If you thought Jane Hawk was intense in The Silent Corner, just wait until you see her in The Whispering Room. She’s still “dead,” still on the run, and somehow even more relentless. Dean Koontz wastes no time cranking the tension back up as Jane keeps digging into the creepy mind-control conspiracy that’s already way deeper than it should be.
This one has a bigger scope—more players, more locations, and more truly awful people in positions of power doing what awful people in power tend to do. Jane’s mission feels even more urgent here, and her ability to stay two steps ahead of just about everyone continues to be both impressive and borderline supernatural. (Honestly, if I tried half the things she pulls off, I’d have tripped over my shoelace in chapter two.)
The sci-fi element gets a little wilder in this one, but Koontz keeps it grounded just enough to make it feel possible—which is maybe the most unsettling part. It moves fast, there are some great side characters, and of course, there’s a dog (because Koontz).
My only gripe is that there are a few moments where the poetic tangents slow things down a little. Nothing major, just enough to make me glance at the page count now and then. Still, the suspense holds, the writing is sharp, and Jane remains a compelling force of nature. I gave it 4 out of 5 stars—super solid second book, and I’m definitely sticking with the series.
