essence of Wilde's plotting and wit, while adding his own spin to things. In some ways, I feel that this version has more resonance, because of our current proclivity to worship at the alters of youth and beauty. Reed's story, too, is much more explicit than Wilde could have been in his day, but I think that the moral and physical degeneration depicted in A Face Without a Heart makes for a much more compelling read. A Face Without a Heart is peopled with fascinating characters whom Reed places squarely on the Gold Coast/party circuit milieu of urban Chicago. I literally could not put this book down until I read the very last page. A wonderful achievement!

A new classic

A FACE WITHOUT A HEART is one of the best written and most compelling small press offerings I've seen in quite some time. If the plot is "thin" as one reviewer described it, then that would also make Wilde's "Dorian Gray" plot thin, as well, since both books have basically the same plot structure. Reed's writing is fresh, immediate and detailed. His plotting compels one to keep reading, without stopping, until the very last page. His novel is also more timely than Wilde's considering our times' fascination and obsession with youth and beauty. A stellar achievement!