Where has this Dean Koontz been the last 10-15 years (maybe more)? And Jane Hawk? I needed her in my life as well. The Silent Corner brings together all the things I grew up loving about Koontz writing and actually delivering on a plot that I didn't want to give-up on halfway through the novel. No iPad's or Kindles needed to repaired after reading 25 pages or so of how awesome dogs are.
And yes, dogs are awesome but really... I mean really...
And yes, dogs are awesome but really... I mean really...
Jane Hawk is obviously running from someone. When we first meet her she's making sure to avoid the usual traps that anyone on the run would. Using credit cards, navigation apps, and presenting official CIA ID's... you know the usual. We know Jane's running from someone, or something, but finding out what (or whom) is so worth the ride.
After Nick, Jane's husband, commits suicide she resolves to investigate the increase in the suicide rate. The cases that spark her interests are the ones that involve people who are most unlikely to want to die. Nick was a decorated Navy vet that had no obvious signs of depression. For the sake of her son and herself, Jane is going to get to the bottom of what is happening.
Enter some really, really, really bad people. Word has gotten around to some really scary dudes that she wants an answer to the spike in suicides and they make it known, in no uncertain terms, that she is to stop looking for whatever she's looking for.
No one tells Jane no. She's fearless it seems. Plus, her training at Quantico gives her a firm upper-hand to any layman embarking on this journey.
What Koontz has done well is provide an interesting premise and married it with the things I loved about his books. Much of The Silent Corner has a science fiction(y) vibe to it. How in the hell do you convince someone to kill themselves? That shit's scary that it could be done and someone would want to have it done to someone else. He keeps the suspense high using short chapters and keeping the story moving by not going on and on and on about how awesome the two German Shepard guard dogs.
Koontz doesn't lose classic features such as a protagonist that just happens to have money. Jane is frugal because she's not rich, but she does "stumble" across a few ways of getting more dough. The attention to detail is another Koontz trait that makes its way into this corner, but is not overly done so it works here. The other aspect of his writing that works here is his penchant for the battle between good and evil. Jane is good and the deaths she is representing for were lives of people who were practically saints.
The antagonist is an evil dick for obvious reasons.
Anyway, let me get back to a silent corner and get to the next Jane Hawk installation The Whispering Room. Koontz is back baby! Or at least, for now, he's back! ****
Copy provided by Random House Publishing Group via Netgalley
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