Now available on Amazon.com and other on-line book-sellers, the new novel: Face/Mask
Montreal in the year 2039. Like all major cities, the air is poisonous. On the other side of the planet, the war on terror rages with no end in sight. The Canadian government is run by a militaristic administration that was installed on the basis of a horrific lie. Civil rights have been curtailed and the justice system is rife with corruption. In the middle of this decaying world lives Allen Janus: husband, father, bureaucrat and backstabber. In a moment of petty vindictiveness he will betray the people who love him, setting the lives of everyone in his family on a tragic course.
From the author of The Guilty comes a story about how lies can entrap both the deceiver and the deceived.
Go to Short Stuff to read an excerpt from Face/Mask.
Montreal in the year 2039. Like all major cities, the air is poisonous. On the other side of the planet, the war on terror rages with no end in sight. The Canadian government is run by a militaristic administration that was installed on the basis of a horrific lie. Civil rights have been curtailed and the justice system is rife with corruption. In the middle of this decaying world lives Allen Janus: husband, father, bureaucrat and backstabber. In a moment of petty vindictiveness he will betray the people who love him, setting the lives of everyone in his family on a tragic course.
From the author of The Guilty comes a story about how lies can entrap both the deceiver and the deceived.
Go to Short Stuff to read an excerpt from Face/Mask.
Some recent reader comments:
4 stars: "In Face/Mask, Gabriel Boutros has created a believable futuristic world that feels as real and lived-in as any of the best of dystopian fiction. I'm a sucker for excellent world-building, and it's a delight to discover an author who takes an interest in filling in the little details that make the world come alive." Brian Malbon, Goodreads
5 stars: "I thoroughly enjoyed reading Face/Mask and highly recommend it. The principal character is superbly forged by Gabriel Boutros within a seething crucible of temptation, fear, betrayal and corruption. Gabriel Boutros perfectly captures a life beset by feelings of jealousy, guilt and anger struggling to come to terms with conscience. This tension, coupled with a dystopian environment, is transfixing and reminiscent of Casablanca and 1984, combining elements of both in an exciting and original fashion. A must read!. " - Allen Israel, Amazon.com
5 stars: "Boutros has written a very mature work that demonstrates the lengths to which people will use subterfuge to achieve their goals. On the one hand, Face/Mask harkens back to the flavour of cold war novels in the tradition of le Carré and on the other it creates a whole new psychological spectrum within which its characters co-exist. At it's core, however, Face/Mask exposes human nature for what it really is: flawed, tortured, morally ambiguous, but ultimately hopeful. A terrific read that I highly recommend." - Lorne Kelton, Amazon.ca
4 Stars: "In Face / Mask, Gabriel Boutros presents an uncomfortable alternative view of the near future...Against this bleak existence, people continue to live their lives. They love and marry, have children and jobs. Their lives are familiar enough to us to make this new world believable. Anyone who knows Montreal will find its transformation disturbing...This is an interesting, thought-provoking novel. It reminded me of “1984”, with its heavy police presence, widespread surveillance of the population, and betrayal of others in order to save oneself..." -BondiBookgirl, Amazon.com
4 Stars: "What is great about this book isn’t just that its extrapolation of current political and military trends is so chilling, and plausible, but the complex web that it weaves of unintended consequences. It’s a character study of a man who deals with his boredom and powerlessness first by experimenting with risky vices, and then in an effort to cover up the results of that, or to deal with his guilt, he does something even more despicable—but still fairly harmless, he believes—which sets off more consequences he has to seek redemption for and cover up." -Winnifred Morris, Goodreads
4 stars: "In Face/Mask, Gabriel Boutros has created a believable futuristic world that feels as real and lived-in as any of the best of dystopian fiction. I'm a sucker for excellent world-building, and it's a delight to discover an author who takes an interest in filling in the little details that make the world come alive." Brian Malbon, Goodreads
5 stars: "I thoroughly enjoyed reading Face/Mask and highly recommend it. The principal character is superbly forged by Gabriel Boutros within a seething crucible of temptation, fear, betrayal and corruption. Gabriel Boutros perfectly captures a life beset by feelings of jealousy, guilt and anger struggling to come to terms with conscience. This tension, coupled with a dystopian environment, is transfixing and reminiscent of Casablanca and 1984, combining elements of both in an exciting and original fashion. A must read!. " - Allen Israel, Amazon.com
5 stars: "Boutros has written a very mature work that demonstrates the lengths to which people will use subterfuge to achieve their goals. On the one hand, Face/Mask harkens back to the flavour of cold war novels in the tradition of le Carré and on the other it creates a whole new psychological spectrum within which its characters co-exist. At it's core, however, Face/Mask exposes human nature for what it really is: flawed, tortured, morally ambiguous, but ultimately hopeful. A terrific read that I highly recommend." - Lorne Kelton, Amazon.ca
4 Stars: "In Face / Mask, Gabriel Boutros presents an uncomfortable alternative view of the near future...Against this bleak existence, people continue to live their lives. They love and marry, have children and jobs. Their lives are familiar enough to us to make this new world believable. Anyone who knows Montreal will find its transformation disturbing...This is an interesting, thought-provoking novel. It reminded me of “1984”, with its heavy police presence, widespread surveillance of the population, and betrayal of others in order to save oneself..." -BondiBookgirl, Amazon.com
4 Stars: "What is great about this book isn’t just that its extrapolation of current political and military trends is so chilling, and plausible, but the complex web that it weaves of unintended consequences. It’s a character study of a man who deals with his boredom and powerlessness first by experimenting with risky vices, and then in an effort to cover up the results of that, or to deal with his guilt, he does something even more despicable—but still fairly harmless, he believes—which sets off more consequences he has to seek redemption for and cover up." -Winnifred Morris, Goodreads