Review of FACE OF A STRANGER by Dan Roenisch

iUniverse, January 2004

Student Maric Sevillus lives as ward to dictator Eric Sheel--and does everything he can to embarass the man. Sheel is a hero, of sorts. His efforts twenty years previously headed off a dome collapse. But since then, he has become ruthless in preserving his power, taking advantage of a group of people with natural antibodies to a horrible Smart DNA disease. Sheel discovers that Maric's mind holds an encrypted message from his father--a scientist who may have discovered the cure to the SDNA disease--and will do anything to learn Maric's secret.

Maric has discovered a horrible fascination for the 20th century--and starts to suffer from frequent nightmares. Sheel believes that the fascination is more than a student interest. The dreams may hold clues to the encrypted memory--a memory that even Mars's best psychologist was unable to discover. Sheel is prepared to let Maric discover the truth in his own time, but when Maric develops an interest in a fellow student--a woman heading back to Earth--Sheel feels compelled to push harder. Maric too often drifts and his final plan seems a bit haphazard, but this seems true to the character.

Author Dan Roentsch delivers a well-crafted and interesting first novel. Both the science and society of this future Mars settlement are convincing. I was impressed by the quality of the editing--many iPublish books have editing problems but FACE OF A STRANGER was clean. People looking for a coming of age story with a young man forced to come to face with his own weaknesses and overcome them won't go wrong picking this story.

Three Stars

Reviewed 6/07/04

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