Book – A Face Without A Heart
Author – Rick R. Reed
Star rating - ★★★★☆
No. of Pages – 200
Cover – Gorgeous!
POV – 1st person, multi-POV
Would I read it again – Yes.
Genre – LGBT, Horror, Paranormal


** I WAS GIVEN THIS BOOK FOR MY READING PLEASURE **
Reviewed for Divine Magazine


Warning: contains references to suicide, MM sex, cheating and rape. Contains 1st person accounts of MF sex, drug use, suicidal thoughts and murder.

Disclosure: I haven't read the original The Picture of Dorian Gray,
and I didn't read it before reading this to allow the story to speak for itself.

~

This was an interesting read. Dark, but not in the worst ways. I've definitely read darker and more psychologically twisted books, but this one did its job and became a very intriguing read from very early on.

Now, this isn't a book you “love” or even “like”. It's an experience. What happens between page 1 and The End is not something you're going to forget, but it's also not something fluffy and happy. You won't close this book thinking “well, I really enjoyed it”, because they're nothing enjoyable about it. But there is plenty to appreciate and respect; lots to think about and take your interest.

~

POV

The POV is a tricky thing, when working with 1st person, but I can see what Reed did here and I can understand why. Not only does the 1st person allow for a much closer connection between the reader and our protagonists, but it allows us to see the thoughts, feelings and experiences first hand.

The best thing that Reed did when writing this was to label each chapter with the POV that would follow, so instead of a title chapter you have Gary, Henrietta, Liam and so forth, to label which 1st person POV you're going to be reading. This was soo helpful.

At the same time, however, we need multi-POV to show us the things that our MC can't see. Such is the case for how we first meet Gary, our MC, as that needs to be told through Liam's POV. Gary and Henrietta's friendship can be explored with both, as can Liam and Henrietta's friendship, but it's really those in between moments that require Henrietta's POV, because she's a lot more cynical that the others. Her POV gives us a sort of mediator between Liam's hopeful everything-will-work-out, hard-work attitude and the slow progression from Gary's innocent-and-idealistic personality to nothing-matters-but-myself attitude later on. Also, without Henrietta, we wouldn't get that last so-important chapter which is utterly crucial to the story.

There are two more additions of POV that I do have to acknowledge. Now, when I first read them, I wasn't so sure. But, after reading the entire book, it makes so much sense to include them. Zoe and her brother Davio actually have a small but crucial role in the story. I won't explain why, for those who haven't read this yet, but their actions and decisions, made within their POV are really important to Gary's future and the concept of “A Face Without A Heart.”

Now, the only downfall of the 1st person POV is that it usually works best in past tense, but as if someone is telling the story of what happened to them. That's fine. I can't stand 1st person, present tense for some reason. But there are some minor slips where this falls into present tense (example: “He's joined the Army.”)

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CHARACTERS

When it comes to the characters of this story, I was in a bit of a tailspin for most of the book.

Gary is our protagonist and main character; the one that we follow throughout the entire story. He begins all light and fluffy – the innocent idealist who believes in love and the soul and goodness. He's a kind, gentle person who has never been loved so is a little more naïve than others his age. Which is what gets him into trouble, because he's flattered by Liam's wish to make a hologram of him and sits for the artist. However, it's really Henrietta's dark view on life that changes him the most. One conversation with her and his innocent naïvety are not only challenged but somehow twisted. Combined with the physical display of his perfect, he allows her words to go to his head, makes a deal he doesn't believe in and heads on a downward spiral that never ends.

Liam is the one that starts it all. He's the one who sees the shining beauty in Gary and wants to mark that perfection for all time in a hologram. However, despite being as much of an idealist as Gary, he's also a realist in many ways. Liam believes in love and the soul, spirit and God, but he's also aware of the darker side of the world, making art from misery and holograms of serial killers. For me, Liam is the balance and the only saviour Gary ever had.

Henrietta is the bane of my – and Gary's – existence. To be quite honest, I never liked her. Not a little. Right from the start, her brash, abrasive attitude and remarks made my teeth itch. I actually noted the following on Henrietta and feel that there's little that needs to be added after that:
I can't help but feel that if Gary had never met Henrietta, none of this would have happened. She's the one getting him into all of this sex, clubbing and drugs. I get that free will has a lot to do with it, but he wasn't concerned about everlasting beauty until Henrietta planted the thought in his head and helped it take root. She's a soul sucking leech who enjoys corrupting others and destroying whatever hint of happiness they have. A real bitch and the worst friend a person could have. Ironically, she's what Gary later becomes, except that he's cursed to live it to a much larger degree than she can manage.

When Gary first entered the story, he was this adorable fluff-ball of innocence and morality that was exactly what Liam needed to pick him up and pull him out of his overworked life. Liam was a little bit stuffy, but was also the only one who ever had his head screwed on straight and made sense. He's the only one who ever came across as a fully-formed human being with compassion, realistic expectations and desires and a hard working attitude. Compared to the narcissistic and vapid Henrietta, Liam was the normal one of the three. That never changed for me, except to like him more. As Gary grew in the wake of the curse and became more like Henrietta, more angry and violent and uncaring, the part of me which had loved him began to pity him. Not because he was hard-done-by, but because his life could have been so different if he hadn't allowed Henrietta's bad influence and vanity make him question everything his life had ever been built on. If Liam had been allowed to mount an intervention before the Zoe incident, his life would have been so different. Instead, Henrietta got her claws into him and nothing was ever the same for him again.

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PLOT

Now, though this is an MM book, it's not technically an MM book. In which I mean that our MC, Gary, is not gay. Or LGBT. He's straight as they come until the drugs take effect and then he'll toy with anyone who is willing, as long as they're pretty. Henrietta is a drag queen who does have MM sex, and Liam is very gay, but they are really the only prominent LGBT characters in the story.

However, this is not an MM romance by any stretch of the imagination. This is a literary story, general fiction, that just happens to have two strong LGBT characters. And I love that. I love that this didn't try to make Liam gay even though he never started out that way. I love that we didn't just end up with a gay re-telling of The Picture of Dorian Gray.

When it comes to the execution, this was a brilliantly plotted and executed piece of writing. Not only were the characters explored to a realistic expectation without dragging with too many details or covering unimportant events, but it showed us the most soul-forming and -destroying aspects of Gary's life without offering a biased towards his new unrealistic world view. Again, Liam's POV and his overall characterisation was so well written as to offer a counter-view and a balance that we could all see Gary desperately needed but which went ignored, because he just wasn't exciting enough to be the bosom buddy that Henrietta was.

There are a few odd, old fashioned phrasing, such as: “I laughed, but his words chilled me. It seemed he was speaking them seriously.” However, they were few and far between and didn't really hamper the reading of the story.

When I first saw the book being offered for review, I read the blurb which included this review:
“a book that is brutally honest with its reader and doesn't flinch in the areas where Wilde had to look away.... A rarity: a really well-done update that's as good as its source material.”
Now, having not read the original yet, I won't comment on that aspect. But I do have to admit that I've actually read more brutal books than this. It's quite tame compared to some dark reads. But I won't deny that it's brilliantly done, that it's brutally honest and doesn't shy away from showing the worst of the worst – such as Gary doing drugs and committing rape (in a no-explicit way that spares its readers somewhat) during 1st person accounts.

But, at the same time, I feel like it did shy away from making us hate Gary too deeply. There was a strong emphasis on inspiring pity in the second half of the book, with an added essence of Gary inspiring to change his fate and fix his life. He mentioned so many times that he regretted his choices that it really made me believe that he hated the way his life had spiraled. Yet, it felt like an inability to accept responsibility, because he thought the 'curse' was doing this to him and not a realisation that he'd allowed the curse to get to his head and make him ignorant of the cost of his fortune.

In the end, I docked a mark for the fact that it didn't go further. I expected a lot of darkness and really there was only a lot of young-corruption that ended badly, with heartlessness and one real act of violent brutality, when I'd expected more. I think the story could have managed to go further with it, without suffering. But I ended the book feeling relieved for Gary and glad that he's gotten his wish.

Liam, for me, was the ray of sunshine. I absolutely loved that he was one the who gave Gary his big epiphany. Not through lecturing or any of the rest of it, but through the love he offered Gary so freely, without ever expecting anything in return. Though he wasn't in the book nearly enough for my liking – and, again, I believe more could have been made of his part – he was the single most important character of the story and finally got that recognition from Gary in the end.

Last of all, I really want to mention this one quote → “I have stolen a life so that my own might continue. There is something vampiric in that, isn't there?” Now, although it isn't mentioned in the book, I have to applaud this little tidbit offered in the Prologue, because it is so true. Not for the 'vampire' of Dracula, but because back in the day of The Picture of Dorian Gray, vampire was a word used to describe a serial killer, referencing their need for blood. It was utter genius of Reed to include this play on the theme right here and not spell out just how appropriate it could have been.

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OVERALL

A really good read that took the reader to some dark places, but could have gone further. The characters were relatable and likable in different ways, as well as often being as repellent as they were intriguing. The plot was brilliantly written and expertly crafted, rolling together characterisation, world building and the original tale into something modern and believable.

~

Favourite Quote

“It seemed as if Gary and I, the both of us, were on a collision course with disaster. I didn't know where it would end.”

A Face Without a Heart is a fantastic take on all of the amazing themes from Oscar Wilde's Picture of Dorian Gray. The great thinks discussed in Wilde's novel like the human soul, but more importantly, the sins that corrupt a human being are brought to light in this modern version. We discuss in the modern day society what is a sin in a society that is supposed to be more advanced and less judgemental than it was in the Victorian era. The book also covers the topic of corruption of innocence and to the human soul. With characters in the LGBT community that would have been a scandal in Oscar Wilde's days. A great way to bring back a classic and really immersed the vital parts of it into a phenomenal discussion into today's world.
Trigger Warnings: Use of drugs, suicide and alcoholism (which if you have read The Picture of Dorian Gray are a given)

In a face without a heart, Liam is an artist who is fascinated by bizarre things and one day he creates a three-dimensional hologram of Gary a young man whose beauty mesmerizes those who see him. For those who do not know the original story, the painting, or in this case the hologram will continue to age while Dorian or in this case Gary remains eternally young. The painting represents the soul of Gary and in the novel, we see the dilemma that the protagonist faces when taking a side between good and evil.
I honestly always liked the portrait of Dorian Gray and I loved the way the author represented this classic book.
TW for almost everything: violence, murder, rape, drug abuse, suicide, graphic sex
4 stars to me
thanks to NetGalley and Ninestar Press for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

Aunque entretenida, este novela no reimagina mucho la historia de Dorian Gray. Es básicamente la misma historia, con una drag queen que no evoluciona en toda la novela, en un escenario ligeramente futurista. Estaba esperando cambios, una versión más explícita, más contenido LGBT, pues la novela original fue muy escandalosa para su tiempo, pero hoy es muy ligera, y aquí pasó lo mismo, además de que Gary (Dorian) es más heterosexual que LGBT+. Se enfoca más en las drogas que en cualquier otra cosa, pero sin desarrollar mucho el tema más allá de "Las drogas son malas" y "solo está explorando".

Although entertaining, this novel doesn't reimagine much the Dorian Gray story. It's basically the same story, with a drag queen that doesn't evolve throughout the novel, in a slightly futuristic setting. I was waiting for changes, a more explicit version, more LGBT+ content, because the original novel was very scandalous for its time, but today it's very light, and the same thing happened here, in addition to Gary (Dorian) being more heterosexual than LGBT+. It focuses more on drugs than anything else, but without elaborating on the topic beyond "Drugs are bad" and "he's just exploring."

I should have read TPODG but this book is so good. I mean seriously portraying lust, greed and all emotions with the best aptness. Go for it.

I got this eARC from Netgalley in exhange for a honest review
DN 35%
I will admit that i have never read the picture of Dorian Grey but i know the general story. But this was sadly just boring, it seemed intruiging by the blurb and the cover was beautiful and mysterious but that was just it. It was so many different characters that came and went and i ended up just being bored and generally not feeling any interest or care for the characters.

A Joyfully Jay review.

5 stars

The Picture of Dorian Gray is a book I have a copy of and have always meant to read. I am, however, familiar with the basic story and know that in A Face Without a Heart, Rick R. Reed has been able to capture the chilling atmosphere and sense of foreboding that exists in Oscar Wilde’s original.

The reader too is aware that everything about this encounter is wrong, but we know that without it there will be no story and though Liam is distracted by this “ethereal” beauty that stands before him, we know that there is a darkness behind Gary’s facade. Partly, this is because Reed chooses to tell his story retrospectively, beginning with a horrifying prologue told from Gary’s point of view, the events of which do not actually take place until the latter stages of A Face Without a Heart. These images of blood and death never truly leave the reader, but I still hoped on some level they were a dream sequence and Gary would redeem himself.

The interesting aspect of A Face Without a Heart is that it is not just told by Gary and Liam. Each chapter is told in the first person by a variety of narrators, which include Gary and Liam and their mutual friend, drag queen Henrietta. Henrietta very much shares and encourages Gary’s lifestyle and his obsession with youth and beauty. It is true that I wondered about the relevance of Zoe and Davio and the chapters they narrate, but quite rightly Reed does nothing in this novel without a purpose. Both of them bring a strong emotive quality to A Face Without a Heart and the significant effect of Gary’s selfishness upon the lives of others.

Read Kirsty’s review in its entirety here.

DNF 35%

I enjoy Rick R. Reed's writing style but the subject matter of this book was not for me.
I have never read the picture of Dorian Grey but I know the general story. Unfortunately, this story did not grasp my attention. I also could not handle the self centered character and when incest was added I was done with the book.

Thank you Netgalley, Rick R. Reed and Ninestar Press for the review copy

Reviewed for  Boy Meets Boy Reviews

I have to admit that I’ve never read The Picture of Dorian Grey but I know the basics of the story, and of course he features in Penny Dreadful so I’m aware of the character.

That being said, I really fell into this adaptation and found it intriguing, poetic, and fantastical. I am actually pleased I read this contemporary adaptation before taking the plunge into the literary classic.

This story is told from multiple points of view but clearly shows the story of Gary and his journey from barely legal drifter from a wealthy family to tortured immortal. The contemporary setting made this relatable, and interesting. The hologram had my wheels turning and was completely different to any artist point of view I’ve read before. I was actually enamoured by the description of the artwork and the showing. Mr Reed really sold me on the realism of it.

I have a hard time with recreational drug use so this dimmed my enjoyment somewhat, even though I understood the reason behind it. Addiction is a sore point for me in real life, so it’s not surprising the casualness of it in the beginning turned my stomach. That being said, I appreciated that the grittiness of long term use was clearly shown, and not glamorised in any way. This made it darker for me (and maybe other readers without my issues will feel the same), and gave a depth to the type of destructive lifestyle Gary was leading.

This story is rich in layers, and walked a clear line from beginning to end. I felt connected to all the characters as well as the lead. I appreciated the witty touches of Henrietta and the reverence of Liam the artist.

I had some issues with the beginning, with Gary’s first love, and I’m trying to ignore them as I write this. It was odd to me, and seemed out of place with the rest of the story. I get why it is there, but it didn’t fit for me. As the story progressed I tried to ignore it was even in there.

Overall I think this was a great story. It’s on the grey side of dark *wink* and enjoyable in an atypical way. Mr Reed always gets me with the interpersonal relationships and the creepy descriptives. Wonderful showing as always.

I’d recommend this to anyone who enjoys the original, the movie adaptation and Rick R. Reed’s other horror/thriller work.

A review copy was provided in exchange for an honest opinion

The Picture of Dorian Gray is one of my favourite books ever, so it was with a mixture of excitement and nerves that I started this book. Excitement because I knew it would be an amazing read if it lived up to the original, and nerves because I wasn’t sure whether or not I’d be able to enjoy the read if it wasn’t up to scratch. I shouldn’t have worried.

The first thing I realised while reading was that it has been too long since I read Oscar Wilde’s book. While everything I felt while reading that book was still firmly fixed in my memory, the story’s details had mostly faded. I’m not sure whether or not that’s a good thing. For starters it means that I can’t tell you how close A Face Without a Heart stays to the original story. Having said that, I know I read this book with the same mixture of horror and fascination as I did the Wilde book.

Now, before I say anything else I want to say this: A Face Without a Heart is not a romance; it doesn’t resemble a love story. This is a tale about sin, debauchery, sex, drugs, and lack of morals and what such a lifestyle does to a man.

Gary Adrion’s (clever play on a name) story had me hooked from the opening paragraph. There’s never any doubt that Gary is evil. Even before they exchange a single word Liam Howard, is scared of the man he’s followed off the train. His instinct tells him to get away, his compulsion forces him to keep on following the beautiful young man and even to invite him to model for one of his holograms.

I’m not going to go into the details of the story. Those who have read The Picture of Dorian Gray will know what to expect and those who are new to the story should be allowed to enjoy it in all its horrifying glory. I do want to say that the story hooked me from the beginning. Once I’d started I couldn’t put the book down until I had read all the way to the end, mesmerised by Gary Adrion’s brutal selfishness and yet unable to thoroughly dislike him.

In fact, that’s what I admired most in this book; the gradual decline of Gary’s character and morals and the fact that even in his darkest moments he can’t escape his conscience completely. I should have detested him more or less from the start but found that impossible. It takes true talent to write a monster and still make the reader invested in the character. By the time I finished the book I wasn’t sure whether it had been the author’s skill or my own lack of morals that made me feel a tiny bit sorry for Gary. I still haven’t worked that one out, but I prefer to blame Rick R. Reed.

My advice to other readers is as follows: If you want to read about love and happy endings, please look elsewhere. If, on the other hand, you are not afraid of the dark and you like a story that will mesmerize, shock, horrify, and fascinate, you, A Face Without a Heart is the perfect read for you.

Gary Adrion is a young man of incomparable beauty, spotted on the "L" train in Chicago by an artist, Liam Howard, who specializes in holograms. Liam is a little older, and not as attractive as Gary, but Gary-a mostly solitary trust fund kid-is intrigued by Liam's work and agrees to sit for a piece. The result is astounding, and Gary is so taken with it, that he makes an inadvertent bargain to remain as fresh and youthful as his hologram, no matter the darkness and depravity of his actions.

Well, over the years Gary gets pretty dark, and awfully depraved. Egged on by Liam's dear friend, an outgoing drag queen known as Henrietta, Gary's life takes some disastrous turns. He thinks he finds love, and throws it away on a whim--which leads to deadly results. Liam acts as Gary's conscience, taking him to task when Gary will let him near, and that's not a good situation, either. The further down this rabbit hole Gary falls, the more his hologram absorbs the horror of his actions, turning from an objet d'arte into a grotesque. Meanwhile Gary never seems to age a day. Friends turn bitter and enmity is rampant, even among his hangers-on. Gary delights in beauty, and it's ultimate corruption.

This isn't a romance, which I knew going in. There is some sex, but it's written for shock value and the effect is chilling, not amorous. As we know from the Oscar Wilde classic, Dorian Gray--our narcissistic Gary--never fully redeems his soul, despite knowing that he must if he's ever to find peace from the ghosts of people that have died as a result of his actions--directly or indirectly. There's lots of drug use, and a seedy club-kid-type vibe for some of the book, and there's horror. Death and murder are part of Gary's path, and the only end is the dramatic one we all know is coming.

As a psychological thriller, I'd have loved just a little more insight into what happened during the large gaps in time the book spans. Some people seemingly come from nowhere, particularly in the end, and I know they were a part of that murkiness. I also got that Liam sensed Gary's menace from their first encounter, but I didn't see where that came from, as a reader. Gary is definitely shady, but I'd have liked to know how and why we knew that from the first pages. That said, as a retelling of Dorian Gray, I wasn't disappointed.

A Book Without A Point:

First of all, I would like to be totally honest and state that this novel was one that I chose to read out of a list of several modern adaptations given to me for an English class's summer reading. I probably wouldn't have read it otherwise. But I absolutely love the original novel, and found this intriguing enough to pick up. To tell the truth, if not for the fact that I was too far in (and had too little time to choose something else), I would have set it down the second I picked it up.

I understand the way in which the author tried to emulate Dorian Gray through edgy topics, but the way in which Reed went about it was not effective, in my opinion. Some changes felt as if they were made just for shock value, and others would have been interesting if not for the way that the author went about writing them. For example, the character of Henrietta stood out to me as a particularly clunky adaptation, mostly because the writing used for her was painfully stereotypical (despite the fact that Henry as a drag queen could be done incredibly well, and be legitimately interesting), only breaking from that to shove a barely connected moral pondering into the book. Speaking of said 'moral ponderings', it seems as if the sole purpose of those were to make the book seem as intellectual as humanly possible, with almost no effort behind it. The way in which characters talked switched between two writing styles: modern coolkid and author begging for literary recognition. Neither of those worked.

Of course, all of this review so far has not mentioned my favorite part of the book. The creme de la creme of strange modern adaptations. The sheer prevalence of drugs and explicit sex in the novel. I've never really had issues with content like that in media, and if I get uncomfortable, I just skip past whatever sexual encounter I'm slogging through as long as it isn't relevant to the plot. But this book. This specific book. For some reason, this produced an immediate reaction of disgust in me. Now, I understand that this is likely the point- Reed wished to emulate the effect that the original novel had on those who read it when released. But there were so many better, more interesting ways to go about that.

I believe that what made the sexual content (and the stuff with drugs, but that's less important) stand out so much to me is the way in which it was written. Nuance was thrown out the window, and everything was stated clearly in the most matter-of-fact way possible. Even the most horrific moments (such as when a young girl overdoses post-having-sex with the main character who is significantly older than her) were talked about, it was as if the author had no idea just how impactful a moment like that could be, choosing instead to plainly state it with no emotion behind the thoughts.

I would like to completely apologise if this review was not very good- I've never actually done one before- but I hope that at least a few of my points made sense. If you are given the option to read this book, out of a long list of potentials, I would recommend choosing something else. And if you're like me, and prefer well-written ponderings on the nature of evil compared to explicit sex just to invoke a strong reaction? Just re-read The Picture of Dorian Gray.

(And one last incredibly irrelevant thing. The main character's name is Gary. I understand that this is supposed to be a rearranging of the letters in Dorian's last name, in order to call back to the source material, but in my mind, it is absolutely impossible to connect the descriptions of a man so attractive and manipulative he can get away with murder with a name like Gary.)