Thanks to NetGalley and Bantam for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.
Release Date: Available Now
512 Pages
Synopsis: “No time to delay. Do what you were born to do. Fame will be yours when you do this.”
These are the words that ring in the mind of mild-mannered schoolteacher Cora Gundersun—-just before she takes her own life, and many others’, in a shocking act of carnage. When the disturbing contents of her secret journal are discovered, it seems certain that she must have been insane. But Jane Hawk knows better.
In the wake of her husband’s inexplicable suicide—-and the equally mysterious deaths of scores of other exemplary individuals—-Jane picks up the trail of a secret cabal of powerful players who think themselves above the law and beyond punishment. But these ruthless people bent on hijacking America’s future for their own monstrous ends never banked on a highly trained FBI agent willing to go rogue—-and become the nation’s most wanted fugitive—-in order to derail their insidious plans to gain absolute power with a terrifying technological breakthrough.
Driven by love for her lost husband and by fear for the five-year-old son she has sent into hiding, Jane Hawk has become an unstoppable predator. Those she is hunting will have nowhere to run when her shadow falls across them.
The Whispering Room is the sequel to last year’s The Silent Corner and while I didn’t think it was quite as good as its predecessor, I still enjoyed it and had a hard time putting it down.
It picks up exactly where the previous book left off. Jane is still on her quest to track down the insidious group behind the suicides and deaths of those they’ve deemed to be undesirable in the new world they’re planning. There’s very little development in regards to Jane. She continues to be a kick-ass woman who’s been put in the impossible position of hiding her young son with friends, while she travels all over the country trying to track these monsters down. I still like her, but I found myself wishing for more from her than her leapfrogging from one dangerous situation to the next.
There are plenty of secondary characters and quite a few of them stand out. My favorite is Sheriff Lucas Tillman and his family. I loved their chapters as much if not even more than Jane’s. Their story has some heartbreaking moments and I’m looking forward to seeing what happens to them in the next book.
The plot itself is far-fetched yet somehow believable with all the new developments in nanotechnology. It’s a terrifying reminder of what scientific advances could be capable of in the hands of the wrong people. There’s a little more revealed about this conspiracy, but it’s obvious there’s much more to come. The ending has left me extremely curious as to where the next book will be headed.
Overall, The Whispering Room is a solid sequel in the Jane Hawk series. It has a quirky and interesting cast, some of whom will leave you laughing out loud. The pace is frenetically insane which makes it a quick read despite it being over 500 pages. If you’re a fan of Dean Koontz I don’t think you’ll be disappointed and if you’re new to him, this series is a great place to start. The Crooked Staircase is scheduled to be released in June of 2018, but I wish it was much sooner!
By Hook Or By Book 
You must be logged in to post a comment.