The Man of Maybe Half-A-Dozen Faces: A Novel

by Ray Vukcevich

With two men already dead, strangled by printer cables, and a beautiful woman begging him for help, Skylight Howells is drawn into a dangerous, bizarre mystery. Original.

Genres: Mystery, Crime, Fiction, Humor

245 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 2000

About the author

Ray Vukcevich (born 1946) is an American writer of fantasy and literary fiction. His stories have been compared to the works of R. A. Lafferty, George Saunders, and David Sedaris. Some seventy-five stories, with titles such as "White Guys in Space", have appeared in science fiction and literary magazines. His online novelette "The Wages of Syntax" was a finalist for the 2004 Nebula Award for Best Novelette.

Vukcevich's novel The Man of Maybe Half a Dozen Faces was published by Minotaur Books in 2000. A collection of short stories — Meet Me in the Moon Room — was published in 2001 by Small Beer Press.

He spent many years as a research assistant in several university brain labs but is now writing full time. His latest book is a collection of short fiction called Boarding Instructions from Fairwood Press.

Reviews

[Alisha · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked up this book because it was in the mystery section and I liked the title. :) It was a fun read and the wacky writing-style really appealed to me. Definitely my kind of detective story!

[Erik Bailey · Rating 1 out of 5]

I guess the problem with a book that has 2 reviews (and one is 5 stars and the other is 1 star) is that you just have to jump head first and make your own opinions. Well.... This book absolutely was not for me. I WISH I COULD HAVE LOVED IT. A local writer from Eugene Oregon who works at UO? Yes, please , I will support you and say go go go. But the plot is barely there relies on every cliché and dumb gag you can think of at you could throw into a detective novel. The detective has a fake mustache he puts on and off to go into disguise; the book starts "Because she looked like something I'd make up myself, it took me a couple of blinks to convince myself she was real. Bare midriff and (gulp) a ruby in her navel" He drinks alcohol, smokes too much, has the private eye office that looks run down and not a single case going (but he'll adamantly say he doesn't have time for the dame, to see if he can hook her) The ol' double play.
I get that its trying to be playful and interesting but the narrator jumps around so frequently, and the general flow is so non sequitur and there are so many analogies that any charm or fun is quickly lost as you wonder why you are reading this.
Final example "The bluebird flew away. Pablo tore a hole in the air and reached in and pulled out a metallic red fruit. He bit into it and waves of tartness radiated from his grin."
Its a little like word soup slop.

[Ryan Mishap · Rating 1 out of 5]

A local writer with a story set in Eugene. Skylight Howells is a detective investigating the EPD's chief for evidence of adultery. His mom is in a home and not 100% there, and Skylight has a problem: he's addicted to dancing. If he puts on his tap shoes and heads out, he'll wake up the next morning having danced all night. Soon, he's hired to find the missing brother of the fetching Prudence--the brother's computer manual writing buddy is found murdered and Howells must use his disguises to find out who did it and what happened to Pablo. Ah, are those disguises or is Brian suffering from multiple personality disorder?
I don't know who did it because I couldn't finish this. The dancing addiction thing was annoying at best, the extra personas I encountered weren't well done, and the whole book had an unreal air of forced mad-cappery that made me want to throw the book at the wall. Pissed me off, too, because I bought this new hardback, grr.