Time for a confession: I’ve never read a single book by Dean Koontz. I started The Face once, long ago, and never finished.
Maybe it’s time to revisit that book. The Whispering Room is a sequel to Koontz’s first Jane Hawk book: The Silent Corner. I should have picked it up while it was on sale a couple weeks ago because it’s right up my alley: conspiracy theories, kick ass heroine, a fun supporting cast.
That being said, I actually had no issue following along here. The first few chapters provide a convenient recap of the first book (without feeling like an obvious infodump- though I might have felt differently had I read the first one), and while there were references to the events of The Silent Corner, I could easily put 2 and 2 together from the context and never felt lost or confused.
I really loved the plot. This is a spoiler if you know nothing about The Silent Corner: a super secret shadowy organization called the Arcadians, which have infiltrated every aspect of the US Gov’t, have invented nanotechnology which can be injected into a person’s blood stream making them a shell of themselves and susceptible to mind control. Arcadians then decide whether the geniuses of the world will help to influence it for the “better” (what matches their vision) or do something to upset the balance of their power for the “worse”. If you are one of those that their computer program decides will influence the world in a way that doesn’t match their vision of the future, you are selected for elimination or to commit other atrocious acts of violence. Jane’s husband was one of these victims, and she is on a mission to rid the world of Arcadians and their mind controlling nanotechnology.
While I do believe that many of the events in this book are entirely plausible (which is also borderline terrifying) I also think that towards the end the whole book got a little wacky and crossed the lines of implausibility (but always remained entertaining). For example, Jane meets a LOT of people who mysteriously don’t think she’s a complete looney toon. And I don’t mean friends or acquaintances, I’m talking random people she meets at truck stops and the like. I also think that for all Jane’s smarts the author left some gaping plot holes that the antagonist actually bothers to point out to the reader. He literally says: “What if she did X, Y, or Z with this knowledge? Imagine how bad that would be!” And then of course I couldn’t get out of my head: “Damn it Jane! Why the hell didn’t you do that?” Given the circumstances she was operating under at the time it was somewhat forgivable, but still, given the ease with which she utilized her knowledge in some situations, I’m a little confused as to why she didn’t make better use of the knowledge later in the book.
The characters were all very enjoyable and likeable. My only real complaint about some of them was they lacked some depth. The whole cast, minor characters especially, seemed like perhaps they were colored significantly by the author’s own perception of what he might like the world to look like. Lots of them were very well dressed. Jane is noted to look like a supermodel on multiple occasions. They have happy, amiable faces. They are fit, in shape, with stylish haircuts and shoes, etc. None of this ever detracted from the entertainment factor, but it just seemed like a cartoonish caricature of the world by the end of it.
Minor issues aside, I am 100% hooked and can’t wait for the next book. I’ll probably go back and read The Silent Corner while I wait.
I’d recommend this to any fans of Koontz, believers in conspiracy theories, or fans of the suspense genre in general. Thank you to BookishFirst and Bantam books for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Maybe it’s time to revisit that book. The Whispering Room is a sequel to Koontz’s first Jane Hawk book: The Silent Corner. I should have picked it up while it was on sale a couple weeks ago because it’s right up my alley: conspiracy theories, kick ass heroine, a fun supporting cast.
That being said, I actually had no issue following along here. The first few chapters provide a convenient recap of the first book (without feeling like an obvious infodump- though I might have felt differently had I read the first one), and while there were references to the events of The Silent Corner, I could easily put 2 and 2 together from the context and never felt lost or confused.
I really loved the plot. This is a spoiler if you know nothing about The Silent Corner: a super secret shadowy organization called the Arcadians, which have infiltrated every aspect of the US Gov’t, have invented nanotechnology which can be injected into a person’s blood stream making them a shell of themselves and susceptible to mind control. Arcadians then decide whether the geniuses of the world will help to influence it for the “better” (what matches their vision) or do something to upset the balance of their power for the “worse”. If you are one of those that their computer program decides will influence the world in a way that doesn’t match their vision of the future, you are selected for elimination or to commit other atrocious acts of violence. Jane’s husband was one of these victims, and she is on a mission to rid the world of Arcadians and their mind controlling nanotechnology.
While I do believe that many of the events in this book are entirely plausible (which is also borderline terrifying) I also think that towards the end the whole book got a little wacky and crossed the lines of implausibility (but always remained entertaining). For example, Jane meets a LOT of people who mysteriously don’t think she’s a complete looney toon. And I don’t mean friends or acquaintances, I’m talking random people she meets at truck stops and the like. I also think that for all Jane’s smarts the author left some gaping plot holes that the antagonist actually bothers to point out to the reader. He literally says: “What if she did X, Y, or Z with this knowledge? Imagine how bad that would be!” And then of course I couldn’t get out of my head: “Damn it Jane! Why the hell didn’t you do that?” Given the circumstances she was operating under at the time it was somewhat forgivable, but still, given the ease with which she utilized her knowledge in some situations, I’m a little confused as to why she didn’t make better use of the knowledge later in the book.
The characters were all very enjoyable and likeable. My only real complaint about some of them was they lacked some depth. The whole cast, minor characters especially, seemed like perhaps they were colored significantly by the author’s own perception of what he might like the world to look like. Lots of them were very well dressed. Jane is noted to look like a supermodel on multiple occasions. They have happy, amiable faces. They are fit, in shape, with stylish haircuts and shoes, etc. None of this ever detracted from the entertainment factor, but it just seemed like a cartoonish caricature of the world by the end of it.
Minor issues aside, I am 100% hooked and can’t wait for the next book. I’ll probably go back and read The Silent Corner while I wait.
I’d recommend this to any fans of Koontz, believers in conspiracy theories, or fans of the suspense genre in general. Thank you to BookishFirst and Bantam books for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.