Face-Off

by Clark Carlton, Mike Web

A city holds its breath. A terrorist planted a bomb somewhere under Los Angeles--just before he was frozen alive!To locate the bomb and stop the blast, supercop Sean Archer must literally trade faces with his archenemy, using sophisticated laser surgery to fool his fellow cops, his own wife, even the terrorist's brother.The trick works--too well. For when the ice breaks, the hunter becomes the hunted, and Archer finds himself fleeing a nationwide manhunt, spearheaded by the master criminal who has taken over Archer's face, Archer's family--and Archer's police powers!The clock is ticking down as legendary action filmmaker John Woo (Broken Arrow) presents superstars John Travolta and Nicolas Cage in the action thriller of the summer of '97.

Genres: Media Tie In, Fiction, Thriller, Novels

304 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

Reviews

[Stephen Robert Collins · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read the book before I watched the movie & the book has lot more in it than the movie did .A brilliant crime thriller but also a science fiction book with the face removing explained more in the book than the movie .I have always liked lot of Cage movies he is one few modern American actors that doesn't grabble his words.
This fantastic idea of switching faces gives you the creeps & by time have got to end You get in a muddle who's who which off course is whole idea.

[Jenna D. · Rating 2 out of 5]

In this case, the movie is SO much better.

[Edward Sojuwa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Action novels, like action films, are changing face all the time, pun intended since we are discussing Face/Off, the 1998 movie from one of the world's greatest action directors, Hong Kong's John Woo, which has John Travolta and Nicolas Cage, two professional actors with Scientologist backgrounds shooting guns at each other to see which of them is the better "actor". Ha ha. But when you're a fan like me, it's a lot deeper than that, and you're not even worried that these two "real guys" are doing macho stuff which to a passerby makes no sense, and you focus on the story, a LOT! And you still feel the pain of what the characters go thru, despite the fact that this is Travolta and Cage. The novel version goes into deeper detail, which is hard to accomplish with what is called a dumb loud action flick. But Chuck Carlton has created that miracle and run with it. In case you haven't seen the film, it's about FBI agent Sean Archer, a married man with one nubile teen daughter (the kind of girl you ALWAYS see in stories like this) who grieves the death of his little boy Mikey at the hands of the ultimate assassin Castor Troy, and has made it his obsession to track him down over a period of ten years to rid the world of this Bozo's face. Too bad Sean is gonna wear the guy's face soon. The team of FBI agents under Sean nab Cas in a big time shoot out that has Cas out cold and veggie like while his brother, Pollux, is languishing in a mysterious prison called Erewhon, where human rights are out the window, and now there's a threat of a bomb in an LA stadium ready to kill thousands, all set up by those "Troian bro's!" To get the bomb, Sean has to get thru to Pol, only this time in disguise as big brother Cas, and (clincher coming up) Sean will be made to go thru a secret surgical process, one which will alter his face and physique into that of the one enemy he knows more than he knows anyone else. Sean grudgingly goes under the knife (when you're an actor like John Travolta, this is nothing new!) and is arrested as Cas Troy to enter Erewhon and locate Pollux. But, as they often do in certain other tales of science miracles gone wrong (like say, Jurassic Park?) life finds a way to get into your face. (Oops) Cas himself has emerged from his coma, killed Sean's surgeons and transformed himself as Sean Archer, with a plan foolproof enough to alter the face of the Earth as we know it: he'll locate the bomb (as Sean), blend in with the Archer family, get promoted to heroic glory, and...be a cool dad to his daughter, for once! Meanwhile Sean, as Castor, fights to survive Erewhon and escapes by way of sheer luck and willpower to hunt down Cas and save the world. But....and here's where we get deep...when he sees the enemy, and sees himself...is he killing Castor, or Sean? Is Castor Sean, Sean Castor, or is the whole thing "Memorex"? And to think this story is loosely inspired by stuff like Jekyll and Hyde, the film Darkman, spaghetti westerns, James Bond and Greek mythology with the story of Troy, Castor, Pollux, and a certain Archer shooting Achilles in the heel. In the book and the film, Sean is that Archer, Castor is the "killee type", and the weak part is Pollux who's a total heel! The novel makes the characters more complex and human than the scriptwriters of the movie never intended, and the hero Sean is someone you root for cos you share his pain. And remember this was taken from a dumb action film, the kind us moviegoers actually like, the genre for which popcorn and Raisinets were invented!!! Read the book, hope you like it enough to share with friends. Possibly on...gasp... Facebook?
Four stars
Get your game face on and let's ROCK!

[Eve · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sucks all the joy out of the movie and replaces it with Clark Carlton's weird bodily functions & fluids fetish... I could forgive all his flexing about his knowledge of interior design and Christian denominations if it wasn't for that bodily functions & fluids fetish. Also manages to pack in a lot of gross and superfluous scenes and details without ever saying anything interesting about the characters. Though it is pretty interesting from a film studies perspective to see the evolution from script to film to... this, and how some key details were changed, ranging from things that weren't in the movie like which of the Troy parents overdosed to a major point concerning Adam which was ridiculous in the script/movie but is pretty jarring to see axed here. What was going on with the writers behind the scenes? And apparently they were trying to get Face/Off made for seven years? Now that's a story I want a book about.

[Joshua Welch · Rating 3 out of 5]

When you watch a movie based on a book you never know what to expect, will it be faithful to the source material? Often you’re left feeling disappointed. But, when you read a novel based on a movie you know just want to expect and that’s is a guilty pleasure read like this one here. The downside to Face/Off the book is we don’t get the joy of Nicolas Cages acting paired with John Travolta and the writing lacks a bit and isn’t always easy to follow in the action sequences but it’s an enjoyable story and a fresh take on what I remembered from the movie.

[Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Is the story of a government agent whose son was killed in a terrorist act. The agent takes on the face of the killer in a plot to bring down the terrorist group. The terrorist, who was believed dead but merely in a coma, wakes up and does the same. Soon, they are pitted against one another.

[DrakuSasuke Daldag · Rating 5 out of 5]

nice

[Jeremy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely novelization. Overwritten in great spots. Love seeing the horrible things they had in mind at the prison, but couldn't put in the movie.

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

like a breezy beach read, or an airport thriller. had a goooood time reading this

[Chrisie]

I picked this book up at a garage sale this summer in July while I was visiting my great aunt and uncle in Oregon, after reading "Photographs from Eaden" I figured anything would be better than that. This did have some vulgar language but it fit the plot as there was one, it was an interesting read to say the least, I might not mind watching the movie it should be interesting, don't think I have seen it but maybe perhaps I have maybe that is why I could picture it so well reading the book. I think the vulgar language was unnessary in the Eaden book, this one it fit with the storyline, even though it didn't add to it.

[Ryuichi FX · Rating 4 out of 5]

Siendo que la película es una de mis favoritas, encontrar la novela me sorprendió bastante y me la lleve de inmediato aun cuando pensé que posiblemente no variaría mucho en cuanto a la trama del filme.

Después de leerlo, me doy cuenta de que tiene bastantes cambios con respecto al filme, sin que esto afecte en alguna manera la lógica de la historia y le dan al libro una personalidad propia, de tal manera que aun cuando ya hayas visto la película anteriormente, la historia se mantiene fresca y te atrapa de la misma manera como si la vieras por primera vez.

[Eli · Rating 5 out of 5]

My mother, god bless her, bought this for me to read, since I was too young to see the movie. Many years later, having finally seen the film, I can say that I don't think the movie fully conveyed Nic Cage's masterful performance. It might have had pedestrian prose, but I don't remember.

[Beauregard Shagnasty · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was ok.

[Debbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was hard to put down. It moved really fast. I've never seen the movie, but I know the book had me on the edge of my seat.....

[Dina · Rating 3 out of 5]

**In fact this story Is very difficult to in its content