My Two Cents (Book Review): THE FACE IN THE MIRROR by Kenneth Johnson

When I was in my early twenties, I worked as a nursing assistant in a nursing home. I will never forget the morning when I went into a patient's room to help her get ready for breakfast and realized she was not in her right mind. She was in her late eighties and had a history of dementia, but when confused, was pleasantly so, and that day was no exception. She was sweet, bubbly, and chattered my ear off, and I remember finally asking her how old she thought she was. With an ingenuous smile, she looked up at me from her wheelchair and said, "Why, I'm twenty-two."

Later in the day, when she was more oriented, I asked her about this. She was embarrassed about what had happened, then told me in all heartbreaking earnestness: "The strange thing is, I don't feel any different now than when I was twenty-two. Not inside."

I was too young to really grasp that at the time, but those words, that day have come back to me time and again throughout my life ever since, as I watch both myself and those I love, my parents, family, and friends, age.

There's a creeping sort of horror that comes with the realization that even as your body begins to falter and fail, your mind and all its components, the things that make you inherently you remain intact, infallible, and untouched. We will all bear helpless witness to our own slow marches inexorably toward death -- and those of everyone close to us, too. If that isn't horror, I don't know what is.

M. Night Shyamalan tapped into that primal, universal fear in his 2021 movie "Old." Author Kenneth Johnson explores similar themes in his novel, "The Face in the Mirror," available now from Cemetery Dance Publications.

In "The Face in the Mirror," medical student Matthew Shaw navigates a busy and complicated life filled with classes, research work at a university laboratory, and spending quality time with his roommate and best friend Dev, as well as girlfriend Molly. In his early 20s, Matt is young, handsome, athletic, and intelligent. More appealing, however, is his complete obliviousness to this seeming good fortune. He's from humble, if not meager beginnings, and struggles to make ends meet. When he's offered a once-in-a-lifetime endowment from octogenarian anthropologist and scholar Dr. John Zachery, he's flattered and flabbergasted. Zachery offers not only to pay for the rest of Matt's schooling, but to remit all his debts as well, plus give him a more-than generous living allowance to boot. Dr. Zachery asks for nothing in return--at least not out loud, but poor Matt soon discovers that no gift comes without strings attached. Or, in this case, a magic talisman.

It's not really a spoiler (because it's in the book blurb) to say that shortly after meeting Dr. Zachery, Matt wakes up to find, much to his horror, he has become the old man. Zachery, in turn, is now inside Matt's body. In a case of Freaky Friday with a much more malicious angle, this turn of fortune -- or misfortune, as it may be -- was deliberate and calculated, planned years in advance by none other than Zachery himself.

Only, as Matt soon learns, Zachery isn't really who he's claimed all along to be, either. As he begins to unravel the treacherous web of lies, dark magic, and ancient evil that has ensnared him, Matt likewise realizes he's running out of time to try and set things right and get his body back--because Zachery's is failing fast...

I loved this book. It's wonderfully written, a quick and exciting read. Johnson has crafted characters who you bond and empathize with almost from the start, especially Matt, who comes across as a genuinely idealistic, if not naive, and likable kid. Zachery is especially detestable, especially as Johnson reveals all the twisted, cruel lengths he's gone to in order to try and insure Matt can't interfere with, or undo the body swap once it's completed.

I've never been to New York City, where the story is set, and to be honest, lengthy narrative about scenery and settings in a book usually turn me off. But in this case, Johnson wields a deft hand at description, and you can not only tell he knows the Big Apple like the back of his hand, but he loves it, too. You share in that adoration through his words, and almost feel like you're right there with Matt, Molly, and the gang beneath the bright lights and among the hustle and bustle.

After I read "The Face in the Mirror," I knew there was no way Johnson was a newbie to the writing game. And as it turns out, he's not. For God's sake, he's the creative mind behind the classic sci-fi TV series "V," which I watched fiendishly in my youth, as well as "Alien Nation," "The Bionic Woman," and "The Incredible Hulk." (And if you've never heard of these series because you're too young, get the hell off my lawn. You're missing out.)

But all squeeing fangirl moments aside (okay - squeeing fan-middleaged-woman moments), I have to say "The Face in the Mirror" was an incredibly enjoyable read. Well-written, with pitch-perfect buildups of both horror and suspense, Johnson captures all-too well the undeniable helplessness and insidious horror of growing old.

(And if you're like me, and thought the movie "Suitable Flesh" with Heather Graham was a fun little reimagining of a Lovecraft body-swap tale, but made no sense because seriously, as hot as Graham is, what evil eternal entity would ever trade the body of a young, athletic, good-looking college guy for all the perimenopausal and hormonal fun of a middle-aged woman's body, then you're in luck, because the entity makes a more informed and reasonable choice in Johnson's book.)

"The Face in the Mirror" is available here.