I love the way Wells writes. I thought the story was OK, but not as engaging as his I Am Not A Serial Killer series. I also somehow keep picking up books with cults (but the synopsis doesn't mention these cults) and I really don't like books about cults. I find them boring. Thankfully the cult in this book is mostly just in the background. They're mentioned throughout and don't come fully into the picture until the end. That's probably why it took me, like, three days to read the last few chapters. I did enjoy reading this, but it's not my favorite from this author. ( )

The book's concept is a man named Michael Shipman wakes up in a hospital with no memory of the prior two weeks. He apparently has had prior mental problems and when he starts seeing hallucinations and delusions while recovering, tests determine he has developed paranoid schizophrenia. Michael is transferred to a mental hospital, where he tries to figure out who or what the "faceless men" are. The tale is told in first person, so the reader is also in Michael's head and we also are trying to determine reality from the imaginary.

On one hand, I enjoyed the story and liked being in Michael's head trying to figure the mystery out with him. On the other hand, the concept eventually got old. I also wasn't thrilled with the way the author concluded the mystery. But I liked the writing and the characters enough to want to try some of Wells other books.


( )

As someone who absolutely loved Well's John Cleaver series, I was a little disappointed in this. I did enjoy it, and I read it very quickly, but that's about as far as my praise goes. This is a pretty good take on the lost memories cliché, but it is still a cliché, and one of the most overused ones at that. The core idea of “crazy guy sees things, but some of those things are real,” is truly fantastic, and I'm sure it could have been incorporated into a better story that didn't necessitate a lost memories mystery.

The voice of the main character wasn't as unique and original as it needed to be to depict a person with a mental illness; certainly nowhere near John Cleaver's voice. It's not bad, and commendable given how hard it must be to write something like this, but nothing to tell your friends about. The prose itself was clunky and disjointed. I have to imagine at least some of it was intentional, since it was so much worse than I remember the John Cleaver books being. I suspect it was an attempt to make the narrator seem more crazy, but it just came across as amateurish and gimmicky. I'm sure it's possible to write from a mentally insane viewpoint without using lots of oddly clipped sentences and onomatopoeia.

Most people's main problem with this book is the ending. I didn't have have a problem with it. I saw it coming from farther away than I would have liked, and it's a bit silly, but it is a neat idea all the same. It was pretty good, considering the genre. I find that thriller/horror rarely has satisfying endings. It certainly didn't redeem the book, but it didn't condemn it either. The rest of the book had plenty of problems all its' own. All that being said, however, I did enjoy the ride and it's a hell of a page-turner. It may not be one of those books you remember fondly (or at all) after you've finished it, but I'd be genuinely surprised if anyone started reading this and stopped halfway through. ( )

Yeah, well...hmmm...Kind of a cross between One flew over the Cuckoo's Nest, the Martian chronicles and The Road. Dystopian madness, always a big hit with me, well usually always. This book was interesting because of the authors unique approach, but definitely a time killer and a one time effort. I never (well hardly ever) tear an author up if they make an honest attempt to 1. amuse and/or 2. remain neutral and unbiased.The book was definitely readable, but is the type of light reading that you use to kill time over a long distance journey for instance. I don't examine the plots in my reviews to avoid spoiling it for others, who might have a different take. In this book however I will say that it is hard to follow due to the shifts between -reality -madness and surreality, or fiction. Sort of a jumble of techno thriller, loony tunes, murder mystery with a dash of sci-fi thrown in for good measure. Not bad, not great, but not bad...every book is a journey through your mind. ( )

I really enjoyed this book. The protagonist, Michael, is a man with mental illness who is seeing insidious things that may or may not be real. If you are uncomfortable with the fact that the person narrating is unreliable because, he is schizophrenic, then you have missed the point. I loved that sense of utter confusion, of not knowing what was reality and what was a delusion. That uncertainty, that uncomfortable, nagging lack of clarity, it intrigued me. It was incredibly refreshing, not really knowing how much you could trust the source; that made it difficult to assume anything. I like making guesses and being proven wrong and I like to be surprised, it shows a level of creativity that is sorely lacking otherwise.

I think the depiction of mental illness was tasteful and having us experience this story in first-person really allows us to lose ourselves in the maze and understand it, even if just a little. It would have been easy to make Michael a schizophrenic and have some omnipotent voice recalling his story, but to experience the story through the filters of his mind, it made it all the more exciting and unpredictable. It was great. ( )