Reviews

The Mask by Dean Koontz, Owen West

scottneumann's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

andipants's review

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3.0

Solid horror-thriller. I realized after I'd started it that I actually have read this book before, but it's been years — since middle school, iirc. I remembered liking it, but couldn't recall any of the details, so it was still pretty gripping. I did think the ending was awfully abrupt — lots of rising action, good climax, and then NOPE DONE. A little more resolution would have been nice. And it's my own personal gripe, but I had to knock it down a star because
the cat turned out to be evil and had to be killed. Sorry, I'm a cat person, so that's a no-go for me
. But it had a compelling plot, likable (if somewhat flat) characters, and a high creep factor, so it was overall an entertaining read.

rockymtngal's review against another edition

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3.0

Decent story. I really liked it but was disappointed int he ending, hence the 3 stars.

redheadd2's review against another edition

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4.0

One of the earlier works of Koontz, written under a pen name, I still found it to be nearly everything a Koontz book usually is. I was a bit disappointed with the ending, simply because it seemed rather abrupt and didn't wrap things up nicely like he tends to do. Also, I'm starting to suspect that Koontz does not like cats. =) I know he's a dog lover, but I'm guessing he's suspicious of cats since this makes several books that cats have been portrayed less than positive. I suppose we all have our flaws, and that seems to be the only thing I can find resembling a flaw in Koontz. Definitely an interesting story with a fascinating concept, as always.

liv74's review

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mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

branders's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

2.0

kmt75's review against another edition

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tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

2.5

The story is fine, I guess, even with the shit ending. It's just not very well written. Bad, jokey dialogue. Big info dumps. 2-3 unpleasantly needless graphic sex scenes. It's paint-by-numbers Dean Koontz, so like the cinematic equivalent of an early 80s TV movie.

bugstuckinamber's review against another edition

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fast-paced

2.0

Had a bad, rushed, unexplained ending. I thought the rest was fine nothing crazy but not bad. Wouldn’t recommend or read again. 

croyalbird13's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

4.0

sioranth's review against another edition

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3.0

I mostly loved this book until the end. The ending made it lose 2 stars; it was that stupid and unsatisfying. Also, the ridiculous cat might have cost it 1/2 star, too.