EvokingsuchclassicsasElmerGantryandTheDayoftheLocust,WilliamGiraldi’sAboutFaceboldlytransferstheperennialliterarythemesofcelebrity,ambition,andobsessiontotwenty-first-centuryBoston.TherewemeetValFace,acharismaticself-helpguruwhocaptivatesmultitudeswithhisuncannyabilitytohealadherentsusingonlythepowerofhiswords,themysterioustouchofhishands,andthetranscendentbeautyofhisface.AssignedtowriteaprofileofValFaceduringhismuch-hypedNewEnglandtour,thirty-year-oldimpoverishedjournalistSegerJovipensabrutalhatchetjob.ButSeger,atoncecuriousandincredulous,issoonsuckedintothemystic’svortexoffame,becomingadevoteehimselfashecontendswiththemachinationsandabsurditiesofFace’smanyprotectors,frombeefcakebodyguardstohelicopteringhandlerstoFace’sunwaveringspouse,Nimble.Atfirstunwillingtosacrificehisprinciplestofulfillhisownambitionandrisefromprivation,thentouchedbyFace’sunexpectedhumanity,SegeroscillatesbetweenactingasFace’scynicalfoilandbecominghisunlikelyally.Justastheexaltedguruappearstobereachingtheapexofhispowers,dangerthreatensfromtheperipheryintheformofanobsessivestalkerwhowantsFacedead.Tocurbthisstalkerbeforehecandoharm,Face’ssecurityteamenliststheaidofJackieJaworski,anex-MarineandresourcefulBostondetectivewhomoonlightsasanovelistofthrillers.AndsoAboutFace,buildingtoadenouementthatwillastonishreaders,takesusintotheconvergenceofviolenceandfamethathascometodefinesomuchofAmericanpopularcultureoverthelasthalf-century.Withitsindeliblearrayofcharacters,hypnoticpacing,andshockingconclusion--and“amesmerizingprosestylethatisdownrightpyrotechnicinitsbrilliance“(AndreDubusIII)--AboutFaceisanovelinthegrandtraditionthatdancesalongthetenuouslinebetweenthesacredandtheprofane.
