Evoking such classics as Elmer Gantry and The Day of the Locust,
William Giraldi’s About Face boldly transfers the perennial
literary themes of celebrity, ambition, and obsession to
twenty-first-century Boston. There we meet Val Face, a charismatic
self-help guru who captivates multitudes with his uncanny ability
to heal adherents using only the power of his words, the mysterious
touch of his hands, and the transcendent beauty of his face.
Assigned to write a profile of Val Face during his much-hyped New
England tour, thirty-year-old impoverished journalist Seger Jovi
pens a brutal hatchet job. But Seger, at once curious and
incredulous, is soon sucked into the mystic’s vortex of fame,
becoming a devotee himself as he contends with the machinations and
absurdities of Face’s many protectors, from beefcake bodyguards
to helicoptering handlers to Face’s unwavering spouse, Nimble. At
first unwilling to sacrifice his principles to fulfill his own
ambition and rise from privation, then touched by Face’s
unexpected humanity, Seger oscillates between acting as Face’s
cynical foil and becoming his unlikely ally. Just as the exalted
guru appears to be reaching the apex of his powers, danger
threatens from the periphery in the form of an obsessive stalker
who wants Face dead. To curb this stalker before he can do harm,
Face’s security team enlists the aid of Jackie Jaworski, an
ex-Marine and resourceful Boston detective who moonlights as a
novelist of thrillers. And so About Face, building to a denouement
that will astonish readers, takes us into the convergence of
violence and fame that has come to define so much of American
popular culture over the last half-century. With its indelible
array of characters, hypnotic pacing, and shocking conclusion—and
“a mesmerizing prose style that is downright pyrotechnic in its
brilliance” (Andre Dubus III)—About Face is a novel in the
grand tradition that dances along the tenuous line between the
sacred and the profane.
General
Imprint: |
W W Norton & Co Inc
|
Country of origin: |
United States |
Release date: |
October 2023 |
Authors: |
William Giraldi
|
Dimensions: |
210 x 140mm (L x W) |
Pages: |
384 |
ISBN-13: |
978-1-324-09412-8 |
Categories: |
Books
|
LSN: |
1-324-09412-5 |
Barcode: |
9781324094128 |
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